May 25, 2014

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

CONCORD, N.C.—It’s over now, so don’t ask.

Clearly tired of questions about his “drought,” Jimmie Johnson was all business Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a decisive victory in the Coca-Cola 600.

Johnson, who led a race-high 164 laps, won his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile track, ending an 11-race winless streak to start the season that matched the longest of his career.

Johnson passed Matt Kenseth in the closing laps and beat Kevin Harvick (who also got past Kenseth) by 1.272 seconds. Kenseth came home third, followed by Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray.

The victory was Johnson’s seventh at Charlotte and the 67th of his career.

Jeff Gordon finished seventh and retained the series lead by 11 points over Kenseth.

Kurt Busch’s Indianapolis 500/Coke 600 double ended early when the engine of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet erupted on Lap 273 to cause the sixth caution of the evening.

Busch finished sixth in the Indy 500 earlier in the day but completed just 271 laps (4-6.5 miles at Charlotte, leaving his car owner, Tony Stewart, as the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles of the same-day double.

“To feel the stock car right after driving the IndyCar is a day I’ll never forget,” said Busch, who finished 39th. “I can’t let the mood here, with the car, dampen what happened up in Indy today. That was very special.”

Note: Danica Patrick started fourth but lost positions with handling issues. She was the victim of a wreck on Lap 235, but that wasn’t the worst of her troubles. On Lap 286, the engine in Patrick’s no. 10 Chevy expired, and she retired in 38th place.