Exciting Last Lap for Johnson |
by Colleen Marie Lynch
Jimmie Johnson started the 125's in the 7th position. Before the race, Chad told the crew that all they
have to do is run clean and they will be fine. When Jimmie is on the track for the warm up laps, Chad has him
try his brakes because they changed the brake pads. He also tells Jimmie that his pit today is one pit away
from the pit he had for the shootout.
Jimmie starts the race by saying, "Let's do this, let's have some fun!"
On lap 4, Jimmie cuts close in front of the 17. He says, "I was trying to get to the top. The top works good.
Tell the 17 I wasn't trying to be aggressive." On lap 6, Harvick makes it three wide with Jimmie. Everyone
gets through clearly without much position change. On lap 10, Jimmie moves up to 6th where he will stay for
most of the race.
The crew tells Jimmie, "you need to run in single file, or you will get blown away pretty quick. The two car
cannot stay on the bottom." On lap 14 Jimmie tells them, "I'm definitely getting tighter as it goes on,
but I am leading the line."
On lap 20, Jimmie is running in between two packs. They tell him that he is clear all around and the 17 car
has the 6 car with him. Jimmie is running 1.709 seconds behind the leader.
On lap 29 Jimmie pits. They give him 4 new tires and some fuel, he also told them he was tight. After pits,
Jimmie spent the rest of the rest moving up. He was 10th on lap 31 running the fastest lap of the cars on the
track. On lap 32 he was 7th, lap 34 he was 6th and he moved up to 5th on lap 35 running 188.2490 again the
fastest car on the track. They remind Jimmie to "keep the fender on that thing."
Jimmie moves into 4th position on lap 42. Mark Martin gives him a good push. On lap 48 he is 0.417 behind
the leader. With one lap to go, Marlin sticks his nose under Harvick and they make contact. Both cars move
up the track and Jimmie takes the low line. Jimmie goes by both of them, but Marlin catches up and runs side
by side with him to the line just barely beating him out.
Jimmie finishes third, right behind Elliott Sadler and Sterling Marlin. Jimmie runs 184.3050 miles an hour
on his last lap finishing 0.484 behind Sadler. He ran 48/50 laps in the top 10.
The Lowes crew tell Jimmie he did a good job, and Jimmie says, "just doing my job! I like being able to use
my head a little bit."
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