Jimmie Johnson Closes the Gap
September 28, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is starting to get interesting as Sunday Mark Martin picked up the gauntlet thrown on Dover International Speedway by Jimmie Johnson in the AAA 400 and then proceeded to race his way to a second place finish at Dover that keeps him and the team in the running for the Sprint Cup Series Championship. This victory makes Johnson a definite threat to take the Sprint Cup Series Championship in his No. 48 Chevrolet, which would be the fourth in a row for his team, if he and they can manage to keep the momentum going and his car racing fast. Johnson led for a total of 271 laps in the race on his way to his fourth victory in the series for 2009, which leaves him 10 points behind his Hendrick Motorsports team mate, Martin for the series lead.
Mark Martin is starting to feel the heat
This second place finish keeps Mark Martin in the series lead in the Chase after two races of the ten that are scheduled, and must have the team owner and the team as a whole feeling pretty confident that one of these drivers is going to be the champion.
The Chase is far from over though and any of the twelve racers can still win with a hot streak and a series of good races. Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin would have to have a little let down in the remaining races for this to happen, considering how well they have both raced this year, but then anything is possible in NASCAR.
Finishing in third place in the AAA 400 was Matt Kenseth; this is his best finish since winning the second race of the season at Fontana in February and certainly a welcome change to his results. Juan Montoya kept his 2009 Sprint Cup Championship hopes alive by coming in fourth in the AAA 400, his second consecutive top-five finish in the Chase, and a reason for him to still retain hope. His finish means Montoya climbs into third place in the standings, 65 points behind Martin and just 10 points ahead of Busch in the standings. On another note, Kurt Busch was able to keep his hopes for a second Sprint Cup Series Championship alive with a fifth-place finish.
Rounding out the top ten in the AAA 400 were Jeff Gordon, A.J. Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.
“Image: Zuma Press”
