Posts tagged nascar
Kurt Busch wins. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski fued continues.
Mar 8th
Kurt Busch survived two overtime restarts and a spectacular crash involving Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to win Sunday’s wild Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Matt Kenseth was second by .483 of a second.
Jimmie Johnson gets win after Jeff Gordon dominates Vegas
Feb 28th
Jeff Gordon dominated Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by leading 218 of the 267 laps. But it was Jimmie Johnson who won his second straight race by passing teammate Gordon with 16 laps to go.
Johnson took four tires and restarted fourth. When the race resumed he latched onto Gordon’s bumper and followed him for several laps before making the pass and pulling away for his 49th career victory and fourth at Las Vegas. The four-time defending series champion also won last week in California.
Gordon fell back to third after Kevin Harvick got by him to finish in the second spot.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves on to Atlanta next week.
Jimmie Johnson catches a break to win 48th career Sprint Cup win
Feb 22nd
Jimmie Johnson gets 48th career win
It was the 48th career win for Jimmie Johnson and team 48, and it was an early-season sign that Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 1 team is rolling along just fine only two weeks into the long and winding Sprint Cup schedule.
Johnson led the final 24 laps and won Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway as challenger Kevin Harvick slipped and slid into the outside wall in the closing laps.
Harvick, who chased Johnson over the final 20 laps, eliminated a two-second deficit and drove onto Johnson’s bumper with five laps to go. Harvick’s Chevrolet slipped and brushed the wall with three laps to go, however, killing his momentum and giving Johnson an open door to his 48th career win.
“Life is good, man,” said Johnson, who is pursuing his fifth straight Sprint Cup championship. “We’re right back in victory lane.”
Potholes Delay Daytona 500
Feb 14th
The Daytona 500 was delayed for 1 hour and 40 minutes earlier today due to a pothole in the pavement. It was unclear how or when the hole developed on an area between turns one and two, but officials stopped Sunday’s race with 78 laps remaining in the 200-lap season-opening race.
NASCAR’s biggest race has been delayed again now with 39 laps to go.
Jimmie Johnson & Kasey Kahne win Daytona qualifying races
Feb 12th
Jimmie Johnson nipped Kevin Harvick by 0.005 seconds in the first race, then Kasey Kahne edged Tony Stewart by 0.014 seconds to set the field for this weekend’s season-opening Daytona 500.
Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are on the front row. Starting grid.
Jimmie Johnson takes AP’s Top Athlete Award
Dec 26th
Jimmie Johnson was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 2009.
For Johnson, the first race car driver to be named the AP’s Athlete of the Year in its 78-year history, the award is the validation he’s been waiting for since he began his historic run in 2006.
“We’d been wondering the last few years, ‘When is this going to hit?’” Johnson said Monday after the award was announced. “It seems like the answer is now. The wave is finally peaking, and we don’t know where it’s going to take us. The fourth straight title takes it out of our sport and makes it a point of discussion — like, ‘Wow, a race car driver won this thing.’”
Johnson being named the top athlete of course becomes a matter of contention among those who question whether or not race car drivers are legitimate athletes.
Johnson takes issue with those sort of assertions.
“So to anyone who wants to go head-to-head with me in athletic ability, let’s go,” Johnson said. “I talked a lot with (former NFL cornerback and friend) Jason Sehorn about this, and I don’t know how exactly you measure athletic ability, but I know my 5-mile run time will destroy most NFL players.”
Johnson received 42 votes from editors at U.S. newspapers which are members of the AP. Tennis star Roger Federer (30 votes) and Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt (29) were the only other athletes with totals in the double- digits.
Although Tiger Woods was named Athlete of the Decade, the golfer received only nine votes for Athlete of the Year. He was tied with NBA star Kobe Bryant and slugger Albert Pujols in fourth place. Woods, who was ranked No. 1 in his sport but failed to win one of golf’s majors this season, was never a top contender—even before the sex scandal that unraveled his personal life following a Nov. 27 traffic accident.
