This is not something new to hear this month. Jimmie Johnson has return back to victories and bounces back to defend his NASCAR Cup title
After a remarkable duel with Kurt Busch, JJ claimed victory in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and celebrated his success with a huge drifting smoky cloud in front of his fans. Starting the season in solid form, Johnson had been in a mini-slump but after his back-to-back victories at Infineon Raceway and New Hampshire Speedway he edged closer to a position with which he’s become familiar – first place in the Sprint Cup point standings. Johnson trimmed his deficit to leader Kevin Harvick to 105 points with nine races remaining before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins and there is every reason to believe that Johnson will be one of the favorites – possibly the favorite – as he pursues a fifth straight Sprint Cup championship.
The NHMS victory gave Johnson five for the season, tying him with Denny Hamlin for the seasonal lead and boosting his Chase bonus points total to 50.
"It’s definitely a big step. This Lowe’s team has been working so hard to just have what we need when the Chase comes around, and to win at a Chase track in the spring or the first time we go to one, gives us a lot of confidence coming back."
Although Johnson was the top dog at the end of the race, he wasn’t dominant. He led only nine laps. In the early going, he wasn’t a victorious factor as Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch were the big guns at the front.
Johnson continued:
"Especially since there is so little grip here, track position is very important because of clean air. You need the entire race track to make a good lap time. And, if you get mired in traffic, it just gets really frustrating. We lost some track position, but I just kept my head down and stayed focused and picked them off one at a time. Chad [crew chief Chad Knaus] had some great strategy, pitting a lap or two early over some guys, and we were able to get out on the track and make up time and pick up a couple of spots there."
Busch had shocked Johnson on Lap 294 of 301 at the 1.058-mile track when he shoved Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet up the track in Turn 3, moments after the final restart of the race. Busch's lead was short-lived, however, as Johnson bumped him on Lap 299 and completed the winning pass in Turn 1 on Lap 300.
Tony Stewart ran second, .753 seconds behind Johnson, after his No. 14 Chevy slid into Busch's Dodge in Turn 1 while overtaking him for the runner-up spot. Busch finished third, ahead of Jeff Gordon and Cup points leader Kevin Harvick.
Gordon, who had angered fellow drivers -- particularly Martin Truex Jr. -- with his aggression at Toyota/ Save Mart 350 left New Hampshire unscathed.
Johnson commented his duel with Kurt Busch:
"When we got going on the restart, Kurt knocked me out of the way, and I thought, 'I don't care if I win this race or not -- I don't care if I finish this damn thing -- I am running into him and getting back by him one way or another. I'm not good at doing that stuff. Usually I crash myself in the process, so I tried once and moved him -- [and thought] 'Oh, yeah, I've got to hit him harder' -- and the second time I moved him out of the way and was able to get by him and was able to get going. I have to say I was a little shocked, and I haven't spoken to him or really seen any video to know, if he slipped and accidentally got into me or that was his intention," Johnson said. "If it was his intention, that's the first time in nine years racing with him that I have experienced that and definitely changed the way that I race with him from that point moving on.
My thought process was, 'Wreck his ass.' And my end result was like, 'You can't do that, you'll wreck yourself, you'll look like a fool. You still have a chance to win the race, focus on your job and do your job.'
It made it easier for me to get off the brake a little earlier and nudge him. But I don't want people to think, 'Oh, I can knock the 48 out of the way because he's not going to wreck me.' That's the last thing I want people to think. He didn't wreck me, and at the end of the day, I guess I didn't owe him a visit to the fence, so it worked itself out."
To Busch, the move and countermove were the essence of short-track racing -- and nothing out of the ordinary.
"It wasn't because he did something that I had to do something, or since I did something, he had to do it back. Driving down into Turn 3, I saw my window, and it was a perfect time to go for it, because our car was good on the short run, and once four or five laps got on the tires, I knew we were going to have a hard time holding them off and he was still going to be right there.
So just a classic get-in-the-corner-a-little-bit-deeper-than-the-other-guy. We didn't just flat out wreck them. We didn't cut his tire. We didn't drive over him. It was just a nice nudge that we are all used to seeing and appreciating on short tracks."
