Chase Race Two, the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway was actually a rebound race for 6-times Dover winner Jimmie Johnson who stormed into the Monster Mile without speeding penalties that caused him almost a certain victory during the Spring event, Autism Speaks 400 in May.
His AAA 400 victory
Johnson re-established himself as a Chase power with a dominant presence at Dover after taking the pole position, most led laps bonus (190 of 400) and finally the chequered flag ahead of Jeff Burton with a a convincing 2.637 seconds, gathering maximum race points (195) that gives Johnson a necessary chase boost to 2nd chase position 35 points behind Denny Hamlin which is the largest leading gap in Chase history after two races, but no driver who has led the standings after two races has gone on to win the title in the end.
Referring to the 2010 season so far and his latest 25th-place run at Loudon, N.H. in the Chase opener, Johnson commented.
[Sunday] is a great day for us, because it shows us what we are capable of and the fact that we can win races and be competitive in this Chase. This summer was hard on us -- there's no way around that. We had bad races and finished bad. We had good races and finished bad. So it's nice to do things start-to-finish all weekend long on the right foot... Last week didn’t turn out how we want. But that’s racing. It’s going to happen in the Chase. There’s this huge weight off my shoulders. We wanted to win a race in the Chase and rebound from last weekend. I’m really excited. We did a great job today, and we’re in the right position. We did the best thing possible.
Most impressive in the early part of the race was AJ Allmendinger, who led 143 laps before a right-rear tire problem knocked him from the lead. He came back from two laps down to finish 10th and later said a washer inside the wheel caused a tire leak. Johnson regained the lead from Carl Edwards on Lap 366 of 400, when Edwards brought his No. 99 Ford to pit road during a cycle of green-flag stops and Johnson pulled away from Burton in the final 35 laps.
Burton hadn't written off Johnson's No. 48 team after New Hampshire -- far from it.
"Well, they're good... They're not good -- they're great. That word is not being overused when I say that. They've won four [championships] in a row. You're not good doing that. You have to be great to do that.
They've been in the hunt. They've been in the mix. I think they're as seasoned as you can possibly be together. They fought the fights together. They haven't won every championship together. They've lost some, too. Through losing some, you gain wisdom. Through winning some, you gain wisdom. They perform. That's what they did.
I expected them to come here and perform. This is one of their best race tracks. It didn't surprise me to see them run as well as they did."
Race was not a good one for Clint Bowyer, who was in the news after his NASCAR penalty due to car infractions in the first Chase race. Bowyer tapped the wall early in the race, later was penalized for speeding on pit road and finished 25th. He remains 12th in Cup points. A pit-road speeding penalty also cost a good performance for Tony Stewart, who lost a lap early in the race and also was nailed by a pit-strategy decision. He finished 21st and is 10th in points, a big 162 point behind Hamlin.
Hamlin, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick, who dropped three points positions Sunday, make up the Chase top five entering Kansas.
