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Playoff field set with Sunday's outcome
DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Sunday, Sep. 07, 2008
Jimmie Johnson crosses the finish line ahead of Tony Stewart to win the Chevy 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (John Harrelson Photography/Getty Images)
RICHMOND - Jimmie Johnson plans to start the Chase for the Sprint Cup worried about the 11 other guys. That'll work right out, since those 11 guys will undoubtedly be fairly wary of the two-time defending champion in NASCAR's playoff.
Johnson will be the No. 3 seed as the Chase begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 40 points behind Kyle Busch and 10 behind Carl Edwards.
But the driver who has made late-season surges a habit is giving off ominous signs once more, completing a back-to-back in the final two regular-season races with a win in Sunday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
"I have confidence in what my abilities are and in what my team is capable," Johnson said after outdueling Tony Stewart in the final 10 laps to win for the fourth time this year. "I just want to show up next week worried about all 11 of them and just do my job."
That group of Chase contenders will include Clint Bowyer, who clung to the last slot in the 12-driver, 10-race playoff. Bowyer held off David Ragan, who started the 26th race just 17 points behind Bowyer, and Kasey Kahne with a 12th-place finish here.
"Hell, yeah, there was," Bowyer said when asked if there was panic in his No. 07 Chevrolet during an up-and-down day. "I was about to go a lap down and that was nerve-wracking. But we kept our composure. ...You see your Chase hopes gong by the wayside there. ...But luckily things worked out."
For Bowyer, yes. Because of 10 bonus points for his win here earlier this year and by virtue of the tie-breaking process, Bowyer actually starts the Chase as the No. 5 seed with 5,010 points.
For Ragan? Not so much.
Kahne came in 48 points behind Bowyer. But while he finished 19th and actually is now eight points ahead of Ragan in 13th, Kahne never really showed much sign of pulling out what might have been the only Chase slot for Dodge.
Ragan, though, actually inched ahead of Bowyer in the "as of now" standings during the race despite having spun in Turn 2 on Lap 122, hitting the wall and getting hit by Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth.
Ragan and his team fought back, though, staying on the track when Kyle Busch spun on Lap 242 to bring out a yellow. Bowyer's team then stumbled on a stop and things turned upside down for a while.
But a yellow kept Bowyer from going a lap down. Then, on Lap 332, Bowyer was low through turns 1 and 2 when he got into Regan Smith's bumper. Smith's car ricocheted into the fender of Ragan's Ford, pushing the sheet metal in on a tire.
"He (Bowyer) just gave the 01 a shot and I happened to be on the outside of him," said Ragan, who finished 32nd.
Bowyer said the circumstances were just that -- circumstances.
"You want to be able to earn your way into this thing," he said. "It would be pretty chicken of you to do something like that on purpose. It was just an unfortunate situation."
Fortune turned to Johnson's favor after the leaders' final pit stop. His crew got him out second, behind only Martin Truex Jr., a spot ahead of Stewart, and Johnson took the lead from Truex on Lap 367.
Stewart kept chasing Johnson and with about 12 laps left his No. 20 Toyota was to the leader's rear bumper.
Stewart moved to the inside to challenge for the lead and was actually ahead at the line on laps 390 and 391.
But Johnson made the outside line work and, on Lap 394, cleared Stewart once again. "I could kind of run on the top and keep him pinned down on the bottom and let him beat up his tires," Johnson said.
Stewart, again denied his first win of the season, was not terribly introspective about how that battle played out.
"We got down there and we couldn't get by," Stewart said. "Can we ... just leave it was we ran second and we had a good, hard-fought battle? ... That's the moral of the story. Shoot, we could sit here for hours and try to dissect exactly why we didn't win."
Johnson, understandably, was more enthusiastically reflective.
"I loved it," Johnson said. "I was driving my butt off. That's how you want to win a race, going against one of the best in the business. ...I am glad I cleared him there because if I hadn't I am pretty sure I would have ended up torn up."
Busch finished 15th after almost getting his car torn up in a Lap 212 incident with a taste, at least, of déjà vu.
At the same track where Busch nudged Earnhardt Jr. out of the lead with a late-race bump in May, Earnhardt Jr. bumped Busch toward the Turn 2 wall as they were fighting for the lead.
Was it revenge? "Who knows?" Busch said.
Naw, Earnhardt Jr. said.
"If I wreck somebody, I am not going to leave him in good enough shape to come back and get me in the same race," he said.
Busch's eight regular-season victories give him 5,080 points with which to start the Chase. He and Johnson shared a postrace interview and both tried to partly embrace and partly reject the favorite's role for what's to come.
"It's a lot better to be at the top," Busch said. "That makes it look a lot prettier from our seat."
Johnson certainly knows the view.