Ultimate Race Day

By: Chris McCaffrey

Photo Credit:  DailyPress

Just two races into the Chase for the Sprint Cup and the Hendrick Motorsports dynamic duo of  Jimmie “Superman” Johnson and Mark “The  Kid” Martin raise the bar again and emerge as the two teams to beat for the 2009  championship.  Jimmie Johnson took the pole for the start of the AAA 400 at The Monster Mile of Dover International Speedway and dominated 271 of the 400 laps for his 4th checkered flag this season.  If the #48 teams past performance winning four of the last eight races of the 2008 season is any indicator, you can bet that this NASCAR dynasty has its sights on a 4-peat for 2009.   If there is anyone that can unseat this championship team, it will be from the same stable of racers and the #5 of Mark Martin and his Crew Chief Alan Gustafson.  With a second place finish at Dover and a win at Louden, New Hampshire last week, Mark remains in the top points position for the Chase with Johnson, Montoya,  and Bush trailing -10, -65, and -75 points respectively.  Jimmie will be the one to beat at the next stop on the calendar for the Price Chopper 400 in Kansas City.  I wonder if Carl Edwards has perfected the Banzai move he unsuccessfully tried to pull off last year to pass Jimmie Johnson for the win.

Chad Knaus nailed the set up off the hauler at Dover and made no changes during the first pit stop during the competition caution at lap 25.  Jimmie was dialed in.  Shortly thereafter on lap 31  after a double file restart the #20 of Joey Logano got caught up in a monster wreck after checking up and getting hit from behind by Tony Stewart. Logano spun to the lower part of the track, then slid up and hit the wall before the #43 of Reed Sorensen broadsided the #20 sending it into a series of 7-8 slow motion rolls down the track.  Thankfully Logano emerged from the car shaken, though unscathed… a true testament to the safety of the COT.  Robby Gordon and Martin Truex also got caught up in the wreck that brought out the red flag.

Kurt Bush pushed the blue duece out front for 99 laps midway through the race to finish in the top 5.  Bush was the only other dominating leader all day other than Johnson.   It would appear that the #42  – Juan Pablo Montoya had the fastest car at times and was the one to challange the #48 for the win.  After qualifying second and running in the same position for the majority of the race, Monotya and Brian Pattie could not match the mastery of Johnson and Knaus.

Smoke, Hamlin and Newman are still in the hunt for the Championship, though with 8 to go and at lease 100 points behind the leaders, they just don’t seem to have enough juice to surpass the class of the field,  Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson.  Be assured Juan Pablo will not go down without a fight, especially after getting pinched down on the bottom of the track at Louden by Martin in the final laps.

On to Kanas City.