Avenue Vine

Johnson drove the wheels off his Chevrolet when it mattered Sunday, passing Tony Stewart with three laps to go to capture the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was Johnson’s second-consecutive Cup victory, his third-consecutive top-three finish and something of a statement race.

Stewart appeared to have the race in the bag, with a lead of 1.297 seconds with 305 of 325 laps completed. But six laps later, a caution flag flew for debris NASCAR discovered in Turn 3. With all the cars close on fuel mileage and on old tires, the field pitted one last time, with Stewart emerging in the lead, ahead of 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth and Johnson, who lost one spot in the pits.

The green flag flew for the last time on Lap 315 and Stewart sailed away clearly into the lead. Just two circuits later, though, Johnson was around Kenseth for second place and took off in hot pursuit of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet.

Johnson got underneath Stewart only to have the door slammed on him twice as he couldn’t make the pass for the lead stick. Finally, on Lap 323, Johnson set up Stewart brilliantly, going low in Turn 1 and taking the lead. Unlike prior attempts, though, Stewart couldn’t keep Johnson pinned to the bottom and force him to lift.

“Nobody ever likes to hit the wall,” Stewart said. “I wish he’d have given me a little more room. I don’t think I ever pinched him. He had a faster car, and he probably would have gotten around us anyway, but at least I’d like to have the chance to race him for it.”

At the line, it was Johnson by 1.311 seconds over Stewart, with Matt Kenseth third in a Roush-Fenway Racing Ford. Jeff Burton was fourth in the first of the three Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets, with a surprising Juan-Pablo Montoya earning his first Nextel Cup top-five finish in one of Chip Ganassi’s Dodges.

“I can’t say I’ve ever driven a race car that hard before,” Johnson said. “That was a great, great race.”

The victory was Johnson’s 25th of his career and the 151st for the powerhourse Hendrick outfit, which certainly appears primed for another title run to go with last year’s crown. The California native averaged a blistering 152.915 miles per hour in a race that was slowed by just six cautions totaling 27 laps.
Jimmie Johnson crosses the finish line to win the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Of those six cautions, four were for debris and one was for oil on the track. Over the entire 500-mile distance, there was but one accident, which occurred on Lap 231, when Greg Biffle drifted up high on the backstretch and into David Reutimann, wrecking himself, Kasey Kahne and the Toyotas of Reutimann and Vickers in the process.

Beyond that, it was an unusually quiet race until the end, with Johnson and Stewart taking turns dominating the proceedings. Johnson led 135 laps and Stewart 121, with no else leading more than 30.

Mark Martin finished 10th to leave Atlanta with his Nextel Cup points lead intact, though he reiterated on several occasions this weekend that he will not race next weekend at Bristol.

RACE RESULTS:

Kobalt Tools 500

Pos. Driver Start No. Mfg. Led Completed Status Pts/Bonus Money
1 Jimmie Johnson 3 #48 Chevrolet 135 325 running 195/10 $233,261
2 Tony Stewart 13 #20 Chevrolet 121 325 running 175/5 $165,461
3 Matt Kenseth 21 #17 Ford 11 325 running 170/5 $145,016
4 Jeff Burton 32 #31 Chevrolet 2 325 running 165/5 $134,516
5 Juan Pablo Montoya 16 #42 Dodge 0 325 running 155/0 $126,200
6 Clint Bowyer 15 #07 Chevrolet 2 325 running 155/5 $87,925
7 Carl Edwards 14 #99 Ford 0 325 running 146/0 $86,625
8 Martin Truex Jr. 18 #1 Chevrolet 0 325 running 142/0 $109,520
9 Reed Sorenson 11 #41 Dodge 1 325 running 143/5 $104,433
10 Mark Martin 4 #01 Chevrolet 0 325 running 134/0 $112,183
11 Kurt Busch 17 #2 Dodge 14 325 running 135/5 $110,408
12 Jeff Gordon 5 #24 Chevrolet 30 325 running 132/5 $118,561
13 David Stremme 7 #40 Dodge 0 325 running 124/0 $75,875
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 22 #8 Chevrolet 0 325 running 121/0 $116,133
15 Jamie McMurray 37 #26 Ford 0 325 running 118/0 $83,475
16 Bobby Labonte 6 #43 Dodge 1 325 running 120/5 $110,911
17 Joe Nemechek 19 #13 Chevrolet 0 325 running 112/0 $70,075
18 Elliott Sadler 2 #19 Dodge 1 325 running 114/5 $92,670
19 Denny Hamlin 30 #11 Chevrolet 0 324 running 106/0 $88,650
20 Robby Gordon 39 #7 Ford 0 324 running 103/0 $75,725
21 Mike Bliss 9 #49 Dodge 0 324 running 100/0 $86,783
22 J.J. Yeley 20 #18 Chevrolet 0 324 running 97/0 $100,233
23 Ryan Newman 1 #12 Dodge 0 324 running 94/0 $111,000
24 Sterling Marlin 28 #14 Chevrolet 0 324 running 91/0 $84,333
25 Kevin Harvick 36 #29 Chevrolet 1 324 running 93/5 $117,736
26 Ricky Rudd 42 #88 Ford 0 323 running 85/0 $102,283
27 Dave Blaney 35 #22 Toyota 1 323 running 87/5 $88,572
28 Casey Mears 34 #25 Chevrolet 0 323 running 79/0 $78,375
29 Johnny Sauter 26 #70 Chevrolet 0 323 running 76/0 $67,700
30 David Gilliland 27 #38 Ford 0 323 running 73/0 $95,289
31 Paul Menard 23 #15 Chevrolet 0 323 running 70/0 $67,500
32 Kyle Busch 8 #5 Chevrolet 0 322 running 67/0 $75,425
33 David Ragan 38 #6 Ford 0 322 running 64/0 $104,125
34 Kyle Petty 40 #45 Dodge 0 322 running 61/0 $67,275
35 Jeff Green 41 #66 Chevrolet 0 322 running 58/0 $75,240
36 Dale Jarrett 43 #44 Toyota 0 320 running 55/0 $67,205
37 Ken Schrader 29 #21 Ford 0 318 running 52/0 $87,384
38 Tony Raines 33 #96 Chevrolet 0 318 running 49/0 $75,885
39 Kasey Kahne 12 #9 Dodge 0 306 running 46/0 $114,291
40 David Reutimann 24 #00 Toyota 0 295 running 43/0 $67,060
41 Greg Biffle 25 #16 Ford 0 280 running 40/0 $85,015
42 Brian Vickers 31 #83 Toyota 5 227 accident 42/5 $67,270
43 Scott Riggs 10 #10 Dodge 0 221 engine 34/0 $74,334

Source: “It's Johnson Again In Atlanta,” Tom Jensen, SPEED, Hampton, Ga.–March 19, 2007