As the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series nears the halfway point of its season, the No. 48 Chevrolet team seems to be easily found in a place they’re plenty familiar with – victory lane.
Four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson passed Kyle Busch with two laps remaining to capture the Lenox tools 301 at New Hampshire International Speedway for his fifth win of 2010.
Johnson, leading when the field took the final restart with seven laps to go, was passed by Kyle Busch after the No. 18 Toyota made contact with Johnson’s Chevrolet. Johnson was clearly frustrated after the contact, and appeared determined to return the favor to Busch.
He did just that, nudging Busch’s car before squeezing by on the inside of the Toyota to take the lead with just two laps remaining, and held off Busch for the win.
“I thought, I don’t care if I win this race or not,” Johnson said following his victory. “I don’t care if I finish this damn thing. I’m running into him and get by him one way or another. I’m not good at doing that stuff. Usually I crash myself in the process. So I tried it once and moved him. The second time I moved him out of the way and got by him.”
Kasey Kahne started second and led a race high 110 of 301 laps, but engine troubles with 65 laps remaining hampered the No. 9’s attempts for their first win of 2010. “When you put it on the track, they’re not supposed to break,” Kahne said of the engine. “It’s probably just something small inside that happened, but when we brought it here, we had no idea that it would break. It’s ready. It’s prepared.”
Tony Stewart finished second at one of his most successful tracks. Kurt Busch finished third, while Jeff Gordon finished fourth with little incident following his aggressive driving at last weekend’s Sonoma race. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five and remains the points leader with nine races remaining until the Chase for the Cup begins.
Jeff Burton, second on laps led with 89, appeared at one point to be moving towards his first victory in nearly two years, gambled on pit strategy late, remaining out while several leaders pitted. The plan backfired, and Burton dropped back in the field late to finish 12th.
Mayetta native Martin Truex Jr. started 26th and finished 22nd after an uneventful day.
The race saw a span of over 200 laps without a caution, with only four cautions accounting for a mere 19 laps.
Nationwide Series:
Kyle Busch led 126 of 200 laps en route to his sixth victory of 2010. Busch became the all-time laps leader in Nationwide Series history, accumulating a total of 8,118 laps in his young career. Brad Keselowski was second, followed by Carl Edwards in third, Joey Logano in fourth, and Trevor Bayne in fifth.
Danica Patrick made her first Nationwide Series start since late February, starting 25th and ending 30th.
Coming Up: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series head back to the Daytona International Speedway for a holiday weekend of racing under the lights.
Bruce Knoll, 18, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at bknoll jr4cmcherald@yahoo.com
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