DOVER, Del. - Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed two Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover.
His slice of track history was more than just another milestone to tack on his bio.
His latest victory at his favorite track put the Chase field on notice that his run at a sixth championship in the No. 48 is gaining steam. Johnson never let Dale Earnhardt Jr. catch him down the stretch Sunday and won for a record eighth time at Dover International Speedway.
Johnson had shared the mark of seven victories on the concrete mile with Bobby Allison and Richard Petty.
“Truthfully, it was the first thought that went through my mind when I crossed the finish line,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t long after I thought about the impact of winning in the Chase.”
Johnson’s victory bumped him from third to second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Matt Kenseth, who won the first two Chase races, holds an eight-point lead over Johnson as the Chase heads to Kansas for the fourth race.
Led by Johnson’s fifth victory, the entire top 10 was made up of Chase drivers. Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer completed the top 10.
“You’ve got to win when you’re at your best track,” Johnson said. “We had to win here today. I think any points on the 18 or 20 would have been a very good day. Max points, it’s an awesome day.”
Not so much for Earnhardt, who had one of the fastest cars, but he missed pit roadand gave up the lead early in the race. He had a strong enough No. 88 Chevrolet to get back into the race and contend for his first victory of the season but couldn’t pass Johnson.
“We left everybody in the mirror. We were clicking off some laps,” Earnhardt said. “But just not fast enough to get to Jimmie.”
Kenseth kept his points lead even as he fell short in trying to become the first driver to win the first three Chase races.
“For how bad I felt like we struggled with the car, that was a decent finish,” Kenseth said.
Johnson dominated as he usually does at Dover and led 243 of the 400 laps to help extend his Chase record with his 23rd career victory in 93 startsin NASCAR’s version of the playoffs. He swept Dover in 2002 and 2009 and won races in 2005, 2010 and 2012.
He jumped a restart and served a pass-through penalty that cost him the victory in the spring race.
Crew chief Chad Knaus brought the same car back for this one and, this time, Johnson was pretty much flawless.
Johnson has his sights set on a bigger piece of NASCAR history. He’s in the hunt for his sixth Cup championship, which would put him one behind Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for most in series history.
“Jimmie is probably the most underrated champion we have in this industry,” Knaus said. “He is by far and above the most powerful driver over the course of the last 25, 35 years in this sport.”
Johnson caught a huge break when Earnhardt slowed during a green-flag pit stop and missed the entrance to pit road. He went from holding a 3.7-second lead on Johnson to trailing by more than 9 seconds after he finally made his stop.
Johnson took the lead - and took off for his 65th victory in 428 career starts. Even smart pit strategy that included a late four-tire stop wasn’t enough to boost Earnhardt past his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
Other Chase driver finishes include, Kasey Kahne in 13th, Kurt Busch 21st, and Carl Edwards 35th. Edwards entered fourth in the standings but plummeted to 11th once a late tire issue sent him to the garage.
Mark Martin (Batesville)finished in 19th place.
Most drivers insisted this weekend that it would not be a three-driver Chase. With seven races left, Kyle Busch is third and only 12 points back. But Harvick and Gordon are 39 points out, and Biffle and Newman are both more than 40 points behind.
It’s going to take major problems out of the top three and an improbable winning streak from some drivers in the back to shake up the standings.
Kyle Busch two second-place finishes and a fifth to open the Chase.
“It’s certainly appealing and you could be happy with it,” he said, “but we’re a little disappointed at the same time.”TRUCK SERIES Peters pulls away
LAS VEGAS - Timothy Peters raced to his second NASCAR Truck Series victory of the year and seventh overall Saturday night, pulling away on a late restart at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jennifer Jo Cobb forced the final caution, hitting the wall in the second turn on the 1½ - mile track. Series victory leader Ron Hornaday Jr. had the lead on the restart with two laps to go, but quickly dropped to fifth and finished sixth.
Peters said the recent restart-procedure change that allows the second-place driver to beat the first-place driver to the start-finish line worked in his favor against Hornaday, notoriously known for his restart prowess.
“Watching Ron, when we were trying to pass him, he’d run middle to the top,” Peters said. “Anytime that he would get down on the white line, he’d get really loose. We scanned everybody, so I had information he was going to take the top and it played intoour favor.
“It ain’t too many times that you catch the restart king sleeping, and we caught him sleeping tonight.”
Johnny Sauter was second, followed by Miguel Paludo, pole-sitter Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr.
Sports, Pages 15 on 09/30/2013