No low point for the Lowe’s Chevy

By Mike Smith (contact)

Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 | 8:25 p.m.

Nothing seems to be able to stop the highly focused and motivated Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus from marching toward a third Cup championship. A NASCAR track could be hit by an earthquake, a meteor and a swarm of locusts and the No. 48 team would still find a way to accomplish a respectable finish that would preserve the team’s points lead.

After suffering a penalty for speeding down pit road, Johnson and his team battled back from being a lap down to finish second to Carl Edwards. Johnson was as far back as 30th at one point during the race. Edwards was lucky the race didn’t have an additional 10 laps because he probably would have had to hold off Johnson, who made his late-race charge after taking four tires with eight laps to go. In his post-race interview, Edwards seemed dismayed to learn that Johnson had managed to pull off a second-place finish.

Johnson gained 34 points to end up 183 points ahead of Edwards, who only made up 15 points on Johnson. The no. 48 team demonstrated why it is in the position to win a third consecutive championship by remaining cool under pressure and by facing unforeseen obstacles with the attitude that no problem is insurmountable. It was a remarkable performance.

A number of race teams had to break out the Mylanta at Atlanta as they also faced troubles during the race. Kurt Busch finished sixth and led 12 laps after slapping the wall early in the race. His team continues to show signs of improvement, but with rumors flying that Kurt wants to leave Penske’s organization, it will be interesting to see if he remains with this team. Matt Kenseth led the most laps, but the strong cars of Edwards, Johnson and Hamlin relegated Kenseth to a fourth–place finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th. He also slapped the wall during Sunday’s event. Hamlin looked like the car to beat towards the end of the race, but a series of late-race cautions for debris resulted in a few tire-spinning restarts for the No. 11 car, which gave Edwards the opportunity to grab the lead. Hamlin finished the race in the third position.

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The guys from Goodyear must have been relieved that the tire woes that afflicted the spring race were not factors on Sunday.

Nevertheless, drivers had their hands full for a majority of the race due to the loose condition of most of the cars. The in-car camera shots of Edwards sawing back and forth on the steering wheel made for great viewing and several of the drivers looked like Kyle Busch as they slid through the turns for most of the race. It’s amazing how a driver like Edwards can drive under those conditions for over 300 laps and then have the energy to do a back flip off of the car after winning the race.

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NASCAR confiscated the rear-end housing of the No. 18 car after the race. NASCAR wants to electronically check the measurements of the housing at its Development Center in Concord, N.C.

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Finally, it’s nice to see Edwards remove his sunglasses when the media interview him. Most of the sunglasses worn by the drivers make them look like large-eyed insects.

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