Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Jimmie Johnson displays his dominance again in Las Vegas

NASCAR Shelby American 350

Sam Morris

Jimmie Johnson celebrates his victor in the NASCAR Shelby American GT 350 Sunday, February 28, 2010 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was Johnson’s fourth career victory in Las Vegas.

Jimmie Johnson Wins at LVMS

For the fourth time in six years, Jimmie Johnson cruises to victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning the Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup series, Sunday.

NASCAR Sunday

Jimmie Johnson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American GT 350 auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, February 28, 2010. Launch slideshow »

Jimmie Johnson has developed a Sunday race routine.

Step A: Take the lead from one of the other NASCAR Sprint Cup series drivers and never relinquish it. Step B: Celebrate the win in victory lane. Step C: Talk afterwards about never being satisfied and wanting more wins.

Johnson followed this formula again Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he won his 49th career Sprint Cup race and fourth in Las Vegas.

He’s now won on two consecutive weekends and taken two of the first three Sprint Cup races on NASCAR’s schedule.

“I don’t know if it’s just our makeup or mindset, but we get off to a quick start and we’re sitting here thinking we can’t sit still,” Johnson said. “Complacency will kill you.”

But Johnson’s car was the most deadly device Sunday. After a poor qualifying run Friday, Johnson started the race in 20th position.

He worked his way gradually to the front all afternoon as Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon controlled the lead.

Gordon, who won Las Vegas’ Sprint Cup race in 2001, set a track record by leading for 222 of the 267 laps. But Johnson, who won in Las Vegas three consecutive years from 2005-2007, caught Gordon with 16 laps to go and sucked the suspense out of the finish.

“I had been chasing him all day and wasn’t sure if I would get by him,” Johnson said. “But I just kept putting a lot of pressure on him, hoping I could make him make a mistake and hoping I could get him to overdrive his car and do something wrong. Finally, I was able to get to the side of him.”

But Gordon said the race was lost before that moment. Gordon’s fate was sealed after his final pit stop, where he and his team decided to put only two new tires on his car instead of replacing all four.

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus went with four tires, which gave Johnson’s car the speed needed to pass Gordon.

“We came here to win,” Gordon said. “We knew we were going to have take chances and risks and we did throughout the day. But I thought more people would take two tires and it just didn’t work out for us.”

Gordon finished in third after Kevin Harvick, who won Saturday night’s Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, passed him in the final laps.

Harvick also finished second to Johnson at last week’s Fontana race.

“I felt like at the end of the run, we were just as good as they were,” Harvick said. “We can run with them and they know it.”

With the victory, Johnson now holds the all-time record for most victories at 1.5-mile tracks with 15.

Johnson, however, is focused on only one thing: Winning his fifth consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship.

“We need to keep collecting points, winning races, get to the Chase,” Johnson said. “Then, we’ll do what we’re really here for.”

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