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Johnson set to make his Chase move at Martinsville
  
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson hears the chatter in the garage and knows that some of his fellow drivers have grown weary of seeing him win races and championships.
And why not?
He’s won 23 races in the past three seasons, and claimed the points championship each year, too, becoming the only driver other than Cale Yarborough to win three straight.
And he’s probably not done. Johnson takes a 90-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin into Sunday’s race on the paper clip-shaped oval of Martinsville Speedway, where Johnson does some of his best work. He’s has won five of the last six races here, including the last three in the fall during NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs.
“I pick that up from time to time with the guys,” he said of a feeling they have grown frustrated by his relentless success, “but in the end I’m really just trying to focus on trying to do my job and not spend time worrying about what other people are thinking.”
What some of them are thinking, though, is pretty impressive.
Martin has referred to Johnson as “Superman” and said he thinks Johnson would have fared well in stock car racing’s rough-and-tumble days.
“Had he been here with me when I was racing Dale Earnhardt in the early ’90s for the title, I think Jimmie would have held his ground,” Martin said, adding that while Earnhardt just got in the car and drove it, Johnson takes notes on technical matters after races.
Johnson will start 15th in Sunday’s race, and while there is an undeniable sense that he’s making his move toward a record fourth consecutive title, Martin isn’t conceding with five races remaining.
“I’m going to race him for it,” Martin said. “I’m not giving up, not one bit.”
Nor is Jeff Gordon, the Hendrick team’s other Chase driver. The four-time Sprint Cup champion is in third 45 points behind Martin.
Though he toed the company line about being happy to see three Hendrick teams at the top of the points standings, he also admitted to being conflicted at times.
Gordon won his last championship in 2001, the season before Johnson came to Hendrick full time. Gordon has beaten Johnson in the final standings just once since then, and has watched Johnson replace him as NASCAR’S dominant star.
He and Johnson are friends, but might be better friends in 15 or 20 years when Gordon is no longer trying to beat Johnson on the track and being frustrated by not doing it.
“Yeah, there’s definitely been some challenging moments and days,” he said. “It gets harder to go to victory lane and congratulate them when you want it as badly for yourself.”
Perhaps even worse for Gordon, while he became the object of fans jeers when it seemed like no one could touch him, Johnson does not receive the hearty boos despite his success.
And it just continues.
Carl Edwards, who was slowed earlier this season when he injured a foot playing Frisbee, joked that he wanted to invite Johnson out for a game on Friday, just to try to slow him down somehow. Edwards is 10th in the points and essentially out of contention.
“Right now, they’re just unbelievable,” he said. “The way those guys run, you’d spin the guy out and he would back in the wall and they’d fix it and he’d come back and win anyway.”
That luck can change, though. Just ask Kurt Busch, who is in fifth, 177 points off Johnson’s pace.
In 2004, Busch had a 92-point lead heading to Atlanta for the 33rd of 36 races.
“We blew an engine, and that lead blew up in smoke,” he said. “Anything can happen.”
Busch relinquished his points lead that day, but wound up winning the championship by eight points. The guy he passed to claim his only title? Jimmie Johnson.
Griese apologizes for Montoya remark
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — ESPN broadcaster Bob Griese apologized at the end of Saturday’s Ohio State-Minnesota football game for a remark he made about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
Earlier in the telecast, during a promotion for coverage of NASCAR’s Chase for the championship, a graphic listed the top five drivers in the points race. Fellow analyst Chris Spielman asked where was Montoya, who is Colombian. Griese replied that he was “out having a taco.”
As the telecast was wrapping up, Griese, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Miami Dolphins quarterback, apologized for the remark and said that Montoya is one of the best drivers in NASCAR.
In a statement released later, ESPN called the remark “inappropriate” and said Griese plans to apologize again Saturday night during the network’s college football coverage.
“ESPN has spoken to Bob and he understands that his comment was uncalled for,” the statement said.
Keselowski holds off Busch to win at Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Brad Keselowski held off points leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to win the Kroger On Track For the Cure 250 in a green-white-checker finish in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Keselowski was leading when a caution came out with two laps to go because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth’s car after the race and the two had words on pit road.
Keselowski held onto the lead through the overtime segment. Busch finished second and leads Carl Edwards by 215 points in the standings.
Busch was on Keselowski’s rear bumper coming out of the final turn. Keselowski got loose but held on for his fourth Nationwide win of the year.
Jason Leffler finished third, while Mike Bliss and Brendan Gaughan completed the top five. Edwards, who won this race last year, was sixth.
There were 14 cautions on the day, with the last one setting up an exciting finish.
Keselowski led 34 of the eventual 254 laps in earning his first victory at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Edwards, Busch and two other Sprint Cup drivers were sent to the rear of the grid to start the race because substitute drivers had qualified for them. The Cup drivers had been at Martinsville earlier in the day preparing for Sunday’s race.
Edwards entered the race trailing Busch by 195 points, and his hopes of cutting into the lead appeared to take a hit on the 25th lap. Tony Raines got into the back of Edwards, sending him spinning between turns 3 and 4. Edwards took another shot to the back of his Ford before coming to a stop.
That was one of three early cautions brought on by crashes. The third included pole-sitter Justin Allgaier, who got together with Keselowski.
Allgaier, who entered the race fifth in the points, captured the pole in qualifying earlier Saturday with a lap of 118.1 mph. It was the rookie’s first pole in 36 Nationwide races.
He led for the first 34 laps, and eventually finished 19th.
Meanwhile, Edwards and Busch kept moving up through the field. Despite the early crash, Edwards was in fifth and Busch eighth by the 54th lap. Edwards took the lead on lap 62, but Keselowski passed him four laps later.
Busch took over after a restart on the 95th lap, going outside to get in front. Bliss grabbed the lead two laps later and built his lead to 5 seconds as the race reached the halfway point.
After a yellow brought everyone in for pit stops, Busch left pit road first and the other four Cup drivers — Edwards, Kenseth, Keselowski and David Reutimann — were in the top 10.
Between cautions and restarts, Edwards held onto the lead through much of the second half of the race. But with 18 laps to go, he ended up in a wreck on the backstretch possibly started when Keselowski got into his back bumper.
That ended any hope Edwards had of repeating his trip to victory lane or cutting into Busch’s series points lead.
Timothy Peters wins truck race at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Timothy Peters took the lead when Denny Hamlin pitted on the 117th lap Saturday and won the NASCAR truck series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It is the first career victory for Peters, who lives in nearby Danville.
“It’s awesome. Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now,” Peters said after being doused with frigid water in victory lane by points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. and others.
Peters stopped just once in the 200-lap race, after just 33 laps, and led the final 84 laps, holding off Todd Bodine over three restarts to cruise to the win by 1.815 seconds.
The biggest question at the end was whether he would have enough fuel.
In the spring, Peters was running fifth at Martinsville with eight laps remaining when he ran out of gas, and crew chief Chad Hedrick found it difficult not to fret until the end.
“I don’t think I watched the last eight laps at all,” Hedrick said.
The victory came in Peters’ 64th career start in the series.
“I wanted to race today really bad because I knew in race trim we had a really good truck,” he said. “The last time I’ve been in a victory lane was ’05, and it was here.”
That win, though, came in a late model race.
Peweters’ victory was popular among his competitors.
“I’m really tickled to see Timmy win. He’s a great kid,” Bodine said during his postrace interview. “As soon as I leave here I’m going to go find him. I think the world of him.”
Hornaday finished fourth and extended his lead to 224 points over Matt Crafton with four races remaining. Hornaday is seeking his record fourth championship in the series.
Bodine finished second, followed by Colin Braun; Kevin Harvick was fifth.
And why not?
He’s won 23 races in the past three seasons, and claimed the points championship each year, too, becoming the only driver other than Cale Yarborough to win three straight.
And he’s probably not done. Johnson takes a 90-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin into Sunday’s race on the paper clip-shaped oval of Martinsville Speedway, where Johnson does some of his best work. He’s has won five of the last six races here, including the last three in the fall during NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs.
“I pick that up from time to time with the guys,” he said of a feeling they have grown frustrated by his relentless success, “but in the end I’m really just trying to focus on trying to do my job and not spend time worrying about what other people are thinking.”
What some of them are thinking, though, is pretty impressive.
Martin has referred to Johnson as “Superman” and said he thinks Johnson would have fared well in stock car racing’s rough-and-tumble days.
“Had he been here with me when I was racing Dale Earnhardt in the early ’90s for the title, I think Jimmie would have held his ground,” Martin said, adding that while Earnhardt just got in the car and drove it, Johnson takes notes on technical matters after races.
Johnson will start 15th in Sunday’s race, and while there is an undeniable sense that he’s making his move toward a record fourth consecutive title, Martin isn’t conceding with five races remaining.
“I’m going to race him for it,” Martin said. “I’m not giving up, not one bit.”
Nor is Jeff Gordon, the Hendrick team’s other Chase driver. The four-time Sprint Cup champion is in third 45 points behind Martin.
Though he toed the company line about being happy to see three Hendrick teams at the top of the points standings, he also admitted to being conflicted at times.
Gordon won his last championship in 2001, the season before Johnson came to Hendrick full time. Gordon has beaten Johnson in the final standings just once since then, and has watched Johnson replace him as NASCAR’S dominant star.
He and Johnson are friends, but might be better friends in 15 or 20 years when Gordon is no longer trying to beat Johnson on the track and being frustrated by not doing it.
“Yeah, there’s definitely been some challenging moments and days,” he said. “It gets harder to go to victory lane and congratulate them when you want it as badly for yourself.”
Perhaps even worse for Gordon, while he became the object of fans jeers when it seemed like no one could touch him, Johnson does not receive the hearty boos despite his success.
And it just continues.
Carl Edwards, who was slowed earlier this season when he injured a foot playing Frisbee, joked that he wanted to invite Johnson out for a game on Friday, just to try to slow him down somehow. Edwards is 10th in the points and essentially out of contention.
“Right now, they’re just unbelievable,” he said. “The way those guys run, you’d spin the guy out and he would back in the wall and they’d fix it and he’d come back and win anyway.”
That luck can change, though. Just ask Kurt Busch, who is in fifth, 177 points off Johnson’s pace.
In 2004, Busch had a 92-point lead heading to Atlanta for the 33rd of 36 races.
“We blew an engine, and that lead blew up in smoke,” he said. “Anything can happen.”
Busch relinquished his points lead that day, but wound up winning the championship by eight points. The guy he passed to claim his only title? Jimmie Johnson.
Griese apologizes for Montoya remark
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — ESPN broadcaster Bob Griese apologized at the end of Saturday’s Ohio State-Minnesota football game for a remark he made about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
Earlier in the telecast, during a promotion for coverage of NASCAR’s Chase for the championship, a graphic listed the top five drivers in the points race. Fellow analyst Chris Spielman asked where was Montoya, who is Colombian. Griese replied that he was “out having a taco.”
As the telecast was wrapping up, Griese, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Miami Dolphins quarterback, apologized for the remark and said that Montoya is one of the best drivers in NASCAR.
In a statement released later, ESPN called the remark “inappropriate” and said Griese plans to apologize again Saturday night during the network’s college football coverage.
“ESPN has spoken to Bob and he understands that his comment was uncalled for,” the statement said.
Keselowski holds off Busch to win at Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Brad Keselowski held off points leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to win the Kroger On Track For the Cure 250 in a green-white-checker finish in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Keselowski was leading when a caution came out with two laps to go because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth’s car after the race and the two had words on pit road.
Keselowski held onto the lead through the overtime segment. Busch finished second and leads Carl Edwards by 215 points in the standings.
Busch was on Keselowski’s rear bumper coming out of the final turn. Keselowski got loose but held on for his fourth Nationwide win of the year.
Jason Leffler finished third, while Mike Bliss and Brendan Gaughan completed the top five. Edwards, who won this race last year, was sixth.
There were 14 cautions on the day, with the last one setting up an exciting finish.
Keselowski led 34 of the eventual 254 laps in earning his first victory at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Edwards, Busch and two other Sprint Cup drivers were sent to the rear of the grid to start the race because substitute drivers had qualified for them. The Cup drivers had been at Martinsville earlier in the day preparing for Sunday’s race.
Edwards entered the race trailing Busch by 195 points, and his hopes of cutting into the lead appeared to take a hit on the 25th lap. Tony Raines got into the back of Edwards, sending him spinning between turns 3 and 4. Edwards took another shot to the back of his Ford before coming to a stop.
That was one of three early cautions brought on by crashes. The third included pole-sitter Justin Allgaier, who got together with Keselowski.
Allgaier, who entered the race fifth in the points, captured the pole in qualifying earlier Saturday with a lap of 118.1 mph. It was the rookie’s first pole in 36 Nationwide races.
He led for the first 34 laps, and eventually finished 19th.
Meanwhile, Edwards and Busch kept moving up through the field. Despite the early crash, Edwards was in fifth and Busch eighth by the 54th lap. Edwards took the lead on lap 62, but Keselowski passed him four laps later.
Busch took over after a restart on the 95th lap, going outside to get in front. Bliss grabbed the lead two laps later and built his lead to 5 seconds as the race reached the halfway point.
After a yellow brought everyone in for pit stops, Busch left pit road first and the other four Cup drivers — Edwards, Kenseth, Keselowski and David Reutimann — were in the top 10.
Between cautions and restarts, Edwards held onto the lead through much of the second half of the race. But with 18 laps to go, he ended up in a wreck on the backstretch possibly started when Keselowski got into his back bumper.
That ended any hope Edwards had of repeating his trip to victory lane or cutting into Busch’s series points lead.
Timothy Peters wins truck race at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Timothy Peters took the lead when Denny Hamlin pitted on the 117th lap Saturday and won the NASCAR truck series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It is the first career victory for Peters, who lives in nearby Danville.
“It’s awesome. Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now,” Peters said after being doused with frigid water in victory lane by points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. and others.
Peters stopped just once in the 200-lap race, after just 33 laps, and led the final 84 laps, holding off Todd Bodine over three restarts to cruise to the win by 1.815 seconds.
The biggest question at the end was whether he would have enough fuel.
In the spring, Peters was running fifth at Martinsville with eight laps remaining when he ran out of gas, and crew chief Chad Hedrick found it difficult not to fret until the end.
“I don’t think I watched the last eight laps at all,” Hedrick said.
The victory came in Peters’ 64th career start in the series.
“I wanted to race today really bad because I knew in race trim we had a really good truck,” he said. “The last time I’ve been in a victory lane was ’05, and it was here.”
That win, though, came in a late model race.
Peweters’ victory was popular among his competitors.
“I’m really tickled to see Timmy win. He’s a great kid,” Bodine said during his postrace interview. “As soon as I leave here I’m going to go find him. I think the world of him.”
Hornaday finished fourth and extended his lead to 224 points over Matt Crafton with four races remaining. Hornaday is seeking his record fourth championship in the series.
Bodine finished second, followed by Colin Braun; Kevin Harvick was fifth.
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