Danica Patrick earned her 1st Darlington "stripe" during the initial practice session for the Southern 500.
It couldn’t have happened at a track more filled with history and tradition. The “Lady in Black” was tamed by Jimmie Johnson as he drove to victory in the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. And, it marked the long awaited 200th win for car owner Rick Hendrick.
The win was the 56th for Johnson, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time list. Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr.
“You’ve got to love that man,” Johnson said of Hendrick during the Victory Lane celebration.
Johnson, who led a race-high 134 laps was saving fuel with only 6 laps remaining, when Kurt Busch hit the wall to bring out the caution. Ryan Newman checked up on Busch, only to be turned into the wall by Aric Almirola. This set up the green-white-checkered spirit to the finish.
After the race, Newman parked his car on pit road near Kurt Busch’s and exchanged words. Several of Newman’s crew members tried to confront their counterparts on Busch’s team, and the driver himself, but NASCAR officials and local law enforcement officers restrained them.
All of this happened just as Jimmie Johnson drove his #48 Lowes Chevrolet past them down the front stretch to Victory Lane. Reportedly the hard feelings stemmed from not only the aftermath of the wreck, but an earlier incident on pit road where Kurt Busch did an accelerated “burn-out” thru Newman’s pit stall after coming in for fuel and new tires. Busch nearly hit the gas man for Newman and a NASCAR official.
Race notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. remained third in the standings, 14 points back. Danica Patrick, making her Darlington Sprint Cup debut, started 38th and finished 31st, six laps down.
Next week…… it’s the Sprint Cup All-Star race at Charlotte worth a cool million $$$ to the winner. No points and no holds barred, and anything could happen.
Sprint Cup Series Standings (after 9 races) with points behind the leader: 1. G. Biffle 2. M. Kenseth (-2) 3. D. Earnhardt Jr. (-14) 4. D. Hamlin (-17) 5. J. Johnson (-39) 6. M. Truex Jr. (-39) 7. T. Stewart (-42) 8. K. Harvick (-50) 9. Ky. Busch (-62) 10. C. Edwards (-74
Joey Logano made it two Nationwide Series wins in a row as he beat out teammate Denny Hamlin in Friday night’s VFW Help a Hero 200 race. Logano won last week at Talladega. The race had to go overtime with a green-white-checkered finish following a reported unintentional bump of series points leader Elliott Sadler with five laps remaining in the scheduled 147 lap race.
After hitting the wall near Turn 1, Sadler’s car was unable to finish the race and ended up 24th. Sadler dropped to second place in the standings, 23 points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The late race incident also collected the #38 Great Clips car of Kasey Kahne who lost a chance at possibly winning the race as well.
“Obviously this win was a little bitterswet- you don’t want to win ‘em that way,” said Logano following the race. It was reported that Logano called Sadler following the race to apologize.
Danica Patrick finished 12th and moved up to 10th place in the series standings.
Nationwide Series Standings (after 9 races) with points behind the leader: 1. R. Stenhouse Jr. 2. E. Sadler (-23) 3. A. Dillon (-35) 4. S. Hornish Jr. (-59) 5. C. Whitt (-82) 6. M. Annett (-93) 7. J. Allgaier (-104) 8. M. Bliss (-134) 9. J. Nemechek (-142) 10. D. Patrick (-145).
Notes: Legendary car racer/designer Carroll Shelby passed away this weekend. He was 89.
For more racing images from the weekend action at Darlington visit www.NorthBeachPhotos.lifepics.com.
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