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NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson wins at Martinsville

  • Jimmie Johnson, 2015 Martinsville

One of the most dominant performances this season was cut short as Brad Keselowski lost the race to Jimmie Johnson after leading the race for 312 laps. The 334-lap long race started 2:20PM with Brad Keselowski on pole position, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Logano. Kyle Larson on fifth and Erik Jones on sixth separated Kurt Busch from the rest of the Chase pack. Carl Edwards was 13th, Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon 18th and Martin Truex Jr. 23rd. In light of previous events, Matt Kenseth was suspended from this race. Keselowski led the grid on the start. On lap 11, Joey Logano had a blown tire and spun, causing the first yellow of the race. The car wasn’t badly damaged, but the spin significantly affected Logano’s plans for the title. The race restarted on lap 18 and Jamie McMurray almost hit the wall. On lap 19, Kevin Harvick took the lead from Keselowski. The second caution came out on lap 26 when Ryan Blaney brushed against the wall. Keselowski returned to the lead after pitting and the race restarted on lap 29. Kevin Harvick who lost spots while in the pits soon returned to the second, but in an unfortunate turn of events, he suffered a blown tire on lap 36, causing a yellow flag.

On lap 42, the race restarted and Kyle Busch became the new leader. but Keselowski immediately retaliated and returned to the top. On lap 48, Dale Jr. made an unscheduled pit stop after cutting his right front tire, but didn’t cause caution. However, the yellow flag came out soon when Tony Stewart got loose and damaged his car by hitting the wall. All race leaders pitted and Keselowski remained in the lead. The green flag went back up on lap 58 and Kyle Busch started attacking Keselowski but race leader managed to pull away. Non-chase driver Kyle Larson was unstoppable and progressed up to second, expanding the gap over the rest of the grid.

A long green flag period was cut with a caution on lap 101 when Kyle Larson had a blown tire and race leaders pitted. Jimmie Johnson went up to third, while Keselowski remained in the lead. On lap 106, the race went back to green. As the race was slowly reaching its halfway point, Kevin Harvick returned to the second place, dropping Johnson to third. Lap 144 saw a battle between Johnson and Dale Jr. in which No 88 made a move and improved to third. Ryan Newman damaged his car and went into the pits, but there was no immediate yellow: it went out on lap 150. Once again, Keselowski exited the pits as the leader with Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. behind him. Green flag went up on lap 155. On the next lap, Dale Jr. hit the wall while going 3-wide, but maintained control of his car and resumed racing. However, heavy aerodynamic damage made Dale Jr. fall way back.

The halfway point of the race was marked by the sixth caution period. After the pit stops, Keselowski was still in the lead, followed by Johnson, Edwards, Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch in top five and Kevin Harvick on sixth. The race restarted on lap 173. On lap 198, Trevor Bayne’s rear right tire completely exploded, but he managed to keep control of his car and go to the pits. The race was yellow flagged again, and the green went up on lap 204. Kevin Harvick had gearbox issues and was constantly holding the shifter as not to jump out of gears. On lap 281, Harvick made a stop for tire change, having reported a blown one. That prompted a change in top three as Martin Truex Jr. went up to second and Jimmie Johnson to third. Kyle Busch was on fourth while Harvick dropped to fifth.

Ninth caution flew with 24 laps to go for debris on the track and cars headed to the pits. Jamie McMurray improved to fourth, and with 18 to go, the race restarted. Martin Truex Jr. went to the lead, but Keselowski retaliated and returned to the head of the grid. Jimmie Johnson went up to second, while Harvick was on fourth and Kyle Busch on fifth. In the last ten laps, Jimmie Johnson was constantly in Brad’s tail and Keselowski didn’t manage to hold him off and take the win.

The final four laps of the race were led by Johnson, who had Keselowski, Harvick, Kyle Busch and Edwards behind him. Dale Jr. finished the race sixth, followed by Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Johnson’s last moment win put Keselowski in a position where he has to win in next week’s race in order to advance to the season finale. That means that

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