So the deed is done, and world champion Jenson Button is off to McLaren in 2010. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for Jenson?
The prevailing reaction to the news online seems to be that this is a Big Mistake for him. He’s going from a team he’s worked with, stood by and helped build up for seven years (first as BAR then Honda and finally as Brawn) and going to a team notoriously hard-headed and detached from the emotional needs of its drivers, and moreover a team that is already formed around one individual – Lewis Hamilton. Lewis saw off Fernando Alonso and now waves farewell to Heikki Kovalainen, so what’s the betting that he will benefit from his ‘embedded’ position within the team to see off Button as well?
Actually I don’t buy that logic. I don’t think McLaren throw themselves at any particular driver, not even someone who has been a “company man” for as long as Lewis has been. It was this dispassionate even-handedness that incensed Alonso, the fact that the team wouldn’t give one driver priority over the other. It’s hard to think that they won’t take the same balanced approach now, especially given that both drivers have equal pedigrees as world champions; it’s not like a rookie coming in, such as Kovalainen, who was automatically going to struggle and be unfavourably compared with Hamilton.
Hamilton will have vastly more familiarity with the team, the culture and more importantly the hardware. But this is where things might get very interesting: McLaren make superbly precise cars, mechanically perfect in every way; and Jenson’s driving style is equally smooth and perfect. It should be a match made in Heaven, whereas Lewis’ style of driving is somewhat more rough and tumble and on the edge. He’s made it work but in a totally different way from Jenson’s style of driving, and it will be fascinating to see which one of them the 2010 McLaren ends up suiting best. This, rather than years of history with the team, should prove to be the key factor in determining who comes out on top at Woking.
But why should Jenson put himself into this head-to-head? Why not just stay at “his” team? Well, for one thing, he’s been there for seven years and finally achieved the ultimate goal; surely it’s time to try something different after all those years in one place. Not moving would suggest a degree of inertness and lack of vision.
Accusations of “disloyalty” are being thrown at Jenson, which is frankly absurd: he stuck with the team when Honda quit and things looked bleak, instead of casting around for a life raft with another team. He even took a paycut to help the team survive. You can understand his desire to see that be rewarded with a decent pay deal befitting a world champion, especially now Brawn have been bought out by the cash-rich Mercedes. But instead, Ross Brawn and Mercedes have taken a hard-headed view on capping expenses, and that prices Button out of contention. Well, so be it – you can’t blame him for thinking enough’s enough and it’s time to move on.
But the real reason why I think Button is right to leave Brawn is that I fear the team may struggle in 2010, with or without Jenson. Much of the success they achieved this year was on the back of a car developed on the huge budget Honda provided and through a clever exploitation of a loophold on rear diffusers; once Honda disappeared and the team shrank down, there was no cash for onward development, everyone else adopted rear diffusers – and Brawn started to sink backwards down the standings. Only that early success kept them far enough ahead in the championships to clinch the titles in the end, but it was a narrow squeak.
It’s hard to see how they won’t be starting midfield in 2010. Mercedes may have come on board but this is very late in the day for next year’s car development, so we’re probably looking at 2011 before the team can catch up with its rivals again. Next year could be very tough for the team, and I very much doubt that Jenson Button would be able to defend the world championship in a Brawn/Mercedes next year.
So where should he go instead? Ferrari’s full-up, Red Bull is also locked up, that leaves … McLaren. Yes, there is the obvious problem that he’d be up against Lewis Hamilton, but is that such a big gamble? If the 2010 McLaren is a genuine championship contender (and the rate of improvement in the car in 2009 suggests it will be) then surely it’s better to be in it than staring at from behind? Is Jenson comes second to Lewis Hamilton in the 2010 championship then that will be a triumph (losing to another world champion is better than seeing the likes of Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel or Felipe Massa get the better of you.)
My bet is that Lewis will come out top of the team mates in 2010, but that Jenson will do pretty well and push pretty hard. I susect they will be the best team in 2010. And I think Jenson Button’s made the right choice in moving there.
So here we are, the penultimate outing of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup, and the end is in sight. And for Jimmie Johnson, that means a historic fourth consecutive championship is within his reach. Having had his disaster of the Chase last time out in Texas, surely nothing would get the in the way of the 48 in Phoenix?
Kurt Busch took the lead from polesitter Martin Truex Jr. at the start, with Jimmie Johnson comfortably slotting into third. Further back, an unusually hooked-up Sam Hornish Jr. was running in the top ten, and the likes of Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Juan Montoya were working their way from further back as the cars bedded themselves in and made themselves at home on the roadway. On the downside, Dale Earnhardt Jr was dropping back through the field, while Max Papis became the first driver to be lapped as early as lap 27 of 312 on this one mile oval.
With Mark Martin breaking into the top five, Johnson decided it was time to head for the front and on lap 57 he took the lead from Busch, with Denny Hamlin now in 3rd followed by Martin, Truex and Gordon. Still with no incidents, the first pit stops approached under green, and Greg Biffle was the first in on lap 70 from 17th place complaining of poor handling, followed by others including Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The leaders were in within the next five laps, and Kurt Busch managed to reclaim the lead during the pit sequence by coming out ahead of the 48 with Martin now in third. Jeff Gordon had a scare, narrowly colliding with Sam Hornish as he made his way into his pit box, but still emerged in fourth place ahead of Hamlin and Truex.
Busch’s lead didn’t last long, with the 02 getting held up behind the lapped traffic of Reed Sorenson allowing Johnson to pounce and take the position back on lap 90. Things were looking pretty good for Johnson as the race hit one third distance without any cautions despite the occasional sighting of debris here and there. Finally the debris materialised in turns 1 and 2 on lap 115 and the first yellow of the afternoon came out; during the ensuing pit stops, Kurt Busch’s crew had a problem with the front right tyre change and dropped the 02 three places.
Cautions breed cautions, and as the field got underway on lap 119 for the first ever double file restart at Phoenix a series of small wheel spins and braking starting in the vicinity of Greg Biffle amplified as it echoed back through the tightly-packed field causing bigger and bigger collisions until toward the back Erik Darnell was spun around and then rolled back up the track to get hit on the side by Michael Waltrip, whose front end was badly damaged as a result. Others caught up in the slow speed incident were Brad Keselowski, David Ragan and Robby Gordon.
At the restart on lap 127, Johnson got a good break over Martin but Jeff Gordon starting from 3rd struggled, the car not to his liking this stint; he survived a scare after a rub with Kyle Busch sent him flying up toward the wall, and he was quick to go and give the 18 a little tap in return next lap around.
As the race hit half distance, Johnson continued to lead (having led 86 of the 156 laps so far) ahead of Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Martin, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon recovering to 6th after his earlier dramas. Truex had dropped to 7th while Tony Stewart had dropped way back to 22nd position complaining that the handling on the 14 was wildly inconsistent from lap-to-lap.
More debris in turn 1 was the cause of the third caution of the afternoon on lap 162, and the big winner in the ensuing pit stops was Clint Bowyer who had a brilliant stop and leapt up into second spot behind Johnson despite taking a full set of tyres, pushing Hamlin to 3rd, Kurt Busch to 4th and Mark Martin to 5th ahead of Gordon in 6th. Jeff Burton also got a big boost from the pit stops and was suddenly in the top ten, having started from 36th after a deeply disappointing qualifying in a car he knew was a lot faster than that – and today was proving it.
Once again, cautions bred cautions: within two laps of the restart we had a major multiple-car pileup on the front straightaway on lap 169. It started when Dale Earnhardt Jr – running on the inside of Marcos Ambrose – lost the 88 and slid the car sideways – apparently on oil already leaking from the car – which caused a chain reaction behind him as cars tried, and mostly failed, to avoid the developing accident. In total 11 cars were caught up in the wreck, with eight of them ending up locked together in a clump that almost blocked the roadway until they fired up their engines and started to limp away and back to the pits. While only Bobby Labonte’s car was unable to get underway, others had serious damage – Brian Vickers’ right front wheel was almost completely torn off and his race was done, Earnhardt hit the garage after multiple impacts, and Tony Stewart’s Sprint Cup chances also looked finished as his steering was badly affected by damage and he was soon at the back of the lead lap, finally getting passed by Jimmie Johnson on lap 220.
But up front, little seemed to trouble Jimmie Johnson who cruised serenely on to claim the bonus points for most laps led, with more that 3s over Kurt Busch in second. Bowyer, Hamlin, Martin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top six. As the sun began to set, turns 1 and 2 were completely in shade and track conditions cooled, Bowyer fell back out of the top six complaining of a serious lack of grip.
Another lengthy incident-free period meant that the final scheduled pit stops of the afternoon would be under green, commencing with 70 to go to the chequered flag. Johnson’s 5s lead meant that he was back out in front after the pit stops cycled through, but Denny Hamlin had cut that lead back to under a second and the win was by no means assured for the 48, but Johnson gradually started to ease out the lead again as the green flag laps wore on. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, was struggling in this late stage, a poor pit stop meaning that he had fallen out of the top six for pretty much the first time all afternoon as the conditions changed and left him struggling for grip.
The changing conditions seemed to best suit Jeff Burton, who was having his best race in a very long time, slipping past Denny Hamlin for second place on lap 289 but then unable to do anything about the 2s lead that Jimmie Johnson enjoyed. Only a yellow flag seemed to offer any threat to a Johnson victory now.
And no yellow flag materialised. The race ran green for an impressive 133 laps right to the chequered flag, and Johnson was peerless throughout, the victory never in doubt. He had indeed rebounded from the disappointment in Texas in the best possible way, and the title was now finally within reach: all Jimmie has to do is finish 25th or better at Miami-Homestead regardless of what his rivals do, and the title is sealed.
Just one more week, one more race, and Jimmie Johnson makes history.
Race result
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE PTS/BNS LAPS 1 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 195/10 312 2 36 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 170/0 312 3 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 165/0 312 4 10 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 160/0 312 5 1 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 155/0 312 6 2 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 155/5 312 7 13 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 146/0 312 8 17 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 142/0 312 9 14 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 138/0 312 10 15 00 David Reutimann Toyota 134/0 312 11 21 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 130/0 312 12 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 127/0 312 13 16 44 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 124/0 312 14 6 16 Greg Biffle Ford 121/0 312 15 4 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 118/0 312 16 25 99 Carl Edwards Ford 115/0 312 17 12 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 112/0 312 18 28 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 114/5 312 19 30 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 106/0 312 20 24 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 108/5 312 21 27 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 100/0 310 22 22 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 97/0 310 23 33 6 David Ragan Ford 94/0 310 24 31 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 91/0 310 25 8 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 88/0 310 26 40 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 85/0 310 27 9 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet 82/0 308 28 35 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 79/0 308 29 41 98 Paul Menard Ford 76/0 308 30 29 09 David Gilliland Chevrolet 73/0 308 31 39 96 Erik Darnell Ford 70/0 306 32 23 113 Max Papis * Toyota 67/0 304 33 37 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 64/0 303 34 42 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 61/0 268 35 18 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 58/0 256 36 11 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 55/0 251 37 26 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 52/0 239 38 19 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 49/0 170 39 20 171 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 46/0 169 40 34 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 43/0 47 41 38 36 Michael McDowell Toyota 40/0 36 42 32 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 37/0 9 43 43 37 Tony Raines Chevrolet 34/0 6
Sprint Cup standings after 35 races
Only Mark Martin can stop Jimmie Johnson now – Jeff Gordon is eliminated the minute Johnson takes the start at Homestead. After that, just 25th or better sees Jimmie Johnson take the 2009 title.
+/- DRIVER PTS BEHIND ST P W T5 T10
1 -- Jimmie Johnson 6492 Leader 35 3 7 15 23
2 -- Mark Martin 6384 -108 35 7 5 14 21
3 -- Jeff Gordon 6323 -169 35 1 1 16 24
4 -- Kurt Busch 6281 -211 35 0 2 9 20
5 -- Tony Stewart 6207 -285 35 0 4 15 23
6 -- Juan Montoya 6203 -289 35 2 0 7 18
7 -- Greg Biffle 6171 -321 35 0 0 10 16
8 -- Denny Hamlin 6140 -352 35 1 3 14 19
9 -- Ryan Newman 6081 -411 35 2 0 5 15
10 -- Kasey Kahne 6016 -476 35 0 2 7 14
11 -- Carl Edwards 5972 -520 35 0 0 7 13
12 -- Brian Vickers 5826 -666 35 6 1 4 13
======== CHASE FOR THE Sprint CUP - CURRENT CONTENDERS =======
13 -- Kyle Busch 4310 -2182 35 1 4 9 12
14 -- Matt Kenseth 4265 -2227 35 1 2 7 12
15 -- Clint Bowyer 4224 -2268 35 0 0 4 16
16 -- David Reutimann 4103 -2389 35 2 1 5 10
17 -- Jeff Burton 3847 -2645 35 0 0 4 9
18 -- Marcos Ambrose 3767 -2725 35 0 0 4 7
19 -- Joey Logano* 3700 -2792 35 0 1 3 7
20 -- Casey Mears 3653 -2839 35 0 0 0 4
21 -- Kevin Harvick 3626 -2866 35 0 0 4 8
22 -- Jamie McMurray 3495 -2997 35 0 1 1 5
23 +3 Martin Truex Jr. 3365 -3127 35 3 0 1 5
24 -1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3343 -3149 35 0 0 2 5
25 -- A.J. Allmendinger 3342 -3150 35 0 0 1 5
26 -2 Elliott Sadler 3310 -3182 35 0 0 1 5
27 -- David Ragan 3191 -3301 35 0 0 0 2
28 -- Reed Sorenson 3104 -3388 35 0 0 0 1
29 +1 Sam Hornish Jr. 3103 -3389 35 0 0 2 7
30 -1 Bobby Labonte 3058 -3434 35 0 0 1 2
31 -- David Stremme 2919 -3573 33 0 0 0 0
32 -- Paul Menard 2894 -3598 35 0 0 0 0
33 -- Michael Waltrip 2761 -3731 33 0 0 0 2
34 -- Robby Gordon 2653 -3839 34 0 0 1 1
35 -- Scott Speed* 2608 -3884 34 0 0 1 1
36 -- John Andretti 2533 -3959 33 0 0 0 0
37 -- David Gilliland 1852 -4640 30 0 0 0 0
38 -- Brad Keselowski 1440 -5052 14 0 1 1 4
39 -- Regan Smith 1373 -5119 17 0 0 0 0
40 -- Joe Nemechek 1342 -5150 30 0 0 0 0
Jimmie Johnson has had some incredible luck over the years – and none more so than the race last week at Talladega, where damage limitation ended up successful beyond his wildest dreams. But luck can turn bad in an instant, and at the start of the Dickies 500 the bullet that Johnson felt he’d dodged last week caught him square in the chest within minutes of the start.
Johnson was three-wide alongside Sam Hornish Jr and David Reutimann on lap 2 when the 77 got loose after slight contact with the 00. Hornish twitched, then connected with the 48 sending Johnson sliding up into the wall. So far, nothing too bad – as long as Johnson could keep it under control and not hit anything else. He almost pulled it off, but then came back down the track and tapped the 77 for a second time, which sent them both spinning. Johnson ended up impacting the inside wall hard, on at least three of the four corners, and the car looked horribly beat-up as it crawled to the garage for emergency – and lengthy – repairs. As well as the obvious bodywork damage, the suspension and driveshaft looked horribly deranged. Suddenly that championship-clinching margin Johnson came into this race with was evaporating before his eyes.
Jeff Gordon led for the first 12 laps before Kurt Busch took over, with brother Kyle (who had already swept the NASCAR Nationwide and Truck races at Texas this weekend) taking up residence in third and then slipping past Gordon for second on lap 19. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart and Reutimann rounded out the top 6.
To add insult to Johnson’s injuries, the race went green for the next 78 laps giving him no breaks about how many laps down he might be if and when he came back out. It also meant that the first round of pit stops starting from lap 52 were under green flag conditions. Kurt Busch was one of the last of the leaders to come in, holding a 4s lead over his brother, but when the pit stops cycled through it was Kyle who had managed the best stop and come out in front of the field. Jeff Gordon meanwhile had a slow stop following a problem with one of the rear tyres, and had slipped back out of the top ten.
The second yellow when it did come on lap 87 was for Sam Hornish Jr. again, who had been struggling ever since that collision with Johnson and more than once been seen sliding through corners sideways. he was an accident just waiting for a place to happen, and sure enough he spun through turn 2 into the inside wall with three flat tyres. The rest of the field were relieved, able to take a pit stop under caution and get into some fine-tuning at last. At the restart, Kyle and Kurt led Reutimann, Stewart, Marcos Ambrose with Denny Hamlin making up the top six.
Finally, as the leaders hit lap 113, Jimmie Johnson emerged back onto the track, the car so thoroughly rebuilt that it looked unnaturally pristine, albeit starkly black as the new bodywork was devoid of the usual livery. The car was quickly back into the pits for additional quick fixes to a tyre rub and then set off again to demonstrate that it could make the minimum speed requirement. Although now 117 laps down after all this, Johnson did still have some low-hanging fruit to aim for – Mike Skinner, Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell had all retired very early on, and even Johnson’s nemesis Sam Hornish Jr. was now down over thirty laps stuck in the garage after his own crash, so Johnson could reasonably target 39th place. Not great, but at least better points-wise than 43rd – albeit only by about 12pts in total. Still, titles have been won by slimmer margins.
The sun was going down and the track beginning to cool, which meant that handling was starting to change. Benefiting from the new conditions were Marcos Ambrose – up to 3rd and challenging Kurt for second spot – and Mark Martin, who had finally cracked the top ten on lap 122 to make the most of the chance to cut Johnson’s points lead in the Sprint Cup. Of the other top contenders, Gordon’s day was going south fast – down to 14th on lap 126 – while Juan Montoya was in 8th place with room for improvement.
The leaders were in for their next round of green flag pit stops on lap 146, Kyle’s crew once excelling to put their man out with a 4s lead, double what it had been before the pit stops. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had crept up into 4th with the fastest car on track at this point running just behind Ambrose, with Reutimann and Stewart ahead of Montoya in 7th. However Jeff Gordon had dropped to 18th and was at risk of going a lap down when he was saved by a caution for debris at turn 1 on lap 167.
Everyone took the opportunity to come in, and Kyle Busch emerged from pit lane a country mile ahead of the rest, but Marcos Ambrose had a slow stop with attention needed to one of his shocks dumping him down 15 positions as a result. That left Kyle leading brother Kurt, Earnhardt Jr., Reutimann, Clint Bowyer and Stewart as the top six with Mark Martin now up to 7th and Montoya down a spot to 9th. Johnson meanwhile was in 40th, creeping up on the still-garaged Sam Hornish Jr.’s position but now 120 laps down after additional running repairs on pit road, and pit chief Chad Knaus sounding resigned as he cautioned Johnson not to push it if anything started to feel wrong with the rebuilt 48.
The green flag lasted only two laps before Juan Montoya got loose and hit the back of Carl Edwards, sending them both up into the wall. Brad Keselowski then ran right into the back of Montoya’s broken car coming back down the track. Edwards came off especially badly damage-wise, but it was Montoya’s damage that had considerably more impact to the Chase situation as he brought the 42 to the garage for extensive repairs. Jeff Gordon was among those caught up in spins as they tried to avoid the accident, but at least in Gordon’s case it was a simple slide that merely required new tyres – the team opting to come in straight away even while the pit lane was officially closed, and taking the penalty. After all, being put down to the end of the lead lap was little change for Gordon at this point.
Kyle had a poor restart on lap 181, allowing Kurt to retake the lead at long last while only just fending off Reutimann for the second position. Jeff Gordon, in 18th, was still the last car on the lead lap. The green flag lasted 25 laps before the fifth caution of the afternoon came out for Reed Sorenson, who had the front right tyre go down on him sending him on a sudden snap against the wall, and then – to add insult to injury – he ricocheted down and hit the inside wall as well before being called into the garage area for repairs. That gave Jimmie Johnson another potential place to make up for if he could keep running; as the track came back to green Johnson made up another place to 39th after overhauling the absent Sam Hornish Jr., but now the best he could finish was 35th even if every single car wrecked right away.
At the restart on lap 212 it was Kyle Busch back at the front after a better pit stop than brother Kurt, and this time he was able to get away cleanly from Kurt and Reutimann. Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Martin made up the rest of the top six, Denny Hamlin having dropped well back after sliding through his pit box. The pressure was building on Martin: with the positions as they stood, Johnson would still come out of Texas with an 80pt lead despite the second lap disaster: with Montoya in the garage and Gordon simply not performing, it was all on the veteran. Once again, even when Johnson gave his rivals the chance, they didn’t seem to be around and able to pick it up and run with it.
The race passed two thirds distance as the sun set over the Motor Speedway; would the change to dusk and night time upset the dominance of the Busch brothers, who had led all but 13 laps to this point? It certainly seemed to have had an adverse effect on Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had fallen back to 8th place; Mark Martin on the other hand had finally cracked the top five behind the Busch brothers, Reutimann and Stewart, and he then slipped past Stewart for 4th on lap 247. The darker and cooler it got, the more Mark Martin came alive it seemed: perhaps Johnson wasn’t going to get away with it this time after all. In the end, 38th would prove to be the best Johnson would be able to manage with Keselowski, Sorenson and Montoya all doing enough to stay ahead of the 48 in the final standings.
Now attention turned to fuel strategies: Kyle Busch’s new pit chief Dave Rogers admitted that they were short on fuel by a few laps, and that applied to almost all of the runners still in contention. How they coped with that – and whether any cautions came out to change the outlook – was becoming key to the outcome of the race.
It emerged that Kurt Busch had the whip hand when he was able to stay out two laps longer than the other leaders on the penultimate stint, finally pitting (under green once more) on lap 271 for what he hoped would be the last time today. Kurt was worried about a vibration and urged his crew to “take their time” on the pit stop and make sure everything was okay, meaning he dropped back to 6th place after the stops worked their way through. The vibration fears were oddly echoed by brother Kyle after his own pit stop when he started to fear a loose wheel might be to blame: everyone on the crew was consulted and were sure that all the tyres were secure, so Kyle stayed out.
Now speeds were cut as everyone made fuel conservation their top priority: Kurt still seemed to be two laps short unless he could work miracles with the fuel conservation, while others including Mark Martin were even further adrift and up to half a dozen laps shy of full race distance. Nor would there be any cautions to help them eke out the fuel to the end: the race was running all the way to the very end without any more yellow flags.
Cars started to give up and peel off onto pit road as early as lap 313 when Matt Kenseth came in for a splash and dash. Greg Biffle, AJ Allmendinger and Stewart were in on lap 315, Martin and Newman on lap 317. But Kyle was stubbornly staying out, stretching his lead over Reutimann even further, while pit chief Dave Rogers kept urging his man to slow down or run dry. Meanwhile brother Kurt’s team were much happier now with their man’s fuel conservation, and assured him that Kyle would be no problem – the 18 was short. The 02 wasn’t; or at least, that’s what they calculated. They were betting the farm on being right.
Jeff Gordon gave up and pitted for fuel on lap 323, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in on lap 327. Still the leaders tried to tough it out … until David Reutimann finally ran out of fuel on lap 329 and crawled painfully down pit road to his pit box. And the next lap, just as his brother’s team had calculated, Kyle too was out of fuel and had to take to pit road. His dream of taking the NASCAR’s first-ever ‘trifecta’ was gone, and Kyle was clearly bitterly disappointed and left the complex without a word to the press after finally ending up 11th despite having the best car and having led 232 of the 334 laps.
That only left one question to be answered: could Kurt make it to the chequered flag? Everyone held their breath – but the 02 team had calculated it brilliantly, and Kurt Busch did indeed cross the finish line almost a full lap – 25.6s – ahead of anyone else. In the fuel conservation lottery, Denny Hamlin ended runner-up and Matt Kenseth popped up into third place, but more significant to the Chase was Mark Martin ending up in 4th place which meant that he had made major in-roads into Jimmie Johnson’s Sprint Cup lead.
Suddenly this championship has got interesting again – a fourth consecutive Jimmie Johnson title might not be such a done deal after all.
Race result
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS 1 3 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 190/5 334 2 25 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 175/5 334 3 30 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 165/0 334 4 7 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 160/0 334 5 24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 155/0 334 6 4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 150/0 334 7 10 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 146/0 334 8 8 16 Greg Biffle Ford 142/0 334 9 42 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 138/0 334 10 16 44 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 134/0 334 11 5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 140/10 334 12 26 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 127/0 334 13 1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 129/5 334 14 27 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 121/0 334 15 19 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 118/0 334 In Pit 16 13 00 David Reutimann Toyota 115/0 334 17 17 6 David Ragan Ford 112/0 332 18 31 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 109/0 332 19 14 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 106/0 332 20 22 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 103/0 332 21 36 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet 100/0 332 22 33 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 97/0 332 23 40 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 94/0 331 24 41 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 91/0 331 25 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 88/0 331 26 15 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 85/0 331 27 29 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 82/0 331 28 21 202 David Gilliland Toyota 79/0 331 29 39 98 Paul Menard Ford 76/0 331 30 38 96 Erik Darnell Ford 73/0 331 31 28 171 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 70/0 331 32 32 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 67/0 330 33 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 64/0 330 34 43 21 Bill Elliott Ford 61/0 311 In Pit 35 35 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 58/0 262 36 18 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 55/0 248 37 20 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 52/0 231 38 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 49/0 205 39 6 99 Carl Edwards Ford 46/0 174 In Pit 40 11 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 43/0 88 In Pit 41 37 36 Michael McDowell Toyota 40/0 20 In Pit 42 34 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 37/0 13 Out 43 23 170 Mike Skinner Chevrolet 34/0 6 In Pit
Sprint Cup standings after race 34 of 36
+/- DRIVER PTS BEHIND ST P W T5 T10
1 -- Jimmie Johnson 6297 Leader 34 3 6 14 22
2 -- Mark Martin 6224 -73 34 7 5 13 20
3 -- Jeff Gordon 6185 -112 34 1 1 16 23
4 +2 Kurt Busch 6126 -171 34 0 2 9 19
5 -- Tony Stewart 6119 -178 34 0 4 15 23
6 -2 Juan Montoya 6061 -236 34 2 0 7 17
7 -- Greg Biffle 6050 -247 34 0 0 10 16
8 +3 Denny Hamlin 5975 -322 34 1 3 13 18
9 -1 Ryan Newman 5973 -324 34 2 0 5 15
10 -1 Kasey Kahne 5898 -399 34 0 2 7 14
11 -1 Carl Edwards 5857 -440 34 0 0 7 13
12 -- Brian Vickers 5777 -520 34 6 1 4 13
======== CHASE FOR THE Sprint CUP - CURRENT CONTENDERS =======
13 -- Kyle Busch 4183 -2114 34 1 4 9 12
14 -- Matt Kenseth 4151 -2146 34 1 2 7 12
15 -- Clint Bowyer 4078 -2219 34 0 0 4 15
16 -- David Reutimann 3969 -2328 34 2 1 5 9
17 -- Jeff Burton 3677 -2620 34 0 0 3 8
18 -- Marcos Ambrose 3637 -2660 34 0 0 4 7
19 -- Joey Logano* 3600 -2697 34 0 1 3 7
20 -- Casey Mears 3571 -2726 34 0 0 0 4
21 -- Kevin Harvick 3535 -2762 34 0 0 4 8
22 -- Jamie McMurray 3389 -2908 34 0 1 1 5
23 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3285 -3012 34 0 0 2 5
24 -- Martin Truex Jr. 3260 -3037 34 2 0 0 4
25 -- Elliott Sadler 3231 -3066 34 0 0 1 5
26 -- A.J. Allmendinger 3218 -3079 34 0 0 1 5
27 -- David Ragan 3097 -3200 34 0 0 0 2
28 -- Reed Sorenson 3019 -3278 34 0 0 0 1
29 +1 Bobby Labonte 3012 -3285 34 0 0 1 2
30 -1 Sam Hornish Jr. 2991 -3306 34 0 0 2 7
31 -- David Stremme 2919 -3378 33 0 0 0 0
32 -- Paul Menard 2818 -3479 34 0 0 0 0
33 -- Michael Waltrip 2706 -3591 32 0 0 0 2
34 -- Robby Gordon 2556 -3741 33 0 0 1 1
35 -- Scott Speed* 2544 -3753 33 0 0 1 1
36 -- John Andretti 2472 -3825 32 0 0 0 0
37 -- David Gilliland 1779 -4518 29 0 0 0 0
38 -- Brad Keselowski 1388 -4909 13 0 1 1 4
39 -- Regan Smith 1373 -4924 17 0 0 0 0
40 -- Joe Nemechek 1299 -4998 29 0 0 0 0
A shock formation lap crash put an emphatic end to Casey Stoner’s previous-perfect Valencia MotoGP weekend, allowing Dani Pedrosa an almost completely free ride to a home win.
Stoner had dropped back to allow the field to stream past him as they got off the grid for their warm-up lap, but moments later the cameras cut back to the Ducati lying in the gravel and a shocked Stoner kneeling next to it. Replays showed the bike suddenly snap away from under him and throw him off into a nasty, violent high-side into the air before they slid into the gravel trap. The bike was too badly damaged for Stoner to pick it up and continue, and he became the race’s first – and ultimately only – retirement. The Ducati team would later blame cold tyres and issues with their warm-up lap tyre management strategy which would be reviewed before the next race in 2010.
Stoner’s exit eased the pressure on Jorge Lorenzo, who arguably could have been beaten to the MotoGP runners-up spot by Stoner but who was now unassailable. Unfortunately, when the race got underway, Lorenzo got a poor start and immediately dropped back behind Valentino Rossi and Toni Elias form the second row; Rossi had the undoubted advantage of starting behind the now-vacant pole position spot which allowed him a free run down the straight to turn 1.
But naturally it was Dani Pedrosa who got the best start as always, and while Lorenzo was fighting back to get past Elias for third, and Rossi settled into second, Pedrosa was building up a lead that no one came close to challenging for the rest of the afternoon. With Stoner sidelined, that meant the Spaniard would take third place in the MotoGP championship ahead of the Aussie.
Lorenzo briefly got past Rossi for second place again, but a few corners later had a nasty moment when he applied the throttle out of a orner and found the bike bucking like the proverbial donkey; Lorenzo did impressively well to hold on to it and not get thrown off completely, but the scare allowed Rossi back in front again and he needed no further invitations to stretch a safe lead over his team mate of up to 2.4s. This gap came down in the final laps, and whether that was a matter of tyre wear or simply canny race management by Rossi didn’t really matter – Lorenzo never really had a realistic chance to challenge for the second position before the chequered flag.
Elias’ pace fell off after his flying start and he succumbed to both Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden but managed to hold in for 6th place. Edwards was racing for fifth place in the championship (behind the untouchable four of Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner of course) but even fourth place was not enough to get him the points to beat out Andrea Dovizioso: for that, Edwards needed the held of his incoming team mate Ben Spies, who pulled off a strikingly good pass on Dovizioso with six laps to go. That move – the icing on the cream of a great début weekend from Spies – put Edwards ahead of Dovizioso by a single point in the championship.
Marco Melandri survived a mid-race trip through the gravel but ended up demoted to last as a result; and outgoing James Toseland finished a distant 12th while his replacement Spied emphatically eclipsed him, and he made a sad, depressed sight as he arrived back in the pit lane at the end of his last MotoGP race before he returns to World Superbikes for 2010.
And thus with the chequered flag finished the 2009 season. The teams stay on at Valencia for some testing, but then the toys will be packed away until Qatar’s night race in April 2010, and we’ll see whether the usual suspects (Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner) once again dominate the action – and whether Rossi can win it again, or if it’s finally time for one of the young pups to claim the master’s scalp.
Race result
Pos Rider Team Time/Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 46:47.553s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 2.630s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha + 2.913s
4. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha + 32.515s
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 34.585s
6. Toni Elias Gresini Honda + 34.888s
7. Ben Spies Yamaha + 37.706s
8. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 38.364s
9. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati + 42.491s
10. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda + 43.689s
11. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda + 46.018s
12. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha + 50.226s
13. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati + 57.168s
14. Loris Capirossi Suzuki +1:06.877s
15. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki +1:11.701s
16. Gabor Talmacsi Scot Honda +1:14.405s
17. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki +1:33.425s
Retirement:
Casey Stoner Ducati 0 laps
MotoGP championship – final 2009 standings
Pos Driver Points 1 Valentino Rossi 306 2 Jorge Lorenzo 261 3 Daniel Pedrosa 234 4 Casey Stoner 220 5 Colin Edwards 161 6 Andrea Dovizioso 160 7 Toni Elías 115 8 Alex de Angelis 111 9 Loris Capirossi 110 10 Marco Melandri 108 11 Randy de Puniet 106 12 Chris Vermeulen 106 13 Nicky Hayden 104 14 James Toseland 92 15 Mika Kallio 71 16 Niccolò Canepa 38 17 Gábor Talmácsi 19 18 Aleix Espargaró 16 19 Sete Gibernau 12 20 Ben Spies 9 21 Yuki Takahashi 9 Pos Constructor Points 1 Yamaha 386 2 Honda 297 3 Ducati 272 4 Suzuki 133 5 Kawasaki 108
A1GP’s death throes continued with the cancellation of the next two rounds, China and Malaysia, after the opening round in Australia was cancelled last month.
The administrator appointed to run A1GP is seeking to sell all the chassis to anyone interested in continuing the series, while key series personnel have left the company and the A1GP’s equipment has been put into storage after the lease on its Silverstone hanger expired at the end of October.
The next scheduled race for A1GP would now be in South Africa on 28 February 2010, if it can be salvaged.
And so the Chase arrives at the unique challenge of Talladega – there’s no other circuit quite like this one, it’s the only restrictor plate race of the Chase, and it’s delivered some quite spectacular racing and accidents over the years. Would 2009 continue the run? Moreover, would polesitter Jimmie Johnson use it to extend his already formidable lead?
Unfortunately, it looked as though the entertainment of Talladega was sabotaged before it even started – by NASCAR itself. A new rule had been rushed in by NASCAR for Talladega forbidding cars from bump drafting in corners. “We want to see sunshine between the cars,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton, “All of the way through Turns 1 and 2, and all of the way through Turns 3 and 4, you will not be allowed to push someone, to bump-draft them or to shove them through the turns,” Helton said. “Remember the aggressive driving will still be watched very closely on the front stretches and through the tri-oval. But we have seen the progress, particularly at Talladega, of two cars hooking up and basically locked up all the way around for a lap. You will not be allowed to do that in the turns. That’s from the green flag all the way through to the checkered flag. So even on the last lap, coming through 3 and 4, you’re not going to be able to push a guy hooked up in a two-car tandem.”
With such a late change to common practice, the drivers were distinctly nervous as proceedings got underway and maintaining a clear distance in the opening laps – to the detriment of close racing. It almost looked like industrial action on the part of the drivers to protest NASCAR’s edict.
Mark Martin got a great start and beat Johnson to the first led lap of the day, but he and Johnson then both got bumped out of the running order and fell back to the middle of the pack leaving Kurt Busch in the lead ahead of Carl Edwards as the yellow flag came out on lap 5 when Paul Menard cut a tyre, turned into the wall and trapped Joe Nemechek against it as he did so, the two of them locked together, grinding along the wall for a quarter of a lap before finally coming to a halt.
Once the racing got underway again, the cars took up a nerve-racking three-wide formation and started putting the draft racing to full effect. David Reutimann took over the lead spot on lap 11, then challenged by Jeff Gordon before both of them were passed by new leader Casey Mears on lap 22 as the field finally stretched out into a single file. No one was pushing, and the effects of the “no draft bumping” decree were making themselves felt as everyone played safe, unwilling to be the guinea pig who got slapped down first.
With the race going caution-free for a lengthy period, the first full round of pit stops starting on lap 40 took place under green flag conditions. Clint Bowyer came in a little too hot and ran into the back of AJ Allmendinger as they slowed down for the pit lane speed limit, tipping the 44 into a spin, but it wasn’t until nearly all the pit stops were done that Kurt Busch went for a fast and wild spin through the infield grass after a tyre went down on him on lap 50 to bring out the second caution of the afternoon. The last remaining cars to pit now did so, and some that had already pitted came in for a quick fuel top-up; the worst hit were a small group of cars that were about to hit, and were too close to pit lane to pull out when the track went yellow and the pit lane closed. Among those caught out and put to the back of the lead lap were Casey Mears (who also got a pit lane speeding penalty) and a disgruntled Jimmie Johnson.
At the restart on lap 55, Elliott Sadler led Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Greg Biffle; Kenseth briefly took the lead before a huge cheer went up on lap 60 as the 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr sprang forward to lead a couple of laps, before Denny Hamlin then took up the lead spot for a lap and then Kevin Harvick popped up to take over. Bump drafting briefly picked up, before the drivers thought better of it and the field once again stretched out to a single file procession; boredom was setting in, with Harvick overheard asking for cruise control next time; his crew chief Gil Martin dryly responded with a promise of fitting an iPod into the drink holder instead.
As the race passed lap 90 of 188 it was time for some more green flag pit stops to begin, albeit rather strung out because of the different approaches to pitting under previous cautions – the majority of the leaders came in a gaggle on lap 98, Casey Mears and Jeff Gordon making contact at the pit entrance as they vied for their pit boxes.
A third caution came out on lap 105 for debris (a fender brace in turn 4 and a large piece of tear-off in turn 3.) Even though it has been just a few laps since their last stop, the leaders didn’t hesitate to come in again for a stop under caution. At the restart, it was Hamlin leading Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The lead fluctuated as drivers caught the draft and were propelled to the front and then dropped back through the pack. Robby Gordon, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and David Stremme all took their turns at the front of the pack. Brad Keselowski had just taken up the lead on lap 136 making it 23 different leaders with 43 lead changes, when suddenly Hamlin pulled down below the double yellow line belching smoke from a terminally suicidal engine, bringing out the fourth yellow of the afternoon by leaving a streak of oil through turns 1 and 2.
With 50 laps to go we were still just outside the pit window to get all the way to the chequered – unless anyone could seriously stretch it, or there was a sudden abundance of yellows along the way. As the caution extended 6 laps, cars came in again for a quick top-up before the green on lap 144, when Keselowski led Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Stremme and Martin Truex Jr. up to speed.
Jeff Gordon quickly took the lead back for himself, then Harvick, then Kasey Kahne, then Sadler, then Montoya, then Jeff Burton, then Jamie McMurray, then Burton again before Marcos Ambrose and then David Stremme took over – it was changing faster than a slot machine, a car leading one minute then plummeting to the back of the field next when they lost the draft. One notable absentee throughout all this was Jimmie Johnson, who was staying resolutely back in 33rd position – seemingly by choice, trying to stay out of trouble, but he was leaving that late surge very late indeed if it was to come.
The field once again stretched out to a single file line, allowing McMurray to claim the lead for a more settled period ahead of Kenseth, Montoya, Mears, Ambrose and Burton. Remarkably only two of the top ten were Chase contenders – Montoya, and Mark Martin in 10th place. Johnson continued to circulate back in 31st position showing little sign of life.
Then with 20 to go, the configuration changed and two- and three-wide racing was back as the drivers picked their dance partners for the final push. Earnhardt Jr briefly ousted McMurray as the leader, then Ragan did a brief turn in front, then Stremme – but it kept coming back to McMurray. Further back, Johnson was still having little joy making any progress, and Kurt Busch had to drop out with a tyre problem. But with five laps to go, it looked as though for once Talladega had been pretty much wreck free.
Ahhh. Not quite. It might not have been the “Big One” in terms of numbers, but what happened on lap 183 certainly ranked as “big” in the spectacular stakes. Marcos Ambrose bumped Ryan Newman, which caused team mates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman to then collided with each other turning Stewart into the wall resulting in front end damage and possible problems with the brake lines, forcing him into the pits.
But for Newman it was a different matter. He was turned around one eighty degrees by the collisions, and once the car was facing the wrong way around the aerodynamics took over and lifted the back end of the car into the air, flipping it into a somersault that caused the back of the car to come crunching down onto the hood of Harvick’s car; Ambrose and Elliott Sadler also spun and made contact with the wall as they tried to avoid the wreck.
Newman’s wild ride wasn’t over. Now on its roof, it slid across the track to make contact with the outside wall, which caused it to bounce back spinning like a top toward the infield grass, where the front left quarter dug into the grass and flipped the car back into the air in a vicious little sting in the tail that ripped the rest of the car to pieces. Finally it came to a stop, still upside down, the roof collapsed in and fears that Ryan Newman would be trapped and injured inside; the recovery crew carefully righted the car and cut the roof off, allowing Newman to spring out seemingly unhurt but clearly furious, blaming NASCAR’s rules and restrictor plates for leading up to this incident.
While Newman was being extracted, the race went to a red flag before being readied for a green-white chequered finish. This played havoc with the field, however, who were at breaking point on fuel: some cars had to dive in for emergency splash-and-dash stops, while Jeff Gordon and Juan Montoya both ran out of gas and limped – or were pushed – back to the pits for agonisingly slow refuelling stops.
Finally the race got back to green, Jamie McMurray leading them away. But back in the midfield, the real Big One was underway as the 09 of Brad Keselowski tipped Kurt Busch into a spin that sent him skewing across the track. He impacted Mark Martin heavily, tipping the 5 car into a nasty but brief barrel-roll, and behind all this a dozen cars in total were caught up in the wreck to a greater or lesser degree. The race ended with the cars that were still running picking their way through the debris to take the yellow-and-chequered, with McMurray ecstatic at taking the win.
But the biggest winner? Jimmie Johnson had indeed managed to stay out of all the late race trouble by hanging towards the back, and emerged unscathed in the top ten. Best of all, with Martin wrecked, Stewart running several laps down because of the earlier collision with Newman, and Montoya and Gordon’s campaigns badly pit by running out of gas, it meant that all his chief rivals were absolutely no where. Johnson had turned around an afternoon that looked like damage limitation into an early Christmas present and a surely unassailable championship lead.
The Sprint Cup effectively ended here today at Talladega, folks. All hail the luckiest driver in NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson, the new champion. Of course, in motorsport you make your own luck – and the 48 team made it in spades just by striving to stay out of trouble, so brains as well as speed have delivered another trophy to the Johnson family.
Race result
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS 1 22 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 195/10 191 2 11 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 175/5 191 3 20 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 170/5 191 4 8 16 Greg Biffle Ford 160/0 191 5 18 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 160/5 191 6 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 150/0 191 7 33 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 151/5 191 8 36 09 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 147/5 191 9 26 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 143/5 191 10 37 171 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 134/0 191 11 24 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 135/5 191 12 15 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 127/0 191 13 12 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 129/5 191 14 10 99 Carl Edwards Ford 126/5 191 15 13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 123/5 191 16 29 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 115/0 191 17 28 6 David Ragan Ford 112/0 191 18 41 36 Robert Richardson Jr. Toyota 109/0 191 19 5 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 111/5 191 20 3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 108/5 191 21 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 105/5 191 22 30 12 David Stremme Dodge 102/5 191 23 35 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 99/5 191 24 14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 91/0 191 25 19 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet 93/5 191 26 16 00 David Reutimann Toyota 90/5 191 27 38 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 82/0 190 Accident 28 2 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 84/5 190 Accident 29 42 113 Max Papis * Toyota 76/0 190 30 6 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 78/5 189 Accident 31 23 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 75/5 189 Accident 32 34 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 72/5 189 Accident 33 25 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 64/0 189 34 17 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 66/5 188 35 4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 63/5 183 Accident 36 7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 60/5 183 Accident 37 31 96 Erik Darnell Ford 52/0 167 38 9 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 54/5 137 Engine 39 43 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 46/0 99 Engine 40 27 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 43/0 44 Engine 41 40 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 40/0 12 Vibration 42 32 98 Paul Menard Ford 37/0 4 Accident 43 39 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 34/0 4 Accident
(Final positions subject to review by NASCAR of the video tapes of the running order when the final yellow came out.)
Sprint Cup standings
+/- DRIVER PTS BEHIND ST P W T5 T10
1 -- Jimmie Johnson 6248 Leader 33 3 6 14 22
2 -- Mark Martin 6064 -184 33 7 5 12 19
3 -- Jeff Gordon 6056 -192 33 0 1 16 23
4 +1 Juan Montoya 6009 -239 33 2 0 7 17
5 -1 Tony Stewart 5969 -279 33 0 4 15 22
6 -- Kurt Busch 5936 -312 33 0 1 8 18
7 +1 Greg Biffle 5908 -340 33 0 0 10 15
8 -1 Ryan Newman 5846 -402 33 2 0 5 15
9 +2 Kasey Kahne 5834 -414 33 0 2 7 14
10 -- Carl Edwards 5811 -437 33 0 0 7 13
11 -2 Denny Hamlin 5800 -448 33 1 3 12 17
12 -- Brian Vickers 5697 -551 33 6 1 4 13
======= CHASE FOR THE Sprint CUP - CURRENT CONTENDERS ========
13 -- Kyle Busch 4043 -2205 33 1 4 9 12
14 -- Matt Kenseth 3986 -2262 33 1 2 6 11
15 -- Clint Bowyer 3932 -2316 33 0 0 4 14
16 -- David Reutimann 3854 -2394 33 2 1 5 9
17 +1 Jeff Burton 3539 -2709 33 0 0 3 7
18 -1 Marcos Ambrose 3519 -2729 33 0 0 4 7
19 +1 Joey Logano* 3494 -2754 33 0 1 3 7
20 -1 Casey Mears 3471 -2777 33 0 0 0 4
21 -- Kevin Harvick 3380 -2868 33 0 0 3 7
22 -- Jamie McMurray 3286 -2962 33 0 1 1 5
23 +1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3197 -3051 33 0 0 2 5
24 -1 Martin Truex Jr. 3139 -3109 33 2 0 0 4
25 +1 Elliott Sadler 3134 -3114 33 0 0 1 5
26 -1 A.J. Allmendinger 3084 -3164 33 0 0 1 4
27 +1 David Ragan 2985 -3263 33 0 0 0 2
28 +1 Reed Sorenson 2964 -3284 33 0 0 0 1
29 -2 Sam Hornish Jr. 2948 -3300 33 0 0 2 7
30 +1 Bobby Labonte 2942 -3306 33 0 0 1 2
31 -1 David Stremme 2919 -3329 33 0 0 0 0
32 -- Paul Menard 2742 -3506 33 0 0 0 0
33 -- Michael Waltrip 2612 -3636 31 0 0 0 2
34 -- Robby Gordon 2474 -3774 32 0 0 1 1
35 -- Scott Speed* 2435 -3813 32 0 0 1 1
36 -- John Andretti 2381 -3867 31 0 0 0 0
37 -- David Gilliland 1700 -4548 28 0 0 0 0
38 +2 Brad Keselowski 1330 -4918 12 0 1 1 4
39 -1 Regan Smith 1306 -4942 16 0 0 0 0
40 -1 Joe Nemechek 1262 -4986 28 0 0 0 0
And so we arrive at the end of the 2009 F1 season. The titles decided, all that remained was one exhibition race – at the visually astounding new Yas Marina circuit. But would the racing match the location? And how would the drivers and teams – Button and Brawn especially – fare now that the pressure of the championships was over?
After dominating practice and qualifying, all the money was on Lewis Hamilton to win. And even more than that, to disappear into the distance and never be seen again. Well, that dream was quickly dispelled, since Hamilton – despite getting a good start – quickly realised that he was unable to pull away from Sebastian Vettel in second despite his faster pace, KERS and lighter fuel load. If he couldn’t pull out a gap before his early pit stop then Vettel would jump him for the lead.
Hamilton put everything he could into the effort, dragging out the odd tenth here or there, but Vettel was making it hard work indeed. And then on lap 12 the McLaren locked up and ran wide at turn 17 losing the outgoing world champion some 0.8s and putting him right back in Vettel’s clutches. Sure enough, come the pit stops, Hamilton emerged from the unique pit tunnel exit to find himself demoted to second, but at least he’s done enough to hold off third placed Mark Webber.
But then a couple of laps after his pit stop, Hamilton received dread news from the team: they were picking up a right rear brake problem. It explained much about his performance thus far, but the news was even worse than that: with the diagnostics indicating imminent brake failure, the team could not risk the driver, car and bystanders with an uncontrolled 200mph failure and crash. They had no choice but to clear a spot in the garage and call Hamilton in to the pits to retire, which he did on lap 21.
With Hamilton out of the way there was no risk to Vettel in the lead, and Mark Webber looked secure in third place. Behind them were the two Brawns, going well enough but not startlingly and no apparent threat. Rubens Barrichello had started ahead of his team mate, but in the opening corner of the race he has been cut off by Mark Webber who clipped the edge of Barrichello’s wing. The end plates flew off – one of them landing on Button’s cockpit – and Barrichello’s pace seemed initially affected and it allowed Button to get past for position in the ensuing corners and pull away. But Barrichello was soon matching the race leaders for pace and starting to reduce the gap again, and when the pit stops came around there was no move to change the front wing on the Brawn GP, so all was well. Webber also was fearing some sort of damage or puncture, but here too all seemed okay.
Coming up to that first round of pit stops, Button was told to push or risk falling behind Kamui Kobayashi who was having a brilliant drive making the most of a one-stop strategy. Button did manage to emerge from the pit tunnel in front, but Kobayashi was in a lighter car on hot yres and he pressed Button for all he could, finally making Button run off line onto the dust and then outbrake himself into the chicane. Kobayashi needed no second chance, passed the Brawn and scampered off into the distance on his way to an eventual 6th place after his own pit stop, by far the best of the single stoppers in the afternoon despite labouring under heavy fuel tanks and half a race on the soft option tyres. Assuming Toyota do appear on the grid in 2010, it’s impossible not to believe that Kobayashi hasn’t secured his seat in one of the cars next season with this drive and the equally eye-catching one in Brazil.
Frankly, the race settled into a bit of a lull in the middle part of proceedings; as feared, the track was simply too scientific and clinical to match the exuberance of a circuit such as Interlagos, at least when the championships are not at stake, and things became rather processional.
However, excitement sparked back into the race in the closing dozen laps as it became clear that Button was scything through Webber’s huge lead at the rate of three-quarters of a second per lap. What had appeared a safe run to the podium now became a fraught all-out fight between the two, as Weber struggled on the softer tyres but Button’s smooth drving style suited them to a tee. Webber’s “body language” showed that he was clearly rattled, struggling to limit mistakes that presented Button with any opportunities, and it was nail biting stuff with Button coming within inches of pulling it off on the final lap. Ultimately however it was another demonstration of how it might be easy to catch someone, but another thing altogether to pass them – and Webber held on by the skin of his teeth to claim second and make it a Red Bull one-two. Webber and Button was talking excitedly all the way up to the podium about the battle, and it seemed like the best fun either of them had enjoyed all year.
Overtaking moves that we did see pulled off included Robert Kubica staging a key move on the heavier car of Jarno Trulli early on, but the Pole faded badly as the race wore, fighting with one-stopping Heikki Kovalainen after his own pit stop and then clashing with Sebastien Buemi which ended with contact sending him into a spin, dumping him out of the points in 10th place. Adrian Sutil proved intermittently pacey, including one great battle through the chicane with Romain Grosjean, but nonetheless finished a lap off the pace; and Giancarlo Fisichella made up lots of positions early in the race by opting to take the soft tyres at the start, but who struggled later in the race and found his race mortally wounded by a speeding drive-thru penalty after his first stop.
Other than Hamilton, the only retiree of the evening was Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari. Suffering from a gearbox problem, Alguersuari came into the pits before the crew was out to receive him on lap 18; however, the Red Bull crew were all deployed for the race leader Vettel. Making the same mistake that commentators and spectators had been making all season long, Alguersuari confused the Red Bull livery with the Toro Rosso one and pulled in to Vettel’s box, only to find himself quickly ejected and thrown back out by the gesticulating crew. By the time he was back on track and worked out what had happened, the car was in its death throes and he came to a halt out on track.
In the end it was a curiously uneven race: thrilling in parts, dull in others, visually stunning but somehow missing something underneath, and yet managing to provide at the very end an amazing flourish and celebration of wheel-to-wheel, edge-of-the-seat racing together with an excellent win for Sebastian Vettel who was flawless today, surely a world champion in waiting.
There are far worse ways to see out the end of the season and send us into winter hibernation, and for a début/inaugural outing, Abu Dhabi overall delivered the goods.
And now all eyes turn to Bahrain in 133 days or 19 weeks. What will happen in 2010? Will Red Bull carry on the momentum they enjoyed at the end of 2009 where they chalked up a hat-trick of consecutive wins? Will Brawn successfully defend their world titles? Will McLaren and Ferrari be resurgent? Will there be another astonishing upset with a no-hope team suddenly smashing all expectations?
At this point we don’t even know all of the teams that will line up on that starting grid, and as for the driver line-up – amazingly, only six seats have been confirmed. Even Jenson Button is still a free agent. That’s likely to change pretty quickly in the next few days and weeks but it’s surely surprising that so much is still up in the air this late in the year. Although Abu Dhabi is the last on-track action of the year, it feels very much as though we’re still in the middle of the story and that the fade-out on the weekend’s coverage should end with a “To Be Continued” caption.
Watch this space!
Race results
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h34:03.314 2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 17.857 3. Button Brawn-Mercedes + 18.467 4. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes + 22.735 5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber + 26.253 6. Kobayashi Toyota + 28.343 7. Trulli Toyota + 34.366 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 41.294 9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota + 45.941 10. Kubica BMW Sauber + 48.180 11. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes + 52.798 12. Raikkonen Ferrari + 54.317 13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota + 59.839 14. Alonso Renault + 1:09.687 15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1:34.450 16. Grosjean Renault + 1 lap 17. Fisichella Ferrari + 1 lap 18. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:40.279 Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 21 Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19
World Championship standings after round 17
Button’s strong third place emphasised the amount he finally won the 2009 world title by, while a deflated Rubens Barrichello was usurped for the runners-up slot by Sebastian Vettel – not that the number two position meant all that much to either driver, and Vettel will be far happier with the GP win than the academic matter of world championship standings.
Given that the constructors’ championship decides pit lane positions, car numbers and most of all money, there was far more riding on this side of things than on the drivers. Brawn and Red Bull were safe in first and second before Abu Dhabi, of course, but the race result meant that McLaren held off Ferrari by a single point for third place “best of the rest” standing. BMW were able to finish in 6th in their final F1 appearance, just holding off Williams.
Drivers: Constructors: 1. Button 95 1. Brawn-Mercedes 172 2. Vettel 84 2. Red Bull-Renault 153.5 3. Barrichello 77 3. McLaren-Mercedes 71 4. Webber 69.5 4. Ferrari 70 5. Hamilton 49 5. Toyota 59.5 6. Raikkonen 48 6. BMW Sauber 36 7. Rosberg 34.5 7. Williams-Toyota 34.5 8. Trulli 32.5 8. Renault 26 9. Alonso 26 9. Force India-Mercedes 13 10. Glock 24 10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8 11. Kovalainen 22 12. Massa 22 13. Heidfeld 19 14. Kubica 17 15. Fisichella 8 16. Buemi 6 17. Sutil 5 18. Kobayashi 3 19. Bourdais 2
Feature race
Davide Valsecchi opened the GP2 Asia season with a hard-earned victory over fellow GP2 veteran Luca Filippi at the feature race in Abu Dhabi.
Valsecchi recovered from a sluggish start to retake the lead from ART’s impressive rookie Sam Bird down the incredibly long backstraight on lap 1, but Filippi was able to take the lead by running longer before his mandatory pit stop.
Racing was interrupted shortly afterward when Luiz Razia lost his front wing in a collision with Christian Vietoris which left debris on the track. Valsecchi then had to put Filippi under pressure from the restart, finally taking the lead again in the closing stages after a very close side by side dice through the Turn 11, 12, 13 and 14 complex. Valsecchi retained the lead even after a second safety car period prompted by a spin by Trident’s Plamen Kralev.
Sam Bird had been on course for an impressive 4th place when he suffered brake problems, took to an escape road at the chicane, and then retired a few corners later on the penultimate lap as the problem proved insurmountable. That put his British compatriot Oliver Turvey into 8th place and hence into pole position for the sprint race tomorrow under reverse grid rules.
Result
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1h07m49.810s
2. Luca Filippi Meritus + 4.881s
3. James Jakes Super Nova + 6.174s
4. Alexander Rossi Ocean + 7.182s
5. Josef Kral Super Nova + 8.220s
6. Christian Vietoris DAMS + 13.300s
7. Johnny Cecotto Trident + 15.460s
8. Oliver Turvey iSport + 16.223s
9. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS + 16.715s
10. Roldan Rodriguez Coloni + 16.879s
11. Marcus Ericsson ART + 21.686s
12. Will Bratt Coloni + 22.539s
13. Michael Herck DPR + 22.881s
14. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden + 23.403s
15. Daniel Zampieri Piquet + 23.786s
16. Max Chilton Addax + 25.131s
17. Fabio Leimer Ocean + 30.019s
18. Sam Bird ART + 2 laps
Retirements:
Charles Pic Arden 28 laps
Vlado Arabadjiev Piquet 25 laps
Plamen Kralev Trident 24 laps
Luiz Razia Addax 12 laps
Giacomo Ricci DPR 8 laps
Diego Nunes Meritus 0 laps
Sprint race
Christian Vietoris won the spring race, but it was once again Davide Valsecchi who caught the eye and impressed the most as he battled his way impressively up the order from eighth on the grid to take second and complete a very satisfactory open weekend in GP2 Asia.
Polesitter Oliver Turvey had a mediocre start but crucially failed to defend his line going into the first turn, allowing first Vietoris and then Josef Kral and Alexander Rossi to stream past him on the inside line. Turvey would also get taken with similar ease by Valsecchi with 8 laps remaining, but at least he did better than his fellow front row driver Johnny Cecotto who got a miserable start and was then squeezed back to 8th behind Luca Fillipi and Valsecchi.
Valsecchi took a fair while to come to life, but as the race reached is concluding third he suddenly sprang to life, elbowed Filippi aside and then passed Turvey – again, the Brit made it far too easy for him and failed to defend against his iSport team mate, unlike Rossi who blocked Valsecchi to within an inch of the rules before finally being forced to concede as Valsecchi took the third place. With one lap remaining, Valsecchi then hunted down Kral for the second place spot and managed a great move down the inside into a chicane that left Kral no option but to let him past for the runner-up position.
Behind them, Turvey finally managed to get on competitive form with a nice move on Rossi to take fourth. Filippi, meanwhile, having lost the shoot-out with Valsecchi then managed to spin while side-by-side defending his position from Cecotto. He recovered but was out of the points in eighth.
Valsecchi had been helped by a safety car on lap 14 caused by Fabio Leimer’s ca failing to brake going into a sharp left hander, sending him skidding off into the new safer barriers introduced to F1 here at Abu Dhabi, collecting Will Bratt along the way. That closed up the field and had left Valsecchi right on the back of Rossi at the critical moment with enough laps left to take advantage of the situation.
Even so, it was somewhat startling to see Valsecchi in such top form. He’s been something of a GP2 journeyman till now, having been on the series since its inception without ever really catching the eye or having much success. But the excellent results here in what it only a four-weekend series sets him up nicely for walking away with the off-season title.
Another driver showing signs of top form was ART’s Sam Bird, but for all his strong showing he walks away with zero points from this weekend. Starting from 18th after his brake failure in the feature race, he was spun by light contact in the first lap and then worked his way up through the order with moves including a side-by-side battle with Rodolfo Gonzalez that saw them both bounce over and through a chicane. But Bird then spun later in the race and got dumped down to the back of the running order once again, all that hard work for nought.
Result
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Christian Vietoris DAMS 43m18.814s
2. Davide Valsecchi iSport + 2.447s
3. Josef Kral Super Nova + 3.195s
4. Oliver Turvey iSport + 6.616s
5. Alexander Rossi Ocean + 7.420s
6. Johnny Cecotto Trident + 7.711s
7. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS + 8.237s
8. Luca Filippi Meritus + 10.136s
9. Michael Herck DPR + 10.730s
10. James Jakes Super Nova + 11.643s
11. Luiz Razia Addax + 11.881s
12. Marcus Ericsson ART + 12.315s
13. Diego Nunes Meritus + 12.893s
14. Roldan Rodriguez Coloni + 13.303s
15. Charles Pic Arden + 13.777s
16. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden + 14.431s
17. Max Chilton Addax + 19.485s
18. Sam Bird ART + 21.421s
Retirements:
Vlado Arabadjiev Piquet 17 laps
Fabio Leimer Ocean 14 laps
Will Bratt Coloni 14 laps
Daniel Zampieri Piquet 5 laps
Giacomo Ricci DPR 1 lap
Plamen Kralev Trident 0 laps
GP2 Asia championship after round 2
Drivers championship:
Pos Driver Pts 1 Davide Valsecchi 19 2 Christian Vietoris 9 3 Luca Filippi 8 4 Josef Kral 8 5 Alexander Rossi 7 6 James Jakes 6 7 Oliver Turvey 4 8 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 3
Teams championship:
Pos Team Pts 1 iSport International 23 2 Super Nova Racing 14 3 DAMS 9 4 Malaysia Qi-Meritus.Com 8 5 Ocean Racing Technology 7 6 Trident Racing 3
Lewis Hamilton was in peerless form and dominated the first-ever qualification session in Abu Dhabi to take pole position, while the fortunes of his rivals ebbed and flowed as the sun set on the virgin circuit.
In Q1, it was Jenson Button who skipped up to join Hamilton on the front row of the grid proving that the new world champion’s form was much improved now he had secured the title. But while his team mate topped the timesheets, Heikki Kovalainen struggled to get the second McLaren into the next stage, a late running finally boosting him to safety.
It was Force India and Renault who had the worst Q1, the teams losing both cars in the first round of qualifying – the most shocking being Fernando Alonso who missed out on Q2 by one spot, blaming a total lack of grip and professing himself unsurprised not to get through.
Giancarlo Fisichella will also not have been surprised to be eliminated, although starting the race dead last can’t be anything other than an embarrassing disappointment. And to make matters worse for Ferrari (Luca di Montezemolo , Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa were all watching on with pained expressions on the pit wall) Kimi Raikkonen was among the fallers in the second round of qualifying.
Kovalainen was also eliminated in Q2, but this time it was transmission failure that did for his hopes of progressing – he stopped out on track during the session. Meanwhile Lewis was on top of the timesheets again – and once more was the only driver to break the 100s lap time. But in Q2 it was the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber who were suddenly in form, shooting up to 2nd and fourth sandwiching a still-strong Button in 3rd.
With fuel loaded on and the skies now completely dark, Q3 seemed to cause some variation in form, with Jenson Button in particular falling back and reporting a nasty vibration on the steering wheel under braking which meant that he never competed for the front row and was probably lucky to secure 5th on the grid.
The Red Bulls both seemed to be coming to their peak and threatened a lock out of the front row over the two Brawns on the second, as Lewis Hamilton faltered – making a mistake on his first flying lap and running wide, and then struggling to find the same sort of pace he’d enjoyed for the entire day up till then. But then a final flying lap shattered the times of his rivals and put him on pole by an astonishing 0.7s, suggesting that he might be running very light: but if he can use pole position, KERS and his inherent pace to good effect in the early laps then he’ll have a country mile in which to get in and pit early in the race and still come up in the lead.
In fact the worrying prospect we’re left with it: will Lewis Hamilton disappear into the literal sunset tomorrow and never be seen again?
Qualification times
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.873 1:39.695 1:40.948 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:40.666 1:39.984 1:41.615 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:40.667 1:40.272 1:41.726 4. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:40.574 1:40.421 1:41.786 5. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:40.378 1:40.148 1:41.892 6. Trulli Toyota 1:40.517 1:40.373 1:41.897 7. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:40.520 1:40.545 1:41.992 8. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:40.558 1:40.635 1:42.343 9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:40.842 1:40.661 1:42.583 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:40.908 1:40.430 1:42.713 11. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:41.100 1:40.726 12. Kobayashi Toyota 1:41.035 1:40.777 13. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:40.808 1:40.983 14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:41.096 1:41.148 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:41.503 1:41.689 16. Alonso Renault 1:41.667 17. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:41.701 18. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:41.863 19. Grosjean Renault 1:41.950 20. Fisichella Ferrari 1:42.184
After a rain-beset build-up, the drivers came to the tight half mile oval at Martinsville with a degree of trepidation: on such a tight, claustrophobic circuit anything can happen – Martinsville is the shortest circuit on the Sprint Cup calendar. Small mistakes can become big ones, and Chase hopes can turn to ashes, so for Jimmie Johnson the aim was to finish and maintain momentum, not necessarily to win.
Since all the rain had washed the circuit on Saturday, a competition caution had been arranged for lap 50, but the race didn’t make anything like that distance before the first real caution came out on lap 7 when Matt Kenseth got loose in turn 4 and moved up into Marcos Ambrose, spinning the 47 into a collision with his own car and the two of them collecting Robby Gordon in the process.
Ryan Newman led from pole for the first 22 laps before getting usurped by seven-time winner Jeff Gordon, and Newman then started to get shuffled back through the order. On the way up and recovering from poor qualifying positions were Jimmie Johnson and Juan Montoya, but it was less cheerful news for Chase contenders Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne who were still stuck around 30th position in heavy traffic and showing little sign of life.
The race was still six laps shy of the official competition caution when Michael Waltrip spun with a flat left rear tyre to bring out the second caution of the day. NASCAR decided it was close enough the declared it the competition yellow after all, meaning that for the first time the cars could come in for proper fuel and tyre stops. With almost everyone still on the lead lap, it was very tight in the crowded pit lane, with Jeff Gordon notably almost exiting right into the path of Bobby Labonte. Fortunately no harm was done and Gordon resumed in the lead after taking only two tyres – unusually for the leaders who mainly went for four. The big gainer was Jamie McMurray, up 11 spots into 4th on a two-tyre stop.
But two tyres was quickly exposed as a mistake; McMurray started to fall back almost at once, and shortly afterwards Gordon started to lose positions too, ceding the lead to Jimmie Johnson on lap 59. Gordon seemed unable to keep the car down low on the track and was repeatedly beaten by cars diving down the inside line. Montoya was once again a man in a hurry and when it was his turn to pass he was impatient, catching Gordon on the left rear and nearly tipping the 24 into a spin before Gordon caught it.
Gordon was relieved when a blown tyre on the 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr gave him and the other leaders a chance to pit once again on lap 89. At the restart, Johnson led Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Juan Montoya and Jeff Gordon to the green; at the other end, Kasey Kahne’s day went from bad to worse with a pit lane speeding penalty.
Montoya and Gordon were once again side-by-side vying for track position, and once again Montoya got physical in doing it – Gordon was not amused to be pushed out of the way a second time in one afternoon by the 42.
This green flag went untroubled for some time, a yellow only coming out again on lap 128 – once again for Earnhardt, who got into the wall on lap 128. It was good timing for everyone and the pit lane was once again frenetically busy, Johnson returning back out in the lead with Montoya, Newman, Gordon and Martin making up the rest of the top five. Montoya was quick to challenge for the lead, and on lap 141 he recorded his first lap in front as he put Johnson back into second place.
Debris on the start/finish straight brought out the fifth caution on lap 157 but the leaders mainly stayed out, Denny Hamlin the highest car to pit from sixth place; the next caution wa lap 176 after David Stremme and Sam Hornish Jr tangled.
This time around the pit stops showed diverging strategy, and the top five at the restart were Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Kyle and Kurt Busch, and Bobby Labonte in fifth. Hamlin was quick to take the lead away from Burton after he restart on lap 182, while further back Johnson was shown in 14th, Montoya 17 and Gordon all the way back in 25th.
Sam Hornish Jr was the cause for the seventh caution of the afternoon when he spun on th front stretch and backed into a crunching impact against the wall; he crawled back to the garage area streaming smoke from the damaged bodywork as he went, looking very much out of the running for the rest of the afternoon. Burton and Kurt Busch were among those to pit, and now the restart had Hamlin leading Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Labonte and Carl Edwards.
Kasey Kahne’s miserable day now saw his left front tyre blow on lap 210, spinning him around so that the back of the 9 car thudded into the wall bringing out the eighth caution of the afternoon. Hamlin still held the lead after Kyle Busch had briefly got his nose in front to get points for leading a lap, and the two of them were now ahead of Johnson and Harvick, with Montoya creeping up to sixth behind Labonte.
As the race hit the halfway point, a series of collisions between AJ Allmendinger and Joey Logano inevitably resulted in Logano hitting the rear of the 44 hard enough to send it into a spin and a heavy contact with the wall: Allmendinger’s car was extensively beaten up and was the first car not able to limp back to the pits afterwards, and was collected by the tow-truck instead as the remainder of the field came in for their long-awaited pit stops.
Showing some canny knowledge of where the pit lane speed check equipment was deployed and where it was safe to gas it up just a little bit more, Johnson beat Denny Hamlin, Mark Marin, Juan Montoya, Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch out of pit lane – Hamlin and Busch now back on the same strategy having consolidated their position gain. But Greg Biffle was alone in staying out, and took up the lead for the restart; but the advantage of fresh rubber and a better car saw Johnson fly past for the lead within half a lap, and five laps later he was out of the top five altogether.
A clash with Kasey Kahne left John Andretti spun across the path of Sterling Marlin on lap 275 bringing out the tenth caution of the day, and at the restart battle was joined between Johnson and Montoya for the lead. Johnson kept the top spot, but Montoya was not shy in giving the back of the 48 more than a few not-so-gentle taps to try and press his claim.
The battle between the two was still going on when the race hit the 300 lap mark and the 11th caution came out for Kasey Kahne, whose right front tyre let go sending the already-battered 9 car straight into the wall. Montoya had a sluggish stop and lost position on Johnson during the ensuing pit stops, but in any case the top five now consisted of cars that hadn’t come in at all – David Reutimann, Tony Stewart, Elliot Sadler, Matt Kenseth and John Andretti. Stewart had a poor restart and was soon caught and past by Johnson, but Reutimann wasn’t passed for the lead until 15 laps later on lap 321.
Further back down the field, Martin Truex Jr and David Stremme were having a spat which ended inevitably with Stremme thumping Truex into a smoky spin, but Truex was able to gather it up without hitting anything and get the car going in the right direction again before NASCAR threw a caution.
But Johnson was back in the lead: no matter the type of track or where he qualifies, it seems that Johnson can simply work his way to the front everytime – and win. The only car that had looked a real threat during this race had been Montoya, but his aggressive style and heavy-on-the-brakes driving suggested the car wouldn’t last in one piece or at least at this level of performance to the end. So it was a relief to see a new threat to a Johnson win emerge in the shape of Denny Hamlin, who seemed to grow stronger and faster as the green flag stint wore on to that by lap 363 the 11 and the 48 were side-by-side, trading the lead until finally Hamlin broke through and claimed the outright lead.
The green flag stint had survived Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr both losing tyres but not bring out a caution, even when Earnhardt slid the 88 into a long scrape against the wall. It meant that the green lasted remarkably well over a hundred laps, and soon the cars were forced into pitting under green for their final stop for fuel, starting from around lap 420: Montoya was in on lap 433, Johnson one lap later (with a bad delay on the right rear tyre) and Hamlin in from the lead a lap longer still.
Ironically, once the stops had cycled through the 12th caution of the afternoon was quick to follow after Elliott Sadler gave John Andretti a tap on the rear and sent the 34 into a spin. At the restart, Hamlin, Johnson and Montoya headed the field with Brian Vickers 4th, Jeff Gordon 5th and Mark Martin ever-present near in the lead in 6th.
As the race drew to its climax, the car got up close and personal, jostling each other up and down the running order. At the front, Jimmie Johnson made his intention to bump Denny Hamlin very clear, while further back Mark Martin was tapped by Carl Edwards which cost him position. At least Jeff Gordon – now back near the front after divergent pit stop strategies had seen him back in the midfield for much of the afternoon – passed Juan Montoya cleanly for third place.
A 13th caution for debris allowed Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray to roll the dice on pitting for fresh rubber, and the race went green again on lap 488 with twelve to go. Once again Hamlin got a great start and pulled away from the danger of Jimmie Johnson, and once again his hopes of a clear run to the chequered were dashed when the 14th caution came out on lap 14: Scott Speed went into turn 1 far too fast, lost the back end and wrecked it against the wall, scattering debris over the track and making a yellow unavoidable.
That left a two lap sprint to the finish, and once again Hamlin excelled at the restart: this time, it seemed, Jimmie Johnson had met his match and wouldn’t be able to take the victory. Not that it would do his Sprint Cup campaign any harm, as all the main rivals were safely behind him and this result would only extend his considerable lead still further.
The race finished under green – somewhat incredibly, as John Andretti had spun at the end of the penultimate lap and then stalled the car perpendicular on the start-finish line. Despite this huge hazard, NASCAR failed to throw the yellow in order to allow the race to finish, but more than a few cars on the inside line were startled to find a stationary car in the middle of the track ahead of them and no warning yellows in sight. Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus looked astonished at NASCAR’s call, which appeared incredibly dangerous and only luck and skilful reactions avoided a disastrous end to proceedings.
But as controversial as that incident might prove to be, there was no question as to the winner – a great run by Hamlin to lead the final 139 laps and hold off Johnson, and Montoya did indeed make it to the end of the race in one piece in an impressive 3rd. Arguably the best run of the day, however, belonged to Kyle Busch who finished 4th after starting 41st on the grid, ahead of Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray.
Race result
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE PTS/BNS LAPS 1 17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 195/10 501 2 15 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 175/5 501 3 21 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 170/5 501 4 41 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 165/5 501 5 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 160/5 501 6 23 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 150/0 501 7 1 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 151/5 501 8 4 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 147/5 501 9 10 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 138/0 501 10 13 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 134/0 501 11 24 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 130/0 501 12 7 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 127/0 501 13 8 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 124/0 501 14 32 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 121/0 501 15 22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 123/5 501 16 37 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 115/0 501 17 5 00 David Reutimann Toyota 117/5 501 18 6 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet 109/0 501 19 19 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 106/0 501 20 29 99 Carl Edwards Ford 103/0 501 21 40 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 100/0 501 22 14 6 David Ragan Ford 97/0 501 23 30 98 Paul Menard Ford 94/0 501 24 9 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 91/0 501 25 20 16 Greg Biffle Ford 93/5 501 26 27 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 90/5 499 27 34 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 82/0 499 28 3 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 79/0 499 29 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 76/0 499 30 36 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 73/0 497 31 18 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 70/0 495 32 26 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 67/0 494 33 11 12 David Stremme Dodge 64/0 439 34 16 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 61/0 414 35 38 09 Sterling Marlin Dodge 58/0 355 36 31 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 55/0 248 37 33 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 52/0 130 38 28 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 49/0 52 39 35 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 51/5 48 40 39 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 43/0 38 41 42 36 Michael McDowell Toyota 40/0 36 42 43 64 Derrike Cope Toyota 37/0 31 43 25 37 Travis Kvapil Dodge 34/0 30
Sprint Cup standings
Johnson’s lead is extended by 28pts and the top four are unchanged, but Montoya’s aggressive drive to third place gives him a boost after last week’s disappointment.
Kyle Busch’s fourth place finish puts him back into “best of the rest” position in 13th.
+/- DRIVER PTS BEHIND ST P W T5 T10
1 -- Jimmie Johnson 6098 Leader 32 3 6 14 21
2 -- Mark Martin 5980 -118 32 7 5 12 19
3 -- Jeff Gordon 5948 -150 32 0 1 16 23
4 -- Tony Stewart 5902 -196 32 0 4 15 22
5 +1 Juan Montoya 5898 -200 32 2 0 7 17
6 -1 Kurt Busch 5861 -237 32 0 1 8 18
7 +1 Ryan Newman 5786 -312 32 2 0 5 15
8 -1 Greg Biffle 5748 -350 32 0 0 9 14
9 +2 Denny Hamlin 5746 -352 32 1 3 12 17
10 -- Carl Edwards 5685 -413 32 0 0 7 13
11 -2 Kasey Kahne 5659 -439 32 0 2 6 13
12 -- Brian Vickers 5568 -530 32 6 1 4 13
======= CHASE FOR THE Sprint CUP - CURRENT CONTENDERS ========
13 +1 Kyle Busch 3920 -2178 32 1 4 9 12
14 -1 Matt Kenseth 3895 -2203 32 1 2 6 11
15 -- Clint Bowyer 3805 -2293 32 0 0 4 14
16 -- David Reutimann 3761 -2337 32 2 1 5 9
17 -- Marcos Ambrose 3453 -2645 32 0 0 4 7
18 +1 Jeff Burton 3379 -2719 32 0 0 2 6
19 -1 Casey Mears 3378 -2720 32 0 0 0 4
20 -- Joey Logano* 3324 -2774 32 0 1 2 6
21 -- Kevin Harvick 3279 -2819 32 0 0 3 7
22 +3 Jamie McMurray 3091 -3007 32 0 0 0 4
23 -- Martin Truex Jr. 3064 -3034 32 2 0 0 4
24 -2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3062 -3036 32 0 0 2 5
25 -1 A.J. Allmendinger 3020 -3078 32 0 0 1 4
26 -- Elliott Sadler 2991 -3107 32 0 0 1 4
27 -- Sam Hornish Jr. 2905 -3193 32 0 0 2 7
28 -- David Ragan 2873 -3225 32 0 0 0 2
29 -- Reed Sorenson 2849 -3249 32 0 0 0 1
30 -- David Stremme 2817 -3281 32 0 0 0 0
31 -- Bobby Labonte 2808 -3290 32 0 0 1 1
32 -- Paul Menard 2705 -3393 32 0 0 0 0
33 -- Michael Waltrip 2461 -3637 30 0 0 0 1
34 -- Robby Gordon 2402 -3696 31 0 0 1 1
35 -- Scott Speed* 2353 -3745 31 0 0 1 1
36 -- John Andretti 2282 -3816 30 0 0 0 0
37 -- David Gilliland 1700 -4398 28 0 0 0 0
38 -- Regan Smith 1260 -4838 15 0 0 0 0
39 +1 Joe Nemechek 1228 -4870 27 0 0 0 0
40 -1 Brad Keselowski 1183 -4915 11 0 1 1 3
Formula 1- Vettel surprised by Button's switch
- Q and A with Manor's John Booth
- Manor boss positive about F1's future
- Brawn: Sale gives team stronger future
- Lopez set for US F1 drive
- Rosberg expects 'wins at least' in 2010
- Wolff: Value of privateers will rise
- Q and A with Frank Williams
- Williams says he will stay in control
- Williams sells stake in team
- NASCAR
- Stuck dismisses VW NASCAR talk
- Q and A: Vettel on his NASCAR visit
- Vettel: F1 can learn from NASCAR
- Kyle Busch wins Nationwide race, title
- Stewart proud despite Chase slump
- NASCAR boss would welcome Patrick
- Martin not focusing on title fight
- Johnson claims Homestead pole
- Johnson extends Hendrick deal
- McMurray thrilled to rejoin Ganassi
- Indy Racing League
- Power recovery ahead of schedule
- Power gets full season with Penske
- Analysis: Izod deal boosts IndyCar
- Izod becomes IndyCar title sponsor
- Wheldon to stay at Panther for 2010
- Franchitti surprised to win 2009 title
- Ganassi lauds 'mature' Franchitti
- Franchitti clinches IndyCar title
- Heatwave hampers IndyCar title fight
- Franchitti beats Dixon to Miami pole
- MotoGP
- Suzuki impressed with Bautista
- FIM tweaks 2010 calendar again
- Stoner ends Valencia test on top
- Scot Racing withdraws from MotoGP
- Lorenzo tops day two at Valencia
- Rossi backs down from Ducati comments
- 2010 calendar unveiled
- Stoner tops first day of Valencia test
- Rossi threatens 2011 Ducati switch
- Elias wants quick return
- GP2
- Piquet GP changes name
- Van der Garde joins Addax for 2010
- Jakes stays on top in final GP2 test
- Jakes tops the times at Ricard
- Herck sets testing pace at Paul Ricard
- Arden to test quintet in France
- Vietoris takes maiden GP2 victory
- Valsecchi wins GP2 Asia opener
- Valsecchi thrilled with maiden pole
- Valsecchi on pole in Abu Dhabi
- A1GP
- A1GP cancels China and Malaysia
- A1GP cancels Surfers opener
- A1GP expects 19 cars for Surfers
- A1GP completes crucial funding deal
- A1GP confident over season five
- Doubts cast over A1GP future
- Jani injured in mountain bike accident
- A1GP season to open at Surfers
- A1GP swaps Zandvoort for Assen
- Jani gallant after losing A1GP title
