Subscibe to our feedJohnson Earns 1st Victory of Season with Martinsville Win
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Jimmie Johnson helped Rick Hendrick celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ first victory in a special way Sunday – by taking him to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 of the last 13 races at the .526-mile track; Johnson has won five of the last six.
The result marks Johnson’s 41st Sprint Cup Series win and his 14th top-10 finish in 15 starts at Martinsville.
Starting from the ninth spot due to qualifying being cancelled, Johnson found himself fighting a tight race car early in the 500-lap Sprint Cup Series race.
With three cautions in the first 70 laps, Johnson was the only driver on the lead lap to pit twice, losing vital track position to work on the racecar. On Lap 100, the Team Lowe’s Racing driver was running 27th.
“It didn't start out the way we wanted to, for sure,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “We didn't get a lot of practice on Friday because of the rain. The new tire threw everybody for a loop. When we started the race, we kind of went a different direction than what we thought, than what we had in the past. The car wasn't what it needed to be.”
“We caught a couple cautions pretty early,” Knaus continued. “We went ahead and took that opportunity to pit and try to make the car a little bit better because we knew if we didn't take the opportunity then, we wouldn't have enough time to get back up through the field.”
Slowly, Knaus found the right setup for the No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS. On Lap 235, Johnson broke into the top 10 for the first time.
The longer the race went, the better Johnson was and on Lap 430 the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion passed Denny Hamlin for his first lead of the day.
“Fortunately enough, we got the car better,” explained Knaus. “It took the whole race to get it there. Jimmie did a really good job, showed a lot of patience, and the pit crew did a great job with the pit stops.”
Johnson and Hamlin would go on to swap the front spot two more times before Johnson muscled his way around Hamlin for the final pass with 16 laps remaining.
“I just patiently worked away at him and got in an area where I could try to out brake him and get into position in turn three,” said Johnson. “I got in there alongside of him and he kept coming down to go to the inside line. We made some contact. I think I went up over the curve. We were both sideways. Fortunately nobody tore anything up.”
“I think it's really tough, short track racing,” continued Johnson. “I think Denny was trying hard to protect his lead, winning in his home state. I wanted to get to the front really bad because I want to win one.”
Johnson now has more wins at the paperclip-shaped short track than any other venue on the Sprint Cup Series circuit. He has five victories at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
“We didn't have an easy day today,” said Johnson. “We had to stay together as a team, work through a lot of changes, a loss of track position to make the car better and fight for the front, count on pit stops, count on good driving. It took a team effort today. I'm very proud of that.”
The Sprint Cup Series will travel to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend for the Samsung 500. The event will be broadcast live on April 5, beginning with a pre-race show at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX.