Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson returned to victory lane at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, winning the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, his first Sprint Cup Series race win of the 2009 season. The win fell on the 25th anniversary of car owner Rick Hendrick’s first Cup triumph, which, oddly enough, fell at Martinsville.
 
“Through the day it seemed like late in the run our car was really good, and Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and the guys made a bunch of adjustments to get us quicker at the start,” said Johnson, who now has six career wins at Martinsville and 41 overall. “Those last two runs, we came out in the lead, were kind of able to get away from those guys.”
 
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin dominated the 500-lap race, leading the way around the quaint Virginia short track for 296 circuits. Johnson led for a restart on lap 455 but Hamlin had a good jump and quickly reclaimed the top spot that he had held for the majority of the afternoon.
 
Johnson however, kept Hamlin in his sights until lap 485 when he dropped his Chevrolet to the inside of Hamlin in Turn 3. The nose of Johnson’s Chevy nudged Hamlin’s Toyota in the left rear, sending Hamlin up the racetrack, allowing Johnson to drive away and eventually, to the race win.
 
“The more cycles we had, the looser we got,” said Hamlin, who entered the race weekend as the event’s defending winner. “We were still in position. But, unfortunately on short tracks when you find yourself in the lead, with less than a car length, you know you’re vulnerable.
 
“You’re putting yourself out there. Your bumper is pretty big. The guy who is second, who is hungry to win, sees it, sees an opportunity. That’s what he did; he took advantage. We were in a bad spot, I guess you could say.”
 
The finish was Hamlin’s second straight runner-up showing.
 
Though Hamlin, a Virginia native, saw the move as a typical short-track race run-in, Johnson marked the race-winning move up as a slip-up on Hamlin’s end.

”If the roles were reversed, it would be my fault,” Johnson explained. “Fortunately we didn’t crash. The last thing I was trying to do is crash him. I thought I was out-braking him and had the preferred line, I was just going to go on by after a couple laps. Unfortunately, we made contact.”

Tony Stewart watched the race for the lead in the third spot, hoping to be the beneficiary of hard racing gone wrong in the closing laps. With Johnson and Hamlin wheeling their cars to a comfortable finish, Stewart settled into third, his best showing to date in his newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“They made it hard to not watch it and focus on your line,” Stewart said of the dramatic lead change. “But I was about three car lengths back to really be where I needed to be to get in the mix of it when it happened.
 
“They both were a little bit better at the end of the race than we were. I’m not sure if I got ahead of them I was going to be able to hold it but we had a solid top-5 car for sure.”
 
Jeff Gordon started from the pole based on points after rain washed out qualifying on Friday afternoon. Gordon, who has seven wins of his own at Martinsville, led 147 laps during the 263-mile race but drifted back in the closing laps to fourth.
 
Clint Bowyer finished fifth.
 
Gordon continues to lead Bowyer in the standings by 89 points
 
Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman, also notched a top-10 showing on Sunday, crossing the stripe in sixth.
 
Hendrick Motorsports overall had a solid day with all four cars showing in the top 10. Joining Johnson and Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
 
A.J. Allmendinger waved the banner for Richard Petty Motorsports, finishing ninth. Allmendinger’s team recently picked up additional sponsorship on the No. 44 Dodge, guaranteeing him enough funding to run through the 600-mile race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway falling Memorial Day weekend.
 
Jamie McMurray was the highest finishing Ford, rounding out the top 10.

Del.icio.us | Digg it | Athlon Sports RSS Feeds