Dale Earnhardt Jr. can't catch Jimmie Johnson at Dover

Dale Earnhardt Jr., had one of the fastest cars, but he missed pit road and gave up the lead early in the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn't regain the lead from teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover.

His latest win at his favorite track put the Chase field on notice that his run at a sixth championship in the No. 48 car is gathering steam. Johnson never let Dale Earnhardt Jr. catch him down the stretch Sunday and won for a record eighth time at Dover International Speedway.

His slice of track history was more than just another milestone to tack on his bio.

Johnson had shared the mark of seven wins on the concrete mile with Bobby Allison and Richard Petty.

"Truthfully, it was the first thought that went through my mind when I crossed the finish line," Johnson said. "It wasn't long after I thought about the impact of winning in the Chase."

Johnson's win bumped him from third to second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Matt Kenseth, who won the first two Chase races, holds an eight-point over Johnson as the series heads to Kansas for the fourth race.

The entire top 10 was made up of Chase drivers. Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer completed the top 10.

"You've got to win when you're at your best track," Johnson said. "We had to win here today. I think any points on the 18 or 20 would have been a very good day. Max points, it's an awesome day."

Not so much for Dale Earnhardt, who had one of the fastest cars, but he missed pit road and gave up the lead early in the race. He had a strong enough No. 88 Chevrolet to get back into the race and contend for his first win of the season but couldn't pass Johnson.

"We left everybody in the mirror. We were clicking off some laps," Earnhardt said. "But just not fast enough to get to Jimmie."

Kenseth kept his points lead even as he fell short in trying to become the first driver to win the first three Chase races.

"For how bad I felt like we struggled with the car, that was a decent finish," Kenseth said.

Johnson dominated as he usually does at Dover and led 243 of the 400 laps to help extend his Chase record with his 23rd career win in 93 starts in NASCAR's version of the playoffs. He swept Dover in 2002 and 2009 and won races in 2005, 2010 and 2012.

He jumped a restart and served a pass-through penalty that cost him the win in the spring race.

Crew chief Chad Knaus brought the same car back for this one and, this time, Johnson was pretty much flawless.

Johnson has his sights set on a bigger piece of NASCAR history. He's in the hunt for his sixth Cup championship, which would put him one behind Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for most in series history.

"Jimmie is probably the most underrated champion we have in this industry," Knaus said. "He is by far and above the most powerful driver over the course of the last 25, 35 years in this sport."

Johnson caught a huge break when Earnhardt slowed during a green-flag pit stop and missed the entrance to pit road. He went from holding a 3.7-second lead on Johnson to trailing by more than 9 seconds after he finally made his stop.

Johnson took the lead — and took off for his 65th victory in 428 career starts. Even smart pit strategy that included a late four-tire stop wasn't enough to boost Earnhardt past his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Dale Earnhardt Jr. can't catch Jimmie Johnson at Dover
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0930/Dale-Earnhardt-Jr.-can-t-catch-Jimmie-Johnson-at-Dover
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe