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February 20, 2006
Daytona 500
1. J. Johnson Chevrolet
2. C. Mears Dodge
3. R. Newman Dodge
4. E. Sadler Ford
5. T. Stewart Chevrolet
To all the haters, 48 winsCheater or champion? Such is the stigma that Jimmie Johnson has to bear after winning his first Daytona 500 just 10 days after his crew chief was kicked out for illegally altering his car.
Johnson won a two-lap shootout Sunday to claim the victory, capping a roller-coaster week that saw NASCAR kick his crew chief out of competition for cheating.
Johnson stayed calm and avoided trouble in a wild race that saw Tony Stewart eliminate three contenders: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and himself. Then Johnson worked his way to the front, staying in line and waiting for his chance to pounce.
It came with 14 laps to go when he squeezed past teammate Brian Vickers to grab the lead just as a caution came out. Johnson was at the front of the field on the restart, the lead driver in a single-file pack of cars sprinting toward the end.
Lap 203: Checkered Flag/Yellow Flag: Jimmie Johnson as the caution flies for a last-lap crash
Lap 201: Green Flag: Jimmie Johnson leads
Lap 200: Preparing for a green-white-checkered finish
Lap 197: Caution: Jamie McMurray is pushed up by Jeff Burton. McMurray then hits the wall
Lap 195: Kyle Busch black-flagged for aggressive driving
Lap 190: Green flag: Jimmie Johnson leads
Lap 189: Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Jeff Burton to pit road
Lap 187: Caution: Jamie McMurray gets into Kurt Busch, putting Busch into wall. Just before the caution, Jimmie Johnson takes the lead from teammate Brian Vickers
Lap 180: Green flag -- Brian Vickers leads
Lap 178: Pit stops. Jamie McMurray overshoots his pit. Brian Vickers wins the race off of pit road after a no-tire stop. Mike Wallace also took no tires.
Lap 176: Caution: Travis Kvapil hits the wall. Matt Kenseth is the Lucky Dog
Lap 167: Penske is 1-2, as Kurt Busch moves to second
Lap 163: Ryan Newman takes the lead
Lap 159: Green Flag: Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads
Lap 156: Leaders to pit road. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off of pit road. Michael Waltrip penalized for too fast exiting and Jimmie Johnson goes into the grass to avoid contact with Ryan Newman
Lap 155: Caution: Debris on frontstretch
Lap 144: Brian Vickers takes the lead
Lap 141: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead back from Mark Martin
Lap 130: Jeff Gordon is 23rd, Tony Stewart is 27th after his penalty
Lap 129: Green Flag: Mark Martin, with a two-tire stop, leads.
Lap 128: Tony Stewart penalized for running over equipment in his pit stall. Stewart will go to the tail end of the longest line.
Lap 125: Field to pit road. Mark Martin comes off first with Dale Earnhardt Jr. second. Bill Elliott stayed out and takes the lead.
Lap 124: Caution: Robby Gordon loses a tire and hits the wall
Lap 122: Jimmie Johnson takes the race lead from teammate Kyle Busch
Lap 117: Matt Kenseth will not be scored for one lap for not answering the black flag
Lap 116: Kyle Busch takes the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 114: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead back as Matt Kenseth serves his pass-through penalty
Lap 113: Greg Biffle takes the lead
Lap 112: Green flag. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads
Lap 111: NASCAR race control black flags the Kenseth team for tapping Tony Stewart
Lap 110: NASCAR sends Tony Stewart to the end of the longest line for aggressive driving
Lap 108: Field to pit road. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off. Greg Biffle gains 16 spots after a two-tire stop.
Lap 107: Caution: Matt Kenseth hits the wall and says, "The 20 hit me."
Lap 104: Mark Martin shoots into the lead
Lap 100: At halfway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads and all 43 cars are still in the race.
Lap 96: Green Flag: Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads.
Lap 93: Field to pit road -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off and takes the lead.
Lap 91: Caution: Debris on the backstretch. Joe Nemechek is the Lucky Dog
Lap 89: Matt Kenseth gets a push from former teammate Kurt Busch and takes the lead.
Lap 87: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead.
Lap 86: J.J. Yeley treated and released from the infield care center.
Lap 85: Kevin Harvick takes the lead from Matt Kenseth
Lap 85: Green flag. Matt Kenseth leads
Lap 84: Kurt Busch pits and Matt Kenseth assumes the lead
Lap 82: Field to pit road -- Kurt Busch leads after pit stops. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon ran over a piece of debris from the earlier wreck and was forced to pit a second time for repairs.
Lap 80: Caution: Not really the big one, but more like a medium one -- Carl Edwards, Kyle Petty, J. J. Yeley, Jeff Green and Joe Nemechek are collected on the backstretch.
Lap 73: Jamie McMurray, since restarting 38th, is back up to ninth
Lap 58: With drafting help from a bunch of cars, Matt Kenseth takes the lead
Lap 52: Green Flag: Ryan Newman leads. McMurray to 38th after his car fell off the jack.
Lap 50: Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon both stay on pit road to repair damage
Lap 49: Field to pit road. Ryan Newman wins race off of pit road.
Lap 49: Caution: Jeff Gordon slides into Tony Stewart after Jamie McMurray took the lead. Both Stewart and Gordon have damage
Lap 48: Jamie McMurray takes the lead from Jeff Gordon, who then gets tangled with Tony Stewart
Lap 42: Jeremy Mayfield back to pit road, now five laps down
Lap 40: Tony Stewart continues to lead with Jamie McMurray second
Lap 38: Jeremy Mayfield back to pit road after a tire goes down thanks to a fender rub.
Lap 34: Jeremy Mayfield heads to pit road after contact
Lap 28: Tony Stewart comes back strong and takes the lead. Jamie McMurray is second.
Lap 27: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes lead as Tony Stewart bobbles in second and falls to third.
Lap 25: Matt Kenseth passes Jeff Gordon for lead. Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets behind Kenseth and moves up to second.
Lap 24: Jeff Gordon takes lead; Sadler to fourth
Lap 23: Dale Jr. gets freight-trained. Now off of lead pack
Lap 21: Green Flag: Elliott Sadler leads
Lap 20: Dale Jarrett, Kirk Shelmerdine penalized for too fast off of pit road
Lap 19: Biffle pits, giving lead to Elliott Sadler
Lap 18: The field hits pit road. Elliott Sadler wins the race off pit road. Greg Biffle, who stayed out, takes the lead
Lap 17: Caution: Martin Truex Jr. brushes wall
Lap 14: Jeff Gordon back to second place as Jeff Burton keeps the lead
Lap 9: Kevin Harvick has gone from 26th to 10th. Meanwhile, Kyle Petty has gone from 10th to 27th.
Lap 3: Jeff Green is back on the racetrack
Lap 2: Jeff Burton gets the first five bonus points of the season.
Lap 1: Jeff Green loses a tire and heads to pit road. No caution.
2:45 p.m. -- Green flag: Jeff Burton leads.
2:42 p.m. -- Kevin Harvick heads to pit road to get a bag taken off of his roof-cam.
2:30 p.m. -- James Caan -- looking a lot like Dennis Hopper -- gives the command to start engines.
2:21 p.m. -- Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas sings the national anthem. Not one person in our office had ever heard of her.
2:20 p.m. -- Jack Roush apparently told Carl Edwards that Edwards was "one of his dumbest and bravest drivers."
2:07 p.m. -- Bon Jovi takes the stage, as Jon Bon Jovi shamlessly wears a Philly Soul t-shirt, plugging his Arena Football team.
1:55 p.m. -- Michael Waltrip again refuses to say the word "Dodge".
1:48 p.m. -- Mike Helton : "The best way to do this is for you to have respect for each other." Words to live by.
1:43 p.m. -- The first TV story about "The Big One" rears its ugly head.
1:37 p.m. -- Jeff Burton: "I think the end of this race could get pretty wild." Ya think?
1:36 p.m. -- Asked about why they didn't practice yesterday, Jeff Gordon tells Marty Snider, "I think today's weather proves why we didn't do it."
1:33 p.m. -- NBC is on the air. Bill Weber is waxing poetic again.
12:26 p.m. -- The weather is cold and cloudy at Daytona as the green flag is about two hours away.
Posted by admin at February 20, 2006 02:25 PM