Racetrack Insider - News and Views of the Motorsports Industry from Insiders Drew Patey and Buddy Judy

Johnson Owns The Monster Mile

Jimmie Johnson won his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup win of the year at Dover on Sunday and showed the crowd of over 100,000 that he owns the Monster Mile. Johnson, who is going after his fourth NASCAR title, also showed his competitors that his team will be one to reckon with for the 2009 Championship. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led 271 out of the 400 laps, with only Safety-Kleen's Kurt Busch putting up a challenge by leading 99 laps. But this race was all about Johnson, who took the pole on Friday and won for the 44th time in his career. Mark Martin had another strong race this week and finished second at the checkered flag. Martin seemed to have a good car for the long runs, but was never able to get close enough to Johnson to chase him down. Matt Kenseth also put on a good showing taking his Roush Fenway Ford to the front after starting in the 23rd spot and held on to finish third. But the standout in the top five again was Juan Pablo Montoya who seems to be on a roll as he was in the front all day and finished fourth followed by Kurt Busch in fifth. The race was marked by an early multi-car wreck involving rookie Joey Logano. On lap 30, the rookie 19 year old got hit from behind by Tony Stewart after he tried to avoid getting into the back of Bobby Labonte who slowed down ahead of him. The contact with Stewart sent Logano into a spin and when he hit the wall, Reed Sorenson's car somehow got underneath Lagono's Toyota and the car flipped over 7 times before coming to rest on the apron of the track. Logano climbed out of the car unhurt in the incident. The next race is in Kansas. The Baltimore Safety-Kleen branch, led by Steve "Speedy" Glab, was at the track all weekend servicing the teams, helping with the pit tours and hosting another great tailgate party - great job.