Sunday, October 17, 2004
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon finished 1-2 in the UAW-GM Quality 500.
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson thought he needed a victory to jump back into contention for the Nextel Cup championship.
He got it, and it still wasn't enough.
Johnson won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night -- leading teammate Jeff Gordon across the finish line for a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports -- but gained almost no ground in the Chase for the Championship.
On a night in which almost all 10 of the championship contenders had some sort of trouble, Kurt Busch and Gordon rebounded the best.
The two bounced back from a wreck in the first turn of the first lap to salvage stellar finishes and retain their hold on the top of the point standings.
Busch finished fourth and now holds a 24-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished third. Gordon, who also had a second minor accident midway through the race, is 74 points back.
Good overall performance
Despite a series of bad breaks to most of the contenders, nine of the 10 finished 14th or better.
That meant Johnson, whose victory gave him a season sweep at Lowe's Motor Speedway, gained just one spot in the standings. The Lowe's-sponsored driver is eighth, 222 points behind Busch, because of finishes of 32nd or worse the past two weeks
It made no difference to Johnson, who celebrated becoming the first driver to sweep the Lowe's races since the late Dale Earnhardt did it in 1986 with a series of burn-outs.
"What a way to come back and right the ship after the bad luck we've had," Johnson said.
Johnson, the most dominating driver for the first seven months of the season, is more or less out of title contention.
Three-man race
The championship hunt has become a three-man race, and unless the trio has a ton of trouble, no one is going to catch them.
But 10 seconds into the race, it looked as if the rest of the contenders had gotten a lucky break.
Scott Riggs missed a shift at the start of the race that prevented him from taking off. He tried to get his car out of the way, but there was too much traffic behind him and a chain-reaction crash stacked up behind him.
It caused minor damage to Busch and Gordon, who had to pit several times to make repairs.
When racing resumed, Busch was 38th and Gordon 40th.
Another accident brought out the caution just two laps later, and Busch's Roush Racing team used the time to assess his car. Teammate Matt Kenseth eyeballed the damage, and radioed in that Busch still needed more repairs on a fender.
Busch fixed it and moved toward the front.
It took Gordon quite a while longer to join him.
"We're in big trouble here if we don't get a caution soon, guys," he radioed shortly after Kasey Kahne passed him. "This car is really bad."
The caution came -- but only because Gordon brought it out himself. He wrecked 15 laps after his warning, taking Rusty Wallace with him.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.