Squeeze play nets Johnson a victory

His wall maneuver on Tony Stewart was the key to winning the Kobalt Tools 500.
SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Jimmie Johnson used a baseball maneuver -- the squeeze play -- to win a duel of home improvement companies in the Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
With the fastest car on the track at the time, Johnson passed Tony Stewart in Turn 1 on Lap 323 of the 325-lap event and squeezed Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet toward the outside wall as the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet tried to retake the lead off Turn 2.
Stewart scraped the wall but maintained control to finish second, 1.311 seconds behind the race winner.
Johnson collected his second straight Cup win and the 25th of his career. Johnson was driving the No. 48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet and brought home the victory for the race's title sponsor.
"There were times when we weren't as good as we needed to be on the short runs, but at the end we were spot-on," Johnson said. "When it came time to run for the checkered flag, [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] made an adjustment that really helped us."
Kenseth is third
Matt Kenseth was third, followed by Jeff Burton and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, who posted his best finish to date in a stock car on an oval racetrack. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Reed Sorenson and Mark Martin completed the top 10.
Martin retained the points lead, by eight over 12th-place finisher Jeff Gordon and 11 over Burton. Johnson remained fourth in the standings but moved to 28 points behind the leader.
After NASCAR called a caution for debris on Lap 310, Stewart left the pits in the lead, followed by Kenseth and Johnson. The field restarted on lap 315, and on Lap 316 Johnson passed Kenseth for second position in Turn 2.
Bumper to bumper
From that point, Johnson closed on Stewart and pulled up to the bumper of the No. 20 Chevrolet with six laps to go.
Johnson spent the next three laps trying to find a way around Stewart's car.
With a run off Turn 4 on Lap 322, Johnson drove to the inside of Stewart as the cars came to the stripe, and Johnson completed the pass in Turn 1.
Stewart tried to retake the lead to the outside off Turn 2, but Johnson squeezed him up to the wall. The cars did not touch, and after his scrape with the barrier, Stewart fell back.
"He was faster than us right there," Stewart said. "I just wish he had at least gave us room to race him for it. That's just racing. That's why everybody loves coming here.
"I wish we could have won, obviously, but we gained a lot of points that we needed today and finally gave this Home Depot team a boost that they needed. I didn't make any mistakes today."
Johnson said the squeeze play was the result of not being able to adjust his line at the last minute.
Clear and focused
"I got a good run off of [Turn] 4 inside of him," Johnson said. "I knew that I had to clear him getting into Turn 1 so that I could track all the way back on the outside and carry the momentum. So I drove it in farther than I should have into Turn 1, the car stuck, I got to the gas, and at that point I was clear and focused on the exit.
"Late off the corner, Tony had a good run coming to the outside. I heard that he was there coming, but it was too late to adjust, so I squeezed him into the wall and didn't leave him a whole lot of room. I certainly apologize, and I have the utmost respect for Tony Stewart as a racer."
Lap 230 brought the only accident of the race. David Reutimann tapped Greg Biffle as the cars were jockeying for position entering Turn 3, and the resulting crash also claimed Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers.