Johnson wins 200th for Hendrick

McClatchy Newspapers

DARLINGTON, S.C.

One big win to cap 200 special memories.

Jimmie Johnson held off Denny Hamlin to win Saturday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, giving Hendrick Motorsports its first Sprint Cup Series victory of the 2012 season and Rick Hendrick’s 200th as a team owner.

Johnson also won race No. 199 for HMS last October at Kansas but few thought it would take over six months before No. 200 — a feat matched only by Petty Enterprises — would be reached.

Hendrick was on hand for the win, spending the final laps of the race atop Johnson’s pit box.

Tony Stewart finished third, Kyle Busch was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth. Series points leader Greg Biffle ended up 12th.

Biffle, the pole-winner Greg, took control early in the race, leading the first 48 laps before the start of a round of green-flag pit stops.

Kyle Busch inherited the lead after green-flag stops on Lap 52 until Biffle ran him down again on Lap 98.

Johnson emerged as the race leader for the first time on Lap 101 after another round of green-flag stops as the race began with a 172-lap green-flag run — the longest caution-free start to a Darlington race since the caution-free race in 1963.

The first caution was displayed on Lap 173 for debris in Turn 2. All of the lead lap cars pit for tires and fuel with Johnson still in the lead on the restart on Lap 180.

On the restart, Kyle Busch quickly passed Johnson for the lead only to see Johnson pass Busch back for the lead nine laps later.

Jeff Gordon and Hamlin made contact on the track on Lap 193, which left Gordon with a flat tire. A caution for debris then was displayed on Lap 194.

Drivers took a variety of strategies during the caution with Hamlin electing to stay out on the track. He led on the restart on Lap 200, followed by Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr., who both took just two tires.

Another caution for debris was displayed on Lap 230 with all of the lead-lap cars electing to pit. On the restart on Lap 236, Hamlin continued to hold the lead, followed by Biffle and Truex.