Jimmie Johnson ended his career long 24-race win-less streak in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The win came at the perfect time, giving the six-time Sprint Cup champion a bye into the third round of the Chase after Talladega later this month.
The Hendrick Racing’s superstar took advantage of a chaotic conclusion which affected several Chase competitors. As a result, Jimmie Johnson drove his #48 Lowes Chevrolet into Victory Lane.
Jimmie Johnson grabbed the lead from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth after a restart on Lap 317 of the 334 turned. That was all she wrote, and Jimmie Johnson pulled away to win by 1.474 seconds over the #20 Dollar General Toyota.
This was Jimmie Johnson’s third victory of the 2016 Sprint Cup season and his eighth time at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Finally, it was the 78th time that the speedster took the checkered flag in a NASCAR series race.
This is the first time Jimmie Johnson has advanced to the third round since the new Chase format was implemented in 2014. It’s also Jimmie Johnson’s first win since the March race at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California.
“We knew we would get back,” Jimmie Johnson said, “It just took a lot longer than we wanted. We just fell back on what we’re made of at Hendrick Motorsports. There’s a culture there and also a belief and that culture wasn’t fun for us all to experience what we’ve been through. Everybody has seen the cars get stronger and better and faster. We’re going to enjoy this one.”
NASCAR veteran Matt Kenseth finished second after starting the race in the back for an unapproved change to his hot-rod. He also was doled out a pit-road infraction during the first caution of the event on lap 26.
“It was a great-second,” Kenseth said. “I think this is one of the toughest tracks there is on the circuit to pass at. It was better during the day than it is at night, and that’s a good thing because we had to go to the back twice, so we were able to make up some ground and finish okay.”
Three other drivers who did not qualify for the Chase rounded out the top-five. They were Jimmie Johnson’s teammate Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. Originally Larson made the playoffs but was eliminated last weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Denny Hamlin was one of many playoff contenders that had problems arise in the Bank of America 500 on Sunday. After conceding the lead to Jimmie Johnson, he stayed in the top five and was running second to Johnson when his #11 FedEx Office Toyota blew its engine. Stewart/Hass Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Roger Penske’s Joey Logano also suffered catastrophic endings in the Bank of America 500.
Kevin Harvick dropped of the lead lap and wound up going to the garage for a mechanical issue just before the yellow flag on lap 156. The caution came as a result of Joey Logano smashing into the outside wall. It was the second time that the race was slowed for the feisty driver making contact with the barrier.
“Tires are popping,” Logano said. “We’re not the only car that also had the issue, but we’re the ones that hit the wall when it happened, so that’s not the best place to have them go down. We also had a fast car. Our car was capable of winning the race. We drove up from 10th and were up to third and running down the leaders, so I felt good about what we had. I don’t know. Things happen. It’s part of racing, I guess.”
Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon, another two Chase drivers, retained major damage to their machines in a multi-car wreck on a lap 259 restart. Unfortunately, the mayhem initially looked to be a result of contact between Martin Truex Jr. and Dillon. Dillon was up front after taking only two new skins, while everyone else took four tires on the previous pit stops.
Like Denny Hamlin, both Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott led laps before their days were cut short at Charlotte. Harvick started the Bank of America 500 on the pole and also led the first 12 laps.
Chase Elliott then passed the 2014 Sprint Cup champion and dominated the next 102 circuits. The Rookie of the Year front-runner then yielded the lead during a green-flag cycle of stops on lap 114.
Final Results for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte:
1. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 334 laps, 133.6 rating, 45 points.
2. (17) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 334, 91.3, 40.
3. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 334, 93.4, 38.
4. (21) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 334, 99.9, 38.
5. (25) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 334, 106.1, 36.
6. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 334, 108.7, 36.
7. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 334, 89.7, 34.
8. (23) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 334, 78.3, 33.
9. (5) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 334, 79.2, 32.
10. (16) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 334, 90.3, 31.
11. (13) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 334, 72.0, 30.
12. (8) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 334, 101.4, 29.
13. (7) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 334, 92.1, 28.
14. (22) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 334, 64.8, 27.
15. (33) Aric Almirola, Ford, 334, 59.7, 26.
16. (26) Chris Buescher, Ford, 334, 60.8, 25.
17. (31) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 334, 61.5, 25.
18. (27) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 334, 61.8, 23.
19. (32) Landon Cassill, Ford, 334, 50.7, 22.
20. (15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 333, 61.5, 21.
21. (35) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 333, 46.8, 20.
22. (30) Brian Scott, Ford, 333, 52.0, 19.
23. (34) David Ragan, Toyota, 331, 42.9, 18.
24. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 330, 42.0, 17.
25. (24) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 329, 40.8, 16.
26. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 328, 33.7, 15.
27. (36) Cole Whitt, Ford, 327, 35.6, 14.
28. (39) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 321, 32.9, 13.
29. (40) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 320, 32.7, 12.
30. (9) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, engine, 308, 95.8, 12.
31. (18) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 307, 63.6, 10.
32. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 258, 68.7, 9.
33. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, accident, 258, 116.4, 9.
34. (28) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, accident, 258, 52.2, 7.
35. (14) Greg Biffle, Ford, accident, 257, 56.8, 6.
36. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 254, 70.2, 6.
37. (6) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, accident, 252, 77.0, 4.
38. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, engine, 155, 77.1, 4.
39. (2) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, accident, 61, 51.9, 0.
40. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, accident, 61, 31.2, 1.
Race Statistics:
Average Speed of Race Winner: 134.929 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 42 minutes, 47 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.474 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 51 laps.
