NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow has participated in two races so far and both races have featured great finishes. Last week Kyle Busch held off Jeff Burton by half a carlength. Today Jimmie Johnson held off teammate Jeff Gordon by half a carlength to claim the win in Martinsville. If the Car of Tomorrow can keep providing great finishes like this fans will flock to the new car.
Qualifying
Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin put his FedEx #11 Chevrolet Impala SS on the pole.
Jamie McMurray qualified his Roush Racing Ford along side in second. Jeff Gordon put his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy on the inside of row number two with Kenny Schrader in fourth. Rounding out the top five was another Joe Gibbs Chevy in the form of J.J. Yeley.
Drop The Green Flag
The top three got in line quickly around the tight half-mile paperclip. Denny Hamlin lead the way over Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon. The first caution came quickly when Casey Mears spun out with a suspension failure.
Through the first fifty laps Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon continued to dominate. Hamlin lead most of the early running but Jeff Gordon haunted him until finally getting past on lap 56. Gordon then set sail and through the opening 100 laps looked to be the car to beat.
Storylines
During the second half of the race NASCAR was racing the weather. There was rain in the area and it was starting to look like the race wasn't going to make it the full 500 lap distance.
Robby Gordon spun with 148 laps to go. Before the race could get back underway the skies opened up and soaked the race track.
Lap 358 saw the red flag fly with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the lead. Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
NASCAR was able to get the track dried again and just 33 minutes later the yellow flag flew ending the red flag condition. They went back to green flag racing with 137 laps to go.
Chasing The Checkers
The green flag flew with 61 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson lead Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon to the green. It took Gordon about 10 laps to get around Denny Hamlin. Then with 20 lap fresher tires he set his sights on leader Jimmie Johnson.
Jeff Gordon caught his teammate quickly and haunted his back bumper for twenty laps as the two leaders worked through lapped traffic. Gordon got a look under Johnson a couple of times before the yellow flag flew again with 25 laps to go.
The green flag again flew with 18 laps remaining. Jimmie Johnson opened up a little bit of a gap but Gordon tracked him down. The two Hendrick teammates battled hard, but clean, as Jimmie Johnson beat Jeff Gordon by half a car length.
The Car of Tomorrow has seen two races. Both races were short track events and both were won by just half a carlength. The car of tomorrow is off to a good start.
Top Ten
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Gordon
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jeff Burton
- Tony Stewart
- Scott Riggs
- Jamie McMurray
- Matt Kenseth
The Points
Jeff Gordon's second place finish extended his point lead. With the Win Jimmie Johnson closed the gap but remains in third behind Jeff Burton. Mark Martin missed his second race in a row and finally fell out of the top twelve in points.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Jeff Burton -28
- Jimmie Johnson -60
- Matt Kenseth -130
- Kyle Busch -162
- Denny Hamlin -190
- Clint Bowyer -215
- Tony Stewart -240
- Carl Edwards -256
- Kevin Harvick -279
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -289
- Jamie McMurray -316
Next Week
The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series has next weekend off as NASCAR traditionally takes Easter weekend off. The series will return in two weeks as Texas Motor Speedway will host NASCAR's top stars in the "old" car. The Car of Tomorrow will next be used in Phoenix.