Jimmie Johnson wins (again), teammates wreck each other, Gordon undone by pit call and did you see what some guys did?

 

 

A lot happened Sunday at Las Vegas. Of course most of the attention will go to Jimmie Johnson, who scored his second consecutive win. You can hear the groan from race fans worried about another title run by Johnson.

 

 

For those worried about another Johnson charge, then you better hope the change from the rear wing to the spoiler _ which likely will happen at Martinsville in a month _ makes a bigger difference than many drivers think.

 

 

Perhaps the biggest note to come from this race is something Jeff Gordon brought up after finishing third, how Johnson with two wins already has 20 bonus points for the Chase and Johnson already is known for being so strong in the final 10 races. While Johnson cautions that’s a long way away, certainly no driver wants to be giving up points to Johnson or anyone else for that matter. Those bonus points have not determined who wins the champion but no driver wants to be the first to lose a title because they had fewer bonus points than the champion.

 

 

On to things from the race:

 

 

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THAT LAST PIT CALL

 

 

Chad Knaus called for four tires for Jimmie Johnson on the final pit stop. Steve Letarte called for two tires for Jeff Gordon.

 

 

After Johnson exited pit road and Knaus saw that his driver was fourth on the track, he radioed Johnson and said: “You’re the first one with four tires on it. This one has got Jimmie Johnson written all over it.’’

 

 

So did Letarte blow it? This is what Gordon said after the race:

 

 

“If we won the race, we’d look like geniuses, Steve would have. The fact that we lost the race, now Chad looks like a genius. That’s how it goes sometimes. When you’re leading, that’s the toughest position to be in, to make that call. I talked to Steve briefly after the race. He’s pretty upset, obviously. I think he just felt like more people were going to take two tires. Shoot, we were thinking for a split second to stay out. If we’d have done that, I think we would have finished 10^th. I felt like we needed to come in and get some tires, but I felt like two tires was the right call, too. We just needed the 48 to take two.’’

 

 

It didn’t work out that way and Gordon, who led all but 48 of the 267 laps, finished third instead of scoring a win.

 

 

“They knew we were here,’’ Gordon radioed his crew after the race.

 

 

Certainly, the team looked strong today. But it needs more to topple Johnson and his crew. This was a start, though.

 

 

 

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WHO ELSE CAN CHALLENGE JOHNSON?

 

 

Again, the Richard Childress Racing cars showed that they have the speed to compete with Johnson. Give credit to Kevin Harvick and his team for finishing second despite hitting the wall in practice on Friday. That altered the team’s plans and put it behind as it repaired the car. Harvick started in the back but his superior car showed as the race progressed as he gained spots on the track and on pit road at times. Teammates Clint Bowyer (8^th) and Jeff Burton (11^th) finished in the top 12. That’s a much better showing that the team had much of last year.

 

 

You get the notion it might not be longer until an RCR car gets into Victory Lane. That’s not something that one had the feeling about much of last year.

 

 

“We can run with them and the know it,’’ Harvick said of Johnson’s team.

 

 

Certainly, Hendrick Motorsports again looks strong with Mark Martin’s team and Gordon’s. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team still needs work. Certainly, Joe Gibbs Racing is showing some strength. Kyle Busch would have finished higher than 15^th had he not been caught speeding on pit road, and Joey Logano was sixth. As for Denny Hamlin? Well, his team looks the weakest at JGR. He finished 19^th and never was a factor Sunday. This after finishing 29^th last weekend at California. Now, he had to change engines last week and started at the rear of the field and eventually made his way toward the front but it was a long climb until late when he fell off the lead lap. This is a team in need of a strong run this weekend at Atlanta.

 

 

 

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BAD BLOOD BREWING?

 

 

It’s never a good thing when teammates wreck each other, but Sunday’s incident between Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya creates some issues for an organization that just two weeks ago was basking in a Daytona 500 win. How this situation gets resolved could play a role in determining the type of season Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has.

 

 

Early in the race McMurray was inside Montoya and they made contact, sending Montoya into the wall where he also collected Kurt Busch. Montoya was understandably upset on the radio immediately after the incident, saying that McMurray ran him up into the wall and then calling his teammate a bad driver _ well, Montoya used more colorful language. In the garage, Montoya didn’t back down. In his interview with Fox during the race broadcast that it was McMurray’s fault. McMurray did take the blame for the incident and apologized via his radio. Still, teammates feuding is not a good thing.

 

 

Montoya wrote on his Twitter page after the race: “Had a horrible day today, we just got to move on …’’ If he truly believes that and does that, then maybe this issue doesn’t fester. However, one thing that drivers are noted for is having long memories and recalling who did what to them. One time I had a driver tell me he was going to wreck someone for something that driver did to their kid in another series years earlier. These guys remember all.

 

 

For his part, McMurray wrote on his Twitter page after the race: “Tough day, sorry to all of the (Montoya) fans.’’

 

 

 

 

 

Plus, these two have a history. They had an incident at Bristol last year. This is what Montoya said about that in January during the media tour:

 

 

“I was fine. He was really (upset) about it. I was OK. It’s understanding for him. They had a rough year and he was running well. We were running sixth and seventh or something like that. I had a really fast race car and it was frustrating because he wasn’t giving me a lot of room. I’m sure if you asked him, it’s the other way around. It’s OK.’’

 

 

 

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DOES ANYBODY KNOW THERE’S A RACE GOING ON?

 

 

First Daytona has a pothole issue that takes two delays to fix and Sunday there were two cautions because the caution lights came on. Certainly, things may come up during races in a long season but for issues like these to happen _ at all _ and for them to come so early, can lead to ridicule about what is going on. Hopefully, this does not become a trend.

 

 

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WHAT THEY SAID

 

 

# Car owner Rick Hendrick on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team after Earnhardt finished 16^th: “I think we made a lot of improvements. I think we didn’t get to show the car was back well at California, broke an axle, and today ran up front (during) that long green-flag stretch. He was good there at the end. We had a couple of bobbles in the pits with the pit crew. It seems like every time the car is good, the pit crew screws up. If the pit crew is on, the car, something breaks. So, I feel they’ve made a ton of improvement. I think we’re going to have a really good year.

 

 

# Jamie McMurray on his incident with Montoya: “I just got really loose underneath him and he turned in a little bit earlier than what I was expecting and when it did it made it even looser. And I just had to catch my car and unfortunately I got into him whenever I did that. I haven’t really heard what he said but it wouldn’t shock me that you’re upset in a situation like that.’’

 

 

# Joey Logano: “To have two great runs like that (California and Las Vegas) – it’s exciting coming into the season. Next week will probably be a tough one. Atlanta is one where we struggled a lot last year. If we run good there, that’s going to really say something to me.’’

 

 

# Kyle Busch: We ran a really patient race, but on our last stop there was too much rear brake and I slid across the line coming in. Totally my fault. I’m just sorry for the guys since we had a decent car but didn’t finish where we ran all day long.’’

 

 

# Polesitter Kurt Busch on being collected in incident between McMurray and Montoya: “I was a sitting duck for the wreck in front of us. That basically ended our day.’’

 

 

# Matt Kenseth: “In the beginning we ran up there. Carl (Edwards) and Greg (Biffle) and myself were all up there and it felt like a few years ago, so it seemed like all the cars had a lot more speed this weekend. It feels like we’re on the right track.’’

 

 

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SHORT TAKES

 

 

# Kevin Harvick remains the points leader. He leads teammate Clint Bowyer by 47 points.

 

 

# Kasey Kahne moved up 10 spots to 23^rd after finishing 9^th on Sunday.

 

 

# Jamie McMurray fell 10 spots to 14^th after he finished 34^th after his accident with Montoya.

 

 

# Jimmie Johnson is 5^th in the points, climbing seven spots after his win.

 

 

# Jimmie Johnson scored his 49^th career win. He’s one behind Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett, who are tied for 10^th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. Jeff Gordon is sixth on the list, one win behind Cale Yarborough and two behind Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison.

 

 

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 15^th in the points. He was 29^th at this point last year.

 

# Ryan Newman is 32^nd in the points even after finishing 18^th on Sunday.