Jimmie Johnson held off Hendrick Chevrolet team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr to claim a record-breaking eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Dover’s ‘Monster Mile’.
Johnson drove an awesome final stint. At the last stop his crew changed just two tyres while Earnhardt’s swapped all four.
It seemed to work for Earnhardt as he leapt straight into second at the restart, but despite his best efforts Earnhardt could not get close enough to make a pass stick.
The race boiled down to a fight between the Hendrick Motorsport and Joe Gibbs Racing superteams. Hendrick racer Jeff Gordon led a lap during the pitstops and looked to be in a strong place before the final caution neutralised the race.
A slow restart dropped him to fourth, which is where he finished.
On the Gibbs side, both Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch ran up front, but the decision to change just two tyres on points leader Kenseth’s car in the final stop backfired.
It was the weakest the car had been all day, and he slipped down the order, losing sixth to Kevin Harvick on the last lap.
In contrast, Busch was on the move on his four fresh Goodyears, battling his way to fifth over the final run.
After a quiet day, Joey Logano used his four fresh tyres to slot into third during the run to the flag.
It was a miserable race for his Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski, who suffered a fluid leak and finished 37th.
Of the 13 Chasers it was a terrible race for Carl Edwards. His Ford Fusion was never a top five runner, but a top 15 finish was lost when the left rear hub broke. A 35th-place finish all but ends his title hopes.
Kurt Busch pitted his Furniture Row Chevy off-sequence to have a loose wheel examined. He fought back to finish 21st.
Kasey Kahne had a down on power motor in the closing stages, which limited him to 13th.
Chasers made up the entire top 10 in a race where not a single crash occurred.
Results - 400 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet +0.446s
3. Joey Logano Penske Ford +2.871s
4. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet +3.876s
5. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota +4.838s
6. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet +7.347s
7. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota +7.689s
8. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet +8.620s
9. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford +9.531s
10. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota +9.885s
11. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet +10.111s
12. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota +10.986s
13. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet +1 lap
14. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet +1 lap
15. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota +1 lap
16. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford +2 laps
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford +2 laps
18. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet +2 laps
19. Mark Martin Stewart-Haas Chevrolet +3 laps
20. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota +3 laps
21. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet +3 laps
22. Aric Almirola Petty Ford +3 laps
23. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet +3 laps
24. Casey Mears Germain Ford +5 laps
25. David Ragan Front Row Ford +5 laps
26. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Toyota +5 laps
27. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota +6 laps
28. David Reutimann BK Toyota +6 laps
29. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet +6 laps
30. David Gilliland Front Row Ford +7 laps
31. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota +8 laps
32. Ryan Truex Phoenix Chevrolet +8 laps
33. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet +8 laps
34. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet +10 laps
35. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford +15 laps
36. Timmy Hill FAS Lane Ford +19 laps
Retirements:
Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 355 laps
Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 275 laps
Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 168 laps
Tony Raines Hillman Chevrolet 154 laps
Reed Sorenson Leavine Ford 139 laps
Josh Wise Front Row Ford 128 laps
Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 107 laps
