A week off and an extra day at Bristol did nothing to break Jimmie Johnson’s momentum.
Grabbing the lead from Kevin Harvick on lap 480 of 500 in Monday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson stayed out front for the final 21 laps and beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by 1.199 seconds. Continue reading
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Chad Knaus, crew chief for race winner Jimmie Johnson, was pleasantly surprised at how racy Texas Motor Speedway became as Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 progressed.
But NASCAR’s premier driver / crew chief duo had to deal with a new racing surface to pull off their seventh victory at TMS. That meant the notes from the six previous wins no longer applied. Continue reading
Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, poses in Victory Lane after qualifying for pole position for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 7, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Kevin Harvick needed a do-over in the second round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, but putting the extra lap on his tires proved well worth the effort.
Harvick led not only the second round but also the first and third in winning the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway at 1:30 pm ET on FOX. Continue reading
(L-R) Chevrolet executive Jim Campbell and Chevrolet team owners Richard Childress, Chip Ganassi, and Rick Hendrick preview the Daytona 500 during a press conference at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Scott Hunter/Getty Images
Roughly 30 minutes after Chevrolet unveiled the Camaro ZL 1 that will pace Sunday’s Daytona 500 and announced four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon as its driver, Chevy brass and team owners gathered in the Daytona International Speedway media center to field questions from reporters.
Owners Richard Childress, Chip Ganassi and Rick Hendrick joined Jim Campbell, Chevy’s U.S. vice president of performance vehicles and motorsports, at the press session. One of the first topics to arise was the prospect of Jimmie Johnson winning a record-breaking eighth championship at NASCAR’s highest level.
Johnson won his seventh title last year to tie Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt for most championships in the history of the series. Continue reading
HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 17: Jimmie Johnson (C), driver of the #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, poses with team owner Rick Hendrick (L) and crew chief Chad Knaus (R) in Champions Victory Lane with their six trophies after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 17, 2013 in Homestead, Florida. Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
It’s said reaching the top is the easy part; staying there is more difficult.
For Rick Hendrick, the climb up the mountain required a decade of hard work culminating in Hendrick Motorsports capturing its first NASCAR premier series championship in 1995.
Two decades later, Hendrick’s Chevrolet team remains stock car racing’s platinum standard: a record 12 NASCAR premier series titles – including Jimmie Johnson’s record-matching seventh crown in 2016 – and 245 victories with 16 different drivers.
“It just seems like yesterday we didn’t think we’d even make it through our first year (1984) and now we’ve won 12 of these things, and it’s hard to do,” said Hendrick following Johnson’s title-winning victory last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida.
The 67-year-old Hendrick will reach yet another career milestone on Friday when he’s inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN). The Class of 2017 includes fellow team owner Richard Childress, former Hendrick Motorsports drivers Mark Martin and Benny Parsons and pioneer car owner Raymond Parks. Continue reading