FONTANA, Calif. – Before the green flag waved Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, Jimmie Johnson took prime position behind the pace car as the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field fanned out five-wide behind him in a respectful salute to the seven-time champion.
When the green flag waved to signal the beginning of the Auto Club 400, Johnson saw his wife Chandra and daughters Genevieve and Lydia doing the honors from his second-place starting position.
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FONTANA, Calif. – It’s far too early to be thinking about Christmas, but Clint Bowyer was the Grinch whole stole the thunder from local favorite Jimmie Johnson during Saturday’s time trials at Auto Club Speedway.
With a stronger run off turn four on his qualifying lap, Bowyer edged Johnson by 0.007 seconds to earn the pole position for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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Matt DiBenedetto is our first driver in a new feature at Fan4Racing. ‘In Focus’ will put a spotlight on various NASCAR drivers, crew members, and people in the industry. We also hope fans will enjoy learning more about each person.
At Wood Brothers Racing for the 2020 season, Matt DiBenedetto has made the most of his journey to get there. So, it’s not surprising that we might expect him to make the most of his time in the No. 21 for the organization. And so far, DiBenedetto is on a roll.
With just two NASCAR Cup Series races in the books, DiBenedetto is having his best-ever start of a season. It’s clearly still too early to judge his entire season. But his results thus far give some reason for optimism. With finishes of 19th at Daytona and a second at Las Vegas, he’s in a three-way tie inside the top-ten of the series point standings. And just 25 points away from the lead.
NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings
For the first time in his career, DiBenedetto is even with Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson at this point in the season. Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 winner. While Johnson is a seven-time Cup Series champion. Heading to Auto Club Speedway this weekend, that certainly gives DiBenedetto some confidence in that kind of company.
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Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway provided Jimmie Johnson with just the sort of consistent strong he needed after two winless seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Driving the new sleeker Camaro introduced into NASCAR’s top series this year, Johnson finished ninth in Stage 1, seventh in Stage 2 and fifth in the race after surviving a chaotic restart with two laps left.
The seven-time champion was upbeat after posting his first top-five result since last year’s July race at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was a strong day,” Johnson acknowledged. “With about 15 to go or so, I got into the outside wall and lost some spots. But we didn’t have a strong enough tire rub to cause any problems. We put rights (right-side tires) on before that final restart. Chaos was happening in front of me and I was able to sneak through to get a top-five finish…
“We’re trying to just understand this new Camaro body and the setup that needs to go with it. We’re close, but there’s still a little bit more work for us to do on our car to get the balance between the clean air and the traffic closer. But for the first try on a downforce track, the guys did a really nice job.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the hours before his final Daytona 500 start, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was riding bikes with his wife and two young daughters in the infield, enjoying the sunny Florida day and the good vibes before NASCAR’s highest-profile green flag flew.
On the grid before the race, Johnson’s daughters took turns sitting in the driver’s seat of their dad’s famed No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. And then moments later, their father rolled off and into the last Daytona 500 he’s scheduled to run before retiring at the end of the season.
For most of the day, Johnson kept the car upfront and looked absolutely ready to contend for his third Daytona 500 trophy… only to be collected in a late-race wreck while running in the top five. Johnson was caught in a 19-car accident with 16 laps remaining in the 200-lap race – a race won for the second consecutive time by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin.
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