News and Media Releases

Top-Five Finish Despite Early Trouble

21/06/2009

Jimmie Johnson Bounces Back From Early Race Trouble To Finish In The Top-Five At Sonoma; Jeff Gordon Scores a Top-10 Finish with Earnhardt and Martin Finishing Further Back after Late-Race Incidents.

Jimmie Johnson survived a pit road penalty early in the running of the SaveMart 350 to finish fourth in Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway. Fellow Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) teammate Jeff Gordon also fought back from a pit road penalty to finish ninth in the 110-lap event. Both Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had decent runs going before being involved in a late-race incident that relegated them both to finish further back in the field.

Starting from the 11th position Jimmie Johnson was running in the top-10 when a pit road speeding penalty sent him to the rear of the field. However, the four-time Sprint Cup champion fought back to put himself back into the top-10 before finishing fourth. Johnson remains in the third spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings.

Fellow HMS driver Jeff Gordon also had to fight back from a pit road speeding penalty to finish in the top-10. The No. 24 HMS team struggled with the car much of the weekend trying to get the car better throughout practice and the race. Gordon broke into the top-10 during a green-white-checker finish to score a ninth-place finish and remains in the runner-up spot in points only 84 markers out of first place.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was on his way to finishing in the top-10 before being involved in a multi-car incident late in the race. Junior was able to continue running but fell back further in the field to finish 26th. His finish dropped him two spots in the point standings where he now sits 20th.

Veteran driver Mark Martin was hoping for a better finish coming off his win one week ago in Michigan. However the Quaker State driver struggled throughout much of the event and also dropped several positions after being involved in that late-race incident. Martin finished 35th for the day but remained in the top-12 in points - sitting in the 11th spot.

Kasey Kahne won the Toyota SaveMart 350 with Tony Stewart finishing second. Marcos Ambrose along with Johnson and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Next up for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the running of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Live television coverage begins on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. (ET) on TNT. 

The event will also be broadcast live on PRN (Performance Racing Network) and Sirius Satellite Radio with coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. (ET).