Johnson’s Martinsville win earns final berth

Jimmie Johnson has won at Martinsville to be the first driver to earn a place in the final fight for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

The result is the 79th career win for Johnson and the ninth victory at Martinsville and has him in sight of his seventh championship as one of only four drivers who will contest the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Brad Keselowski had a late-race surge to finish the day in the runner-up spot. The 2012 Sprint Cup champion was eliminated from the Chase after last week’s Talladega race.

Denny Hamlin finished third after a race long battle with Johnson.

Johnson’s run was far from easy as he had several challenges in the race including a fuel pressure problem and a tyre rub.

“Anything you want in life you have to work for it,” Johnson said.

“It isn’t going to come easy and we knew that coming into this race and there’s so many challenges at this race track.”

“This is the right time to start winning races. I’ve been trying to ignore this conversation about seven (titles), and now I can’t. We’re locked in.”

Chase contenders and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five in what could be critical in the points battle.

Supersub and defending race winner Jeff Gordon finished sixth.

Martinsville had plenty of pushing and barging, plus some confusion. The most notable coming when a caution flew during a pit stop cycle. NASCAR kept the cars out behind the Pace Car for 20 laps, while they sorted the correct running order.

A look through the rest of the Chase contenders saw Joey Logano in ninth, Kevin Harvick in 20th, Kurt Busch came home 22nd and a tough day for Carl Edwards, who had a cut tyre and hit the wall, was way back in 36th.

Logano, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Edwards are the four drivers sitting below the cut-off line.

The series continues next week at Texas Motor Speedway.

VIDEO: Race recap

RESULTS: Goody’s Fast Relief 500 – Martinsville Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	3	500	92	Running	44	4
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	19	500	0	Running	39	0
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	8	500	48	Running	39	1
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	17	500	176	Running	39	2
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	9	500	3	Running	37	1
6	88	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	10	500	0	Running	35	0
7	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	1	500	147	Running	35	1
8	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	14	500	0	Running	33	0
9	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2	500	21	Running	33	1
10	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	4	500	5	Running	32	1
11	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	22	499	0	Running	30	0
12	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	5	499	0	Running	29	0
13	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	25	499	0	Running	28	0
14	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	11	499	6	Running	28	1
15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	16	499	0	Running	26	0
16	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	13	499	0	Running	25	0
17	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	32	499	0	Running	24	0
18	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	30	498	0	Running	23	0
19	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	15	498	0	Running	22	0
20	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	20	498	0	Running	21	0
21	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	26	497	0	Running	20	0
22	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	23	497	0	Running	19	0
23	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	31	497	0	Running	18	0
24	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	24	497	0	Running	17	0
25	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	18	496	0	Running	16	0
26	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	6	496	0	Running	15	0
27	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	29	495	0	Running	14	0
28	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	28	495	0	Running	13	0
29	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	33	494	0	Running	12	0
30	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	21	494	2	Running	12	1
31	83	Dylan Lupton	Toyota	37	490	0	Running	0	0
32	93	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	27	489	0	Running	9	0
33	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Ford	38	486	0	Running	8	0
34	44	Brian Scott	Ford	35	484	0	Running	7	0
35	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	40	479	0	Running	6	0
36	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	7	477	0	Running	5	0
37	23	David Ragan	Toyota	12	424	0	Running	4	0
38	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	34	407	0	Running	3	0
39	30	Gray Gaulding	Chevrolet	36	360	0	Rear Gear	0	0
40	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	39	21	0	Accident	1	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Jimmie Johnson	4044	Leader	33	4	10	15	4
2	Denny Hamlin	4039	–5	33	3	12	19	4
3	Matt Kenseth	4039	–5	33	2	8	17	4
4	Kyle Busch	4037	–7	33	4	15	22	5
5	Joey Logano	4033	–11	33	2	13	23	3
6	Kevin Harvick	4021	–23	33	4	15	24	3
7	Kurt Busch	4019	–25	33	1	8	20	2
8	Carl Edwards	4005	–39	33	2	8	17	5
9	Martin Truex Jr	2226	–1818	33	4	7	16	2
10	Brad Keselowski	2207	–1837	33	4	16	22	2
11	Austin Dillon	2187	–1857	33	0	4	13	2
12	Chase Elliott	2185	–1859	33	0	9	15	2
13	Kyle Larson	2183	–1861	33	1	8	13	2
14	Tony Stewart	2156	–1888	25	1	5	8	4
15	Jamie McMurray	2143	–1901	33	0	1	11	2
16	Chris Buescher	2123	–1921	33	1	2	2	4
17	Kasey Kahne	833	–3211	33	0	3	12	1
18	Ryan Newman	819	–3225	33	0	2	9	2
19	AJ Allmendinger	749	–3295	33	0	2	8	4
20	Ryan Blaney	735	–3309	33	0	3	8	2
21	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	718	–3326	33	0	4	6	4
22	Trevor Bayne	717	–3327	33	0	2	5	2
23	Danica Patrick	638	–3406	33	0	0	0	3
24	Greg Biffle	619	–3425	33	0	1	3	7
25	Paul Menard	607	–3437	33	0	0	2	6
26	Aric Almirola	599	–3445	33	0	0	1	6
27	Clint Bowyer	577	–3467	33	0	0	3	2
28	Casey Mears	508	–3536	33	0	0	0	2
29	Landon Cassill	477	–3567	33	0	0	0	1
30	Dale Earnhardt Jr	461	–3583	18	0	5	6	4
31	Michael McDowell	444	–3600	28	0	0	1	2
32	Brian Scott	430	–3614	33	0	1	1	5
33	David Ragan	424	–3620	33	0	0	0	5
34	Regan Smith	420	–3624	32	0	1	2	5
35	Matt DiBenedetto	356	–3688	33	0	0	1	9
36	Michael Annett	291	–3753	32	0	0	0	4
37	Cole Whitt	276	–3768	26	0	0	0	5
38	Jeff Gordon	218	–3826	8	0	0	2	0
39	Reed Sorenson	178	–3866	25	0	0	0	4
40	Josh Wise	167	–3877	27	0	0	0	7
41	Jeffrey Earnhardt	134	–3910	19	0	0	0	2
42	Brian Vickers	86	–3958	5	0	0	1	1
43	Bobby Labonte	61	–3983	4	0	0	0	0
44	David Gilliland	46	–3998	2	0	0	0	0
45	Michael Waltrip	42	–4002	2	0	0	0	0
46	Boris Said	17	–4027	1	0	0	0	0
47	Patrick Carpentier	11	–4033	2	0	0	0	0
48	Eddie MacDonald	5	–4039	1	0	0	0	0
49	Alex Kennedy	5	–4039	1	0	0	0	1
50	Robert Richardson	3	–4041	1	0	0	0	1
51	Alex Bowman	0	–4044	7	0	0	2	1
52	Ty Dillon	0	–4044	10	0	0	0	0
53	Dylan Lupton	0	–4044	3	0	0	0	0
54	Ryan Reed	0	–4044	1	0	0	0	0
55	Jeb Burton	0	–4044	2	0	0	0	0
56	Joey Gase	0	–4044	5	0	0	0	0
57	Ryan Ellis	0	–4044	3	0	0	0	0
58	Timmy Hill	0	–4044	1	0	0	0	0
59	Gray Gaulding	0	–4044	1	0	0	0	1
60	Justin Allgaier	0	–4044	1	0	0	0	1
61	Cody Ware	0	–4044	0	0	0	0	0