Four fresh tires and a fast Chevrolet was all Jimmie Johnson needed Sunday night to win the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson wins the 2014 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
A late pass of Matt Kenseth gave Jimmie Johnson his first victory of the year Sunday at Charlotte.
Jared C. Tilton
Johnson passed Matt Kenseth exiting Turn 4 with nine laps remaining and drove away for his first victory of the year, in the season’s 12th race, and snapped a 13-race winless streak overall. It also quieted any questions that the defending Sprint Cup champion may be slipping or there was dissension with the No. 48 team.
“I guess we’ve created this environment for ourselves,” Johnson said. “I honestly wasn’t stressing. The fact that 12 races created that much buzz just means we’ve done a lot of great things over the years, so I’ll turn it into a compliment.
Jimmie Johnson leading the pack at the Coca-Cola 600/Photo credit: Will Schneekloth
“More than anything, I just got tired of answering the question. There wasn’t a lot of frustration due to pressure of winning. There was frustration in not having fast racecars, but that’s a different situation.”
Kevin Harvick overcame a pair of mistakes by his pit crew and rallied to finish second. Kenseth slid to third. The top five was rounded out by Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray.
Throughout the mini-slump, Johnson maintained his team was fine and his streak of qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup wasn’t in danger. It certainly isn’t now, as Johnson is all but assured of a spot in the playoffs for an 11th consecutive year.
"There wasn't a lot of frustration due to pressure of winning. There was frustration in not having fast racecars." -Jimmie Johnson
“We’ll take it and move on,” Johnson said. “We really want to heat up and win races later in the season, especially before the Chase starts.”
The win was Johnson’s seventh at Charlotte, snapping a tie with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for most all-time at the 1.5-mile oval.
Jeff Gordon, whose status was in doubt following back spasms Saturday, ran the entirety of the NASCAR’s longest race finishing seventh.
“It was tough,” Gordon said. “I was aching in there. There was one time when I got on the brakes into (Turn) 1 and it triggered something. I didn’t know what was going to happen after that, but it settled down.”
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