Johnson at home in Dover
Driver has won 11 times there
DOVER, Del. — Jimmie Johnson wore a helmet painted in tribute to boyhood race hero Cale Yarborough. He then went out and tied the Hall of Famer on NASCAR’s career wins list last year at Dover.
For Johnson, winning at Dover had become the norm — his 11 wins on the mile track are easily the record. His victory was already his third of the season and the hunt for a record eighth championship was roaring ahead. Until it stalled. He had just two top-10s in the next 12 races, fell out of title contention and never finished a race better than third. He opened this season by wrecking out of the Daytona 500 and has just one topfive in 10 races.
The 42-year-old Johnson is used to racking up the kind of milestones that have made him a surefire Hall of Famer. But his return to Dover marks a rather ignominious distinction — he’s riding the longest losing streak of his career at 33 races. Is it over at Dover? “We’ll get it close, and history shows that,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, we get it perfect and we can have the day that we really want to have and get back to victory lane. But it does take a little pressure off me knowing that this is my best track and knowing that this is my favorite track.”
The Hendrick Motorsports driver swept Dover in 2002 and 2009 and won races in 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. He also joined NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty (Martinsville15, North Wilkesboro-15, Richmond-13, Rockingham11) and Darrell Waltrip (Bristol-12, Martinsville-11) as drivers to win 11 races at a single track.
“I think we have created an environment of very high expectations because of the success we’ve had and I think people forget how special our run has been,” Johnson said. “We certainly want to get back into those ways and have it happen again. But history shows it doesn’t happen very often.”
His biggest loss, though, has been his sponsor. Lowe’s is leaving the sport after 18 years as the only Cup Series sponsor Johnson has had. His rights are for sale for the first time.
Then there is the question of his manufacturer — Chevrolet switched its car body to the Camaro. Austin Dillon’s win in the Daytona 500 is the only one for a Chevy driver this season and Kyle Larson’s pole run on Friday was just the second for Chevy of the season.
Xfinity
Justin Allgaier won a $100,000 bonus by holding off teammate Elliott Sadler in a door-to-door race through the final turn at Dover to win the Xfinity Series race Saturday. Sadler used lapped traffic to set up his attempt to snatch the lead from Allgaier and played it perfectly as he pulled alongside Allgaier. The two Chevrolets touched and Allgaier wiggled but held on for the victory. He’s the 10th Xfinity Series winner in 10 races this season.