Johnson blows title chance with crash; Blaney wins
Jimmie Johnson saw an opportunity to snap a 58-race losing streak, and went for it. It cost him a shot at an eighth NASCAR championship and allowed Ryan Blaney to steal a surprise victory in the debut race of the “roval,” the combination road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Had Johnson settled for second, he’d still be in the playoffs. Instead, he wrecked with Martin Truex Jr. and wound up in a three-way tie for the final spot into the second round of the playoffs. The seven-time NASCAR champion was eliminated Sunday on a tiebreaker.
“I knew where I was on the math,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think that I was going to crash or spin trying to overtake him like I did. I thought I was making a calculated move and giving myself the chance to win and unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.”
The race was clean until the end, which was marked by two wrecks among the leaders and a red-flag period of almost 15 minutes. The chaotic close made for a suspenseful postrace period in which NASCAR had to review the results and break the tie between Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Johnson. Larson and Almirola advanced.
Blaney had hovered around the cutoff line most of the race and stunningly wound up the winner with an automatic berth for the Team Penske driver into the next round of the playoffs.
“I didn’t expect that. Sometimes it is better to have a little bit of luck on your side,” Blaney said. “You hate to see two guys take each other out, especially two of the best cars all day.”
Teenage girl wins NASCAR event: Seventeen-year-old Hailie Deegan used a bumpand-run on teammate Cole Rouse at Meridian Speedway in Idaho to become the first female winner of a NASCAR K&N West Series race. Deegan is the daughter of X Games motocross rider Brian Deegan.
Formula One: Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi when Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas pulled over to let him through on orders from the team.
“It’s never, ever in my whole life been the way that I wanted to win a race,” said Hamilton, who said Mercedes overrode his objections. Hamilton now leads Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 50 points in the standings as both chase their fifth title.