Johnson dominates Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jimmie Johnson dominated Martinsville Speedway again.

Johnson led a career-best 346 laps Sunday and pulled away on a restart with eight laps to go for his eighth career victory at Martinsville Speedway.

“It was just a long-fought day,” Johnson said after climbing from his car in Victory Lane. “Martinsville, it stays the same over the years and you just have to dig in and get your own rhythm. Fortunately, the fastest car won the race.”

The victory moved Johnson into third place in career victories on the shortest track in the Sprint Cup Series, trailing only Richard Petty, who won here 15 times, and Darrell Waltrip, who won 11times.

It also made team owner Rich Hendrick’s organization the winningest team in Martinsville history with 20, breaking a tie it had with the Petty organization.

The five-time series champion picked the inside line for the final restart with Clint Bowyer on the outside, teammate Jeff Gordon behind him and Kyle Busch to his outside, and Johnson got a clean break for the lead into Turn 1.

Bowyer slid into second and Busch, who tried to make a move on the outside line, instead got hung up out there as Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kasey Kahne, who restarted fifth, went underneath to take fourth.

Nothing changed the rest of the way and the top five finished in those positions.