Jimmie Johnson is back in championship form.
The 4-time champion reminded the field at Dover International Speedway exactly why he’s going for his record-fifth consecutive Sprint Cup title.
There was speculation that the No. 48 Lowe’s team wasn’t on top of its game as the Chase started last week at New Hampshire. Johnson had a strong car, but a spin and a loose wheel relegated him to a 25th-place finish.
But after winning the AAA 400 on Sunday, it seems everything is right in the world.
Johnson led a race-high 191 laps including the last 34 after the final round of green flag pit stops and cruised to a 2.637-second victory over Jeff Burton.
Everyone knew Johnson wouldn’t stay down for long. But there was some question as to when he would show his hand in the Chase. It didn’t take long for the 48 guys to show who was, yet again, the team to beat in the Chase.
"It's a huge weight off my shoulders that we were able to come here and win a race in the Chase, rebound from last week," Johnson said.
As the weekend started with a war of words brewing between Denny Hamlin and Richard Childress Racing regarding Clint Bowyer’s car being deemed illegal at Loudon, Johnson’s team kept its focus – and it showed on the track.
Hamlin was vocal with his position on Bowyer being penalized, saying that RCR and the No. 33 team got what they deserved for their car being illegal. After Bowyer’s “win” last week, he was second in the standings but the 150-point penalty relegated him to 12th, last in the Chase.
Johnson and his team weren’t bothered.
"Everything that's possible to be done in the sport from a negative and a positive, we've unfortunately been involved in,” said Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus. “So we don't really pay a lot of attention to what goes on outside of our four walls. We worry about our race car, our tool box, and try to make it right."
They delivered.
The only two cars that were even close to matching Johnson’s on Sunday were Kyle Busch and A.J. Allmendinger.
Busch came home sixth after fading late in the race and Allmendinger rebounded from mid-race problems to finish 10th.
Johnson had a much easier time of it this weekend at Dover, where he has won three of the past four races. The victory was his sixth at Dover and the sixth of the season.
Things went from bad to worse for Bowyer, who fell a couple laps down early and could never recover. He finished 25th and is now 235 points behind leader, Hamlin.
Hamlin retained his points lead (35 over Johnson) but had an extremely quiet day, never leading or posing a threat for the win, coming home 9th.
Chasers filled up six of the top 10 positions with Jeff Gordon, who is winless this season, finishing 11th.
