Johnson Paces HMS at Watkins Glen
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Aug. 12, 2002) -- Jimmie Johnson finished 15th at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Sunday, making him the top Hendrick Motorsports finisher in the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen.
Johnson, who qualified 12th for the road course event, started from the rear of the pack after an engine change on Friday when the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet had problems in practice.
“We broke the motor before qualifying and that hurt us bad,” said Johnson. “(The team) came from the back once and got to mid-pack and then we had a mistake on pit road. We had to come in for a stop-and-go and worked our way back up to mid-pack again.
“Frustrating, but you win as a team, you lose as a team. We’ve had a five or six-race stretch here where we’ve been able to be in the top 10 or top 15, but we haven’t been able to get back in the top five. Hopefully, Michigan will turn that around for us.”
The rookie fell one spot to third in the overall NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver standings, although he closed the gap between himself and first-place Sterling Marling to just 56 points.
Defending champion Jeff Gordon finished 22nd at Watkins Glen after starting 23rd in the No. 24 DuPont Chevy.
“We definitely felt like, coming into the race (Sunday) morning, that we had a really good car,” said Robbie Loomis, Gordon’s crew chief. “In Winston Cup now, the competition is so tight you’ve got to make all the right calls and it doesn’t take anything to get off a little bit. Today we just made some wrong adjustments there at the end and got off on it.”
Gordon slid one spot to fifth in points, 106 behind Marlin.
Two-time Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte, who finished third in his last road course event, finished 31st in the No. 5 Kellogg’s Monte Carlo after cutting a left-front tire just five laps from the finish. The unscheduled pit stop cost the team nine positions on the race track, but not in the driver standings, as Labonte remains 16th overall.
Driving the No. 25 UAW-Delphi Chevy, Joe Nemechek ran as high as eighth before a blown right-front tire sent him through the gravel traps and into a foam retaining wall, doing major damage to the front of the race car. Team 25 made extensive repairs, fixing sheet metal and replacing the radiator, and returned Nemechek to the field after losing multiple laps.
The veteran driver finished in 38th, 21 laps off the pace, and remains 37th in points after starting 19 of 22 events this season.
The NASCAR Winston Cup Series will visit Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., on Sunday for the Pepsi 200. TNT and MRN Radio will broadcast the event live beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.