Johnson, Hendrick reflect on milestone win

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Jimmie Johnson gave Rick Hendrick his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, running away from the rest of the field on a green-white-checkered-flag restart that took the Bojangles' Southern 500 one lap past its scheduled distance.

On Saturday night at Darlington Raceway, Johnson ended his own winless streak of 16 races, a drought of relative epic proportions for the five-time champion. The victory was Johnson's 56th, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time list.

Johnson won the 199th race for Hendrick, outdueling Kasey Kahne in last year's Oct. 9 Chase race at Kansas Speedway. In subsequent months, the organization has been tantalizingly close to No. 200 -- notably at Martinsville, where Hendrick drivers were running 1-2-3 before a late caution.

On Saturday night, in winning for the third time at the Lady in Black, Johnson finally put the question of the 200th win to rest. After pitting for the final time on Lap 299 of 368, however, Johnson had to save fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

All of Johnson's 56 victories have come under the Hendrick banner.

"You've got to love that man," Johnson said of his car owner during a celebration in Victory Lane. "He said, 'Two hundred is great, but let's go get 250.' So that tells you where his head is. I love it. Oh, man, what a day!"

In the closing laps, with the outcome in the balance, Hendrick left the pit box and paced up and down pit road.

"I had to get away," Hendrick said. "They said that we were going to make it (on fuel), but I don't believe them, you know? Everything has happened backward for us. We've run so good this year and then had such bad luck...

"I'm kind of numb, but I'm glad it's over. I think we're going to win a few more now."

Stewart, himself a car owner, had the highest praise for Hendrick, who picked up his first victory on a shoestring budget when Geoff Bodine won the April 29, 1984 event at Martinsville.

"I think it's phenomenal, especially with the competition over here getting tougher and tougher," said Stewart, who lost second position to Hamlin when his car temporarily lost fuel pressure coming to the final restart. "It's getting harder and harder to win these races.

"Especially for it to happen in the Southern 500 -- it's such a historic race. It's a pretty cool milestone."

The co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which gets engines, chassis and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, chased Johnson in the late stages of the race before the final caution, but Johnson's Chevrolet was simply too strong.

"I was trying to postpone (No. 200) for another week by trying to get to Jimmie, but I just couldn't do it," the reigning Cup champion said. "The closer I got to him, the tighter I got. That was one of the best runs we'd had, but still I wasn't strong enough.

"He had plenty of car left. He was just riding, trying to save fuel. They won it in dominating fashion. To win a 200th race, you don't want to back into it. They dominated and took it the way they should."