Dover, DE (SportsNetwork.com) - Jimmie Johnson continued his supremacy at Dover International Speedway by winning Sunday's FedEx 400 with a dominating performance.
Johnson, the six-time and defending Sprint Cup Series champion, led 272 of 400 laps to win at this one-mile, concrete-surfaced racetrack for a record- extending ninth time. He also won last weekend's 600-mile race at Charlotte.
It's the 13th time in Johnson's career that he has won back-to-back races in the series but his first since the fall of 2012 (Martinsville and Texas).
A late-race caution setup a four-lap shootout to the finish. After the restart, Johnson easily pulled away from the field and then finished 0.9 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Brad Keselowski.
It was an awesome race car," said Johnson, who claimed his 68th career win. "The first run I wasn't sure we were really going to have the normal Dover magic here. Once the track 'rubbered' in, our car came to life, and it was so good. "It's amazing that we can stay on top of things here with the different generation car, different rules, different tires. This place just fits my style and [crew chief] Chad Knaus' style."
Johnson also set a record for most laps led all-time at Dover with 2,976. Bobby Allison held the previous record here with 2,802 laps led.
"It just fits my style," Johnson said of his success at this track. "You need a race car that's loose and turns very strong here to get it done and to be fast on the long haul. I just have to put a lot of weight in that."
Johnson joined Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano as those drivers who have multiple wins in the series this year (two each).
This race had to be stopped two times -- first for a multi-car wreck and then shortly after for a track-surface issue.
The second red flag was displayed on lap 161 and lasted 22 minutes to allow track personnel to repair a sizeable piece of concrete that came loose. The concrete was kicked up by Ryan Newman's car. Jamie McMurray, who was running right behind Newman, plowed into the debris, causing damage to the front end of his car.
"When I came off of the corner, it just felt like I hit something, obviously, heavy," McMurray said. "It just hit the front end and ripped the splitter off, and it pushed the car to the right."
Another chunk of concrete soared into the air and cracked a window along the pedestrian crossover bridge in turn 3. There were no injuries.
Workers used quick-drying cement to repair the pothole. There were no issues with that area of the track for the remainder of the race.
There have been previous pothole incidents in NASCAR races. The 2004 spring event at Martinsville endured a lengthy delay due to problems with the track surface. There was also an issue with potholes in the 2010 Daytona 500, which was won by McMurray.
During the track-repair delay, NASCAR officials did not allow McMurray's team to work on their car until the race resumed under caution.
"We've had issues of things like this in the past, and Martinsville comes to mind, some other things similar to that, and our policy is not to let them work on the car," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said after the race. "You may remember when we had an equipment failure, broadcast equipment failure, sometime back, and that affected the entire field of race cars, and at that time, we did red flag and we did allow the teams to fix the damage that was caused by that equipment failure. But that is our normal policy, to not allow teams to work on their cars."
The first red flag was displayed for six minutes after a five-car accident on lap 134. Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crashed into the wall, with debris from their cars littering the track. It was caused when A.J. Allmendinger bumped into Stenhouse, who then hit Biffle. Ryan Truex and Landon Cassill were also involved in that wreck.
"It just looked like A.J. was driving pretty hard like he always does," Biffle said. "He just didn't quite have enough room there and caught the front of the 17 car [Stenhouse], turning himself up into me.
"That's racing, and that's what happens. It's pretty tight around this concrete mile. That's why they call it 'The Monster Mile.' It's a tough place, and there's no margin for error. When a guy makes a mistake like that, usually multiple cars are going to pay for it."
Keselowski started on the pole but struggled for the first half of race before he bounced back in the second half to finish second.
"The car was really strong the second half of the race," Keselowski said. "My guys [No. 2 Team Penske team] made great adjustments on it, and we drove up to second there. We were pretty equal to Jimmie there but never got a crack at him."
Matt Kenseth finished third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin. After the race, Kenseth admitted that it's tough for anyone to beat Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team at Dover.
"I think for sure when you come to Dover, it's always the 48," Kenseth said. "They are just unbelievable here. If you're going to have a shot to win here, that's the car you're going to have to beat every time unless they break."
Kenseth has yet to win a race this season after seven victories in the series last year. He moved atop the point standings. Jeff Gordon dropped from first to second after finishing 15th. Gordon is just two points behind.
Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, who won this race one year ago, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Paul Menard finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
Kyle Busch's hopes of winning all three of NASCAR's national touring series races at Dover this weekend came to an abrupt end on lap 125 when he wrecked.
Bowyer bumped into Busch while the two were battling for position. Busch then slammed into the wall, causing damage to the right-front of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Both drivers were running in the top-five at the time of the incident.
During the caution, Busch chased down Bowyer in what appeared to be some sort of retaliation, but Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, instructed him over his team radio to back away from Bowyer. Busch then headed to the garage. He did not comment on the incident, as he quickly walked to his hauler.
Busch ran in front for the first 81 laps. After leading the 28th lap, he became the 15th driver in the history of NASCAR's premier series with 10,000 career laps led.
He wound up finishing 42nd.
Busch won the 200-mile Camping World Truck Series race at Dover on Friday and scored the victory in the 200-mile Nationwide Series event here on Saturday.
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