senor honda

[h=2]Johnson pulls off last-to-first for Texas win No. 7[/h] Sunday, 09 April 2017



By Kelly Crandall / Images by LAT, Getty Images for NASCAR

For weeks, Jimmie Johnson has preached it wasn't time to panic about the performance of his No. 48 Lowe's team.
Sunday, Johnson proved why.


For the seventh time in his career, Johnson was victorious at Texas Motor Speedway in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. And he did it the hard way, coming from the rear of the field after spinning in qualifying, resulting in the team having to change tires.


When the pay window opened, however, it was Johnson at the front of the field. After passing Joey Logano, Johnson led the final 18 laps to score his first win of the season and the 81st of his career. It was also just his second top-10 finish in seven races this season.
"Last to first," crew chief Chad Knaus radioed his driver after the checkered flag. "How many times have we done that?"
Johnson leads all drivers at Texas with seven victories over Carl Edwards (four), Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton (two). On the active driver list, Kyle Busch sits behind Johnson at two wins.
"I guess I remembered how to drive, and I guess this team remembered how to do it," Johnson said. "I'm just real proud of this team. What a tough track and tough conditions. We were really in our wheelhouse, and we were just able to execute all day. Thanks to everybody at Lowe's and Chevy and the fans and a ton of sponsors."
Logano faded to a third-place finish, losing the runner-up spot to Kyle Larson. In the process of picking up his fourth second-place finish this season, Larson also earned his best finish at Texas.
Polesitter Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five. The rest of the 10 were Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch.
"I think if I could have got by Joey with maybe five to go, I think I could have – I definitely would have caught Jimmie," Larson said. "Passing him is obviously another story, but I would have at least had a couple opportunities to get behind him and work there behind him and try and get by. Wish I would have got [Logano] a little sooner, but all in all a great day for our Credit One Bank Chevy team."
While Johnson ended the day in Victory Lane, the race was dominated by Ryan Blaney in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21. Blaney won both the first and second stages in addition to leading the most laps, 148.
However, his day was done in when the field split the pit strategy at the end of Stage 2. A caution inside the final 10 laps saw half of the field come down pit road, while Blaney and six other stayed out. Blaney went on to win the stage and then came down pit road for his stop.
Restarting 20th, Blaney made his way to ninth ahead of the day's final pit stops. Blaney then slid through his pit stall and again lost track position, restarting 16th. He finished 12th.
"That last pit stop was pretty discouraging," Blaney said. "I don't know what it was there at the end of Segment 2 that made everybody have split strategies, and we got in the back and couldn't pass anybody. It was terrible to try to pass people. We made our way up to seventh or eighth and then pitted and I got into our box too long, and we were wedged in between two cars. I was over the line by a few inches. That sucked. I put us in that hole."
The race featured eight cautions for 35 laps and 16 lead changes among six drivers.

senor honda

[h=2]Blaney drives Wood Brothers' resurgence[/h] Sunday, 09 April 2017


By Kelly Crandall / Image by LAT

Sunday wasn't a bad day for Ryan Blaney, but it could have been better – a lot better, which the Wood Brothers Racing driver will try not to let sting going into the off weekend.
"It's nice to win a couple segments, but I want to lead the last lap," Blaney said. "That's the lap I care about, but I thought we made a gain today as a team."
Blaney ultimately finished 12th in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway after dominating the race. He led a total of 148 laps, all of which came in the first two stages and 170 laps of the race.