Johnson Denies Teammate Gordon A Win, Gets Back-To-Back Victories

Jeff Gordon dominated Sunday's Shelby American race in Las Vegas -- leading 219 laps of the 267-lap race. He finished third. (Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)By NASCAR Media
Jimmie Johnson has done it again. He played possum most of the day and then turned on the afterburner to pass teammate Jeff Gordon with just 16 laps to go and win the Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Gordon led more than 210 laps of the 267-lap event before losing the lead to Johnson, who seems hellbent to win his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship before Gordon does.

Johnson won last week at Auto Club Speedway and told members of the media leading up to Sunday's race he could care less about the people who think he's tainting NASCAR racing with his dominance.

"You compete to win. I'm not gonna apologize for winnning," he said. "I want to win every race."

While Johnson drove away for Sunday's victory, Kevin Harvick also passed Gordon for the runnerup spot. Gordon finished third ahead of fourth-place Mark Martin. And Matt Kenseth edged Joey Logano for fifth. Logano was sixth, a very impressive finish for the young driver. Tony Stewart was seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, Kasey Kahne ninth and Greg Biffle 10th.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., continued his struggle to compete with the frontrunners by finishing 16th.

Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray tangle to bring out the caution in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American. They also managed to collect polesitter Kurt Busch in the melee. (Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCAR)On a sunny, gorgeous afternoon, hometown favorite and pole winner Kurt Busch led the field into turn one but Gordon went to the front shortly thereafter. Two laps weren't completed before the first caution flag waved. Rookie Kevin Conway lost control of his Ford and tapped the wall out of turn four.

Gordon led on the restart at lap five. When the field settled in at 20 laps, Gordon was leading with the Busch Boys in tow. Newman was fourth with Earnhardt Jr. fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Biffle, Stewart, Edwards, Montoya and Logano.

Mike Bliss brought out the second caution flag on lap 46 when he got into the wall in turn four. Gordon beat everyone out of the pits to maintain his lead. The buzz all week had centered on speed with the track record being broken by Kurt Busch and numerous other drivers but Sunday's pace was slower than anticipated due to the sunshine.

A caution light malfunction brought out another yellow flag right after the restart. The caution lights failed to shut off so NASCAR had to slow the field and fix the problem.

In the process, Biffle took the lead with Gordon second. On the ensuing restart at lap 57, it was Biffle, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Edwards, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Newman and Burton.

Gordon quickly went to the front again. Kyle Busch took the top spot on lap 65, and Kenseth moved into second but Gordon was having none of that and went back out front on lap 67.

By lap 70, last week's winner in California, Johnson, had moved from 20th starting position to third place behind teammate Gordon and Kenseth.

At 80 laps, Gordon still led with Kenseth and Johnson right behind. Biffle was fourth, Edwards fifth, Kyle Busch sixth, Stewart seventh, Burton eighth, Kurt Busch ninth and Earnhardt Jr. 10th.

At lap 88, Hornish Jr. spun off turn four and complained to his crew his car was so loose he couldn't hang on to it. Johnson had a bad pit stop this round when his tire changer had a lug nut problem. He came in third and went back out sixth. Kenseth took the lead out of the pits with Edwards ahead of Gordon.

At lap 93, after the restart, teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray tangled, and Kurt Busch got caught up in it to bring out the fifth caution.

On the restart at lap 97, Gordon recaptured the lead from Kenseth. Edwards was third. Gordon, at this point in the race, seemed to clearly have the fastest car. Another caution light malfunction prompted the sixth caution period of the day at 108 laps.

The restart on lap 114 had Scott Speed in front briefly but Gordon sped past before they made a lap. Kenseth was next with Johnson third and Kyle Busch fourth. Burton was fifth.

At the halfway point (133 laps), it was an all Hendrick Chevrolet race with Gordon leading and Johnson second, a battle of four-time champions. Kenseth was third in a Roush Ford. Two Childress Chevrolets were running fourth and fifth, Burton and Harvick. Kyle Busch, the defending race champion, was sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were Stewart, Martin, Kahne and Logano. Earnhardt Jr. was 11th.

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Unofficial Race Results for the Shelby American - Sunday, February 28, 2010
Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 267 Laps - 400.5 Miles - Purse: $6,304,875

Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet 267 190 5 130.2 $405,628 Running 2 18
2 34 29 Kevin Harvick Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet 267 175 5 107.3 $287,826 Running 2 2
3 2 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont / Pepsi Max Chevrolet 267 175 10 144.2 $249,851 Running 7 219
4 8 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 267 160 101.1 $171,200 Running
5 11 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford 267 160 5 115.9 $180,676 Running 1 9
6 6 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota 267 150 94.0 $163,365 Running
7 9 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet 267 151 5 108.1 $157,923 Running 2 7
8 13 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 267 147 5 89.4 $121,050 Running 1 3
9 19 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford 267 138 87.2 $152,340 Running
10 7 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 267 139 5 103.6 $116,925 Running 1 4
11 22 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 267 130 99.8 $138,615 Running
12 12 99 Carl Edwards Aflac / Kelloggs Ford 267 127 92.0 $139,098 Running
13 17 00 David Reutimann TUMS Toyota 267 124 82.5 $137,781 Running
14 32 47 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford / Scott Branded Products Toyota 267 121 78.9 $126,848 Running
15 5 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota 267 123 5 101.1 $144,581 Running 1 1
16 4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet 267 115 82.5 $105,975 Running
17 26 98 Paul Menard Moen / Menards Ford 267 112 66.2 $105,425 Running
18 3 39 Ryan Newman Tornados Chevrolet 267 109 75.3 $123,404 Running
19 27 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 267 106 67.9 $110,975 Running
20 35 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Gold Filters Toyota 267 103 68.6 $99,175 Running
21 28 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 267 100 61.3 $100,575 Running
22 23 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota 266 102 5 65.6 $108,048 Running 1 4
23 18 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 266 94 62.6 $100,925 Running
24 25 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver's Ford 265 91 52.3 $89,600 Running
25 40 43 A J Allmendinger Valvoline Ford 265 88 55.3 $126,001 Running
26 16 12 Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 265 85 61.9 $113,910 Running
27 37 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford 265 82 49.1 $93,650 Running
28 14 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 264 79 56.8 $90,150 Running
29 36 66 Dave Blaney PRISM Motorsports Toyota 264 76 45.6 $82,925 Running
30 38 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford 263 73 40.9 $101,910 Running
31 31 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 262 70 42.2 $122,898 Running
32 42 7 Robby Gordon Monster Energy Toyota 262 67 38.0 $95,823 Running
33 21 13 Max Papis GEICO Toyota 262 64 37.4 $82,000 Running
34 24 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet 260 61 51.7 $118,479 Running
35 1 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 259 58 76.1 $131,898 Running
36 39 37 Kevin Conway # Extenze Ford 256 55 29.1 $94,498 Running
37 10 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 247 52 71.5 $115,606 Running
38 29 71 Bobby Labonte TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 216 49 44.0 $80,000 Running
39 30 36 Mike Bliss Kim Kardashian Fragrance Chevrolet 135 46 35.6 $79,800 Accident
40 41 26 Boris Said Southern Pride Trucking Ford 134 43 26.9 $87,550 Rear Gear
41 15 87 Joe Nemechek FrontRowJoe.com Toyota 65 40 43.0 $79,300 Overheating
42 33 55 Michael McDowell PRISM Motorsports Toyota 40 37 29.9 $79,155 Brakes
43 43 09 Aric Almirola Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 23 34 27.3 $79,431 Vibration