Johnson Wins Final Southern 500
Written by John Davison · November 14, 2004
Jimmie Johnson led 124 of the 367 laps in Sunday’s 55th and last-ever Southern 500 before taking the checkered flag at NASCAR’s first superspeedway. Jeff Gordon led 155 laps in finishing third. Point leader Kurt Busch held onto his lead by 18 marks: 6346 to Johnson’s 6328. Gordon is third, three points back of Johnson. A late-race miscue in the pits may have cost Gordon the race win as an air hose got trapped under the right-rear tire on a pit stop, delaying the team. Dale Earnhardt Jr had an extended pit stop late also for the team to replace a flat battery.
Kevin Harvick became the first recipient of a “Darlington Stripe” early in the race. Jeff Gordon took the lead from Kurt Busch after one lap, then 17 laps later, Busch moved around Gordon for the lead again, followed by Ryan Newman. Newman challenged briefly, then suddenly dropped to the apron of the track with a flat tire. He managed to get the car under control and in the pits for four new tires but lost a couple of laps to the field before he could get back on the track and up to speed. The new tires made a five or six mph difference in Newman’s lap speeds compared to the rest of the field.
Just after Newman’s drama, Busch had a “moment” with his car getting loose, allowing Jimmie Johnson around to lead the race. Newman’s huge speed edge lasted only a few laps as the abrasive track surface ground his tires down. He still ran nearly every lap faster than the rest of the field but usually only by three or four mph. Newman gained one of his laps back quickly and traffic worked to his advantage, slowing the leaders as he chased them down, trying to get back to the lead lap.
It took Newman less than 30 laps to get back to the lead lap after dropping two down with his cut right-front tire. Still at the back of the lead lap but he had gained 15 positions by the 50-lap point in the race, moving up to 25th, 28.342 seconds behind Johnson. More teams started pitting for tires, with a speed differential between the leader and cars with new tires of over eight mph and sometimes ten mph as traffic became involved.
According to NASCAR’s scoring monitors, Newman was 25.332 sec behind Johnson on lap 55.
24.337 sec next lap
24.019 next lap and 15th as other drivers pitted.
23.845 sec, 11th lap 58
23.597, 10th lap 59
22.959 9th lap 60
22.393
21.972 6th
15.689 third lap 63!
13.719 third to nemechek, marlin lap 64 marlin in pits
Newman pitted on his 65th lap, out of third place, with a 14.5-sec stop, putting him back in sequence with the other leaders.
Greg Biffle led after the pit stop cycles, followed by Mark Martin, Carl Edwards, then Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray in the top five. Biffle allowed Martin to lead for a period, earning the five bonus points for leading a NEXTEL Cup race. Newman’s pit stop dropped him back to 27th on the field, nearly a full lap behind the leader but still on the same lap.
Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Martin as his tires, some eight laps newer, gave him a handling edge. Martin simply allowed the quicker car around for the lead, looking at the overall picture and not simply the race.
The race’s first caution flew on lap 82, after Bobby Hamilton Jr hit the wall. This allowed all the leaders to stop for fresh tires and chassis adjustments again, bunching up the field with Martin winning the race off pit road, followed by fellow Roush driver Greg Biffle and then Jimmie Johnson. Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Jeremy Mayfield, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Sterling Marlin and Kurt Busch filled the top ten positions as pit stops ended and the track got ready to go back to green-flag racing.
At the restart, Martin edged ahead of Biffle but McMurray had the fastest car on the track. Biffle got around Martin after a few laps, with Johnson then taking second. At the 100-lap point in the race, Johnson was the fastest of the leaders, gaining nearly a tenth of a second on just one lap. Dale Jarrett made an unscheduled pit stop, dropping the No. 88 Ford back a couple of laps,
Bobby Labonte brought out the second caution with a solo spin in the fourth turn, giving Kurt Busch’s crew a chance to repair damage to his right-front fender. The sheetmetal got pushed in when Busch and Brendan Gaughan made contact on the track. Busch admitted that the contact was his fault. He said he lost the 77 car in the sun and that his No. 97 Ford just did not turn the way it had the lap before, sending him into Gaughan’s car.Before this caution, Martin and Johnson had swpped the lead a couple of times. After the pit stops cycled through, Robby Gordon led Mark Martin, then Johnson, McMurray and Kenseth held the top five positions.
At the restart, Rusty Wallace got around Gordon to get a lap back but Gordon’s car was smoking badly from a left-front tire rub, according to the team from low tire pressures. The smoking decreased as heat built up pressure in the tire but damage to the left-front fender was very evident on the No. 31 Chevy. The damage apparently occurred on the restart when Rusty Wallace made his pass.
Caution number three flew just before the 200-mile mark when Todd Bodine got loose and Michael Waltrip had no escape route, slamming into Bodine’s No. 50 Dodge. Jimmie Johnson led the field, having taken over from Robby Gordon, followed still by Martin, McMurray, Gordon and Kenseth in the top five. His crew got him off pit road first, followed by Robby Gordon, Martin, Jeff Burton and McMurray.
Johnson’s restart left the rest of the field over
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