Jimmie Johnson says no he’s no more mister nice guy plus he’s not taking any prisoners.
The four-time and defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion was angry after Kurt Busch knocked him out of the way. He was ready to crash the former champion, but calmed down and merely pushed Busch out of the way on lap 299, then took the lead on lap 300 for his second-straight and 52nd career victory on Sunday, his third win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
"We got going on that restart and Kurt knocked me out of the way and I thought I don't care if I win this race or not; I don't care if I finish this damn thing. I'm running into him and get by one way or another. I'm not good at doing that stuff. Usually I crash myself in the process. So I tried once and moved him, but (thought) I've got to hit him harder. The second time I moved him out of the way and got by him and was able to get going.”
Busch explained “driving into turn three, I had all intentions of passing him on the inside and trying to cut underneath him at the apex. I just got into him a little bit in the left rear and nudged him up and we were able to squeak on by.”
Tony Stewart made a similar move to take second from Busch who finished third.
Busch felt confident that Johnson wasn’t going to wreck him in retaliation. “Your motive is always to pass a guy clean and you always want to make sure that when you do pass him, that he's not completely upset with you and then we'll go and race again if he's going to come back and try to pass me at the end, and he did, he did great.”
But Johnson did have revenge on his mind at first "I hate (Kurt) felt like I wasn’t going to wreck him. Because I was going to wreck him. My thought process was, 'wreck his ass.'"
Although Kasey Kahne, driving a Ford led a race-high 110-laps he lost a cylinder and later blew an engine, on lap 239, on a disastrous day for the Ford teams.
Jeff Burton led from lap 201 to 287 when Juan Pablo Montoya was crashed by Reed Sorenson his former teammate. The Columbian, ex-Formula One driver, had fallen to around 13th after a battle with Jeff Gordon for the second week in-a-row and had damage to his splitter (front wing).
Montoya said “the guy that really messed me up was the 24 (Gordon). He just doesn’t give me any room, he never does. He has it coming one day.”
Although AJ Allmendinger finished 10th in a Ford, Greg Biffle was the only driver from the “works” Roush Fenway Ford team to finish on the lead lap in 16th.
Kevin Harvick who finished fifth behind Jeff Gordon continues to lead the “regular season” points but trails Denny Hamlin and Johnson (with five wins) to his single victory.
The four-time and defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion was angry after Kurt Busch knocked him out of the way. He was ready to crash the former champion, but calmed down and merely pushed Busch out of the way on lap 299, then took the lead on lap 300 for his second-straight and 52nd career victory on Sunday, his third win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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| Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart at Loudon - image nascar.com |
"We got going on that restart and Kurt knocked me out of the way and I thought I don't care if I win this race or not; I don't care if I finish this damn thing. I'm running into him and get by one way or another. I'm not good at doing that stuff. Usually I crash myself in the process. So I tried once and moved him, but (thought) I've got to hit him harder. The second time I moved him out of the way and got by him and was able to get going.”
Busch explained “driving into turn three, I had all intentions of passing him on the inside and trying to cut underneath him at the apex. I just got into him a little bit in the left rear and nudged him up and we were able to squeak on by.”
Tony Stewart made a similar move to take second from Busch who finished third.
Busch felt confident that Johnson wasn’t going to wreck him in retaliation. “Your motive is always to pass a guy clean and you always want to make sure that when you do pass him, that he's not completely upset with you and then we'll go and race again if he's going to come back and try to pass me at the end, and he did, he did great.”
But Johnson did have revenge on his mind at first "I hate (Kurt) felt like I wasn’t going to wreck him. Because I was going to wreck him. My thought process was, 'wreck his ass.'"
Although Kasey Kahne, driving a Ford led a race-high 110-laps he lost a cylinder and later blew an engine, on lap 239, on a disastrous day for the Ford teams.
Jeff Burton led from lap 201 to 287 when Juan Pablo Montoya was crashed by Reed Sorenson his former teammate. The Columbian, ex-Formula One driver, had fallen to around 13th after a battle with Jeff Gordon for the second week in-a-row and had damage to his splitter (front wing).
Montoya said “the guy that really messed me up was the 24 (Gordon). He just doesn’t give me any room, he never does. He has it coming one day.”
Although AJ Allmendinger finished 10th in a Ford, Greg Biffle was the only driver from the “works” Roush Fenway Ford team to finish on the lead lap in 16th.
Kevin Harvick who finished fifth behind Jeff Gordon continues to lead the “regular season” points but trails Denny Hamlin and Johnson (with five wins) to his single victory.