Full Throttle

Jimmie Johnson and his #48 Chevrolet won the Autism Speaks 400 Presented by Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips and Cheese, his 42nd victory in 268 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This is his second victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2009. This is also his fourth victory and 10th top-10 finish in 15 races at Dover International Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson edged past Tony Stewart’s Stewert-Haas #14 with two laps left in a thrilling battle to the finish and has won the Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.

Johnson pushed Stewart over the final few laps Sunday on the concrete and finally caught him with an outside pass. Johnson won his second race of the season and got his fourth career Cup victory at Dover.

Greg Biffle had another good run at the Monster Mile with a third place run in his #16 3M/Nexcare Ford. It is Biffle’s ninth top-10 finish in 14 races at Dover International Speedway.

Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five. Busch’s result was the best effort from the Dodge teams.

Joey Logano was the highest finishing rookie with his 15th place finish. He also delivered the best result for a Toyota driver.

Tony Stewart on being tracked down by Johnson: “We had an opportunity. We got to the lead there and got by Biffle and just couldn’t hold off Jimmie. He was like a freight train coming. I mean, I was surprised I could hold him off as long as I did, but I was pretty happy that we were able to do it for that long.”

Greg Biffle drives a stake in the heart of those that hate the CoT: “The Nexcare Ford Fusion car was really, really good and it’s unfortunate. We lost that race because of that caution flag and got stuck in the back. We had to work our way back up and really didn’t know how our car was and adjusted it and adjusted it out and then back again. Once I got out front, I was just way too loose there at the end and couldn’t hold off the 20 or the 48.

If I would have been a little bit tighter, I know I would have been able to drive off pretty good, but, it’s unfortunate. We were back in traffic all day and had our car freed up and then we got out front and was just a little bit too loose. It was a good day – a top three. I’ve got to argue with the people that are critics of these cars that they put on good races.”

Despite Dover being one the the best events at this point in the season the best news is - no more friggin’ Gopher - he’s on a nine month hiatus!