Jimmie Johnson Keeps His Excellent Dover Record to Leapfrog William Byron for Final Playoff Spot
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Jimmie Johnson is now the front-runner to make the playoff cut in his final season in NASCAR. The seven-time Cup Series Champion overtook Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in the playoff race with a seventh-place finish on Saturday at the Dover International Speedway.
Johnson’s record at Dover has always held him in good stead. The champion driver made sure he drove safely and did not make many mistakes on a track he knows so well.
Johnson went into Saturday’s race 25 points behind Byron and left with a three-point lead over the youngster.
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Jimmie Johnson gets closer to Cup Series playoffs
His seventh-place finish gave him 30 points. Johnson also earned seven bonus points for finishing in the Top-10 in each stage. That got his tally to 37 points for the race, consequently sending him over Byron in the championship.
Byron finished the race in a lowly 28th place after a bad day and an underperforming car saw him struggle. He barely scored nine points in the race.
Johnson will now look to add to the momentum (and his lead) with another race at Dover on Sunday. The regular season winds up next weekend with the final race taking place at the Daytona International Speedway. Johnson is determined for it to not be his last NASCAR race.
“Solid day for this Ally Chevy team, we have some work to do but we will go to work tonight and get it right. Everyone did a great job, we have something to build on tonight and we will come back tomorrow and have something left for them,” the 44-year-old said.
A tale of two teammates.@JimmieJohnson is now +3 and in the 16th points position while his @TeamHendrick teammate, @WilliamByron, sits -3 below in 17th. pic.twitter.com/K07wlCdC9P
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 22, 2020
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Johnson keeps his focus
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Johnson claims that it will be important for him and the No. 48 team to run a clean race and not make many mistakes on Sunday.
“Keeping it within 100% for myself and the team is the important thing. Truth be told, we’ve been about a fifth-to-10th-place car throughout the year and I’ve been trying to do more than that, making mistakes,” Johnson told NBC Sports after the race. “If we use our head (on Sunday) and race hard, get clean stops I think we can get more of a cushion,” he added.
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Meanwhile, William Byron will look to regroup and will need all the help he can get from Crew Chief Chad Knaus to turn things around. Knaus was Johnson’s Crew Chief for all his 11 wins at Dover and his seven titles.
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