Quote:
Originally Posted by Dylan
Heading to the final lap, they were behind the tandems of Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin on the inside, with Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick on the outside and Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle closing against the wall.
Johnson ducked to the bottom going into Turn 3, but Gordon and Martin blocked. Let's let Earnhardt, who did a masterful job of staying on Johnson's bumper, take it from here.
"I had no idea how many cars were in front of him," he said. "I was screaming on the radio for him not to lift no matter what. TJ [Majors, spotter] was screaming and Jimmie was screaming. Jimmie was telling me, 'I might go to the middle.' No, the middle is blocked. We come out of four. He said, 'I'm going to the bottom.'
"He didn't show his hand, which was really smart. He kind of sat in there behind them. We formed a run. They tried to sweep us down. I got into the side of Martin real hard and turned myself sideways. I thought we were going to have a helluva wreck."
Instead, Earnhardt pulled off the save and had enough momentum to push Johnson to a .002-second victory over Bowyer, the closest finish in NASCAR history."
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar...&source=JAYSKI |
Probably about the best team driving I've ever witnessed. It was evident that Jr could run faster than Johnson and I questioned why they didn't make the switch. It wasn't until post race when Jr said Johnson couldn't keep up with him and he kept having to lift to stay in contact. So it was Jr's decision to push, thus giving up the win.
Doesn't get any better than that.