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NASCAR
Daytona 500

Jimmie Johnson wins at Atlanta

Jeff Gluck
USA TODAY Sports
Jimmie Johnson held off teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final restart and pulled away for his first win at Atlanta since sweeping in 2007.

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Key moments from today's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway:

WINNER: He's baaaaack. Jimmie Johnson won the first downforce race of the season Sunday, immediately putting his lackluster 2014 campaign in the rear-view mirror. All the talk about whether Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus might be nearing the end of their run together? Silenced, at least for now.

QUOTABLE: "I'm just so excited that this team understood what I was complaining about last year," Johnson said. " … This thing (his No. 48 Chevrolet) was just bad fast. I had a great time racing with the No. 4 (runner-up Kevin Harvick) today."

KEY MOMENT: Johnson fought off teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a restart with 14 laps to go and was able to pull away despite challenges from Earnhardt and defending series champion Kevin Harvick, who had dominated much of the race.​

SAFETY PROBLEM: A high-profile driver crashed into an unprotected concrete wall for the second straight week when Jeff Gordon hit a wall on the backstretch during a multi-car accident on lap 256. The difference between Gordon's crash and Kyle Busch's crash at Daytona International Speedway? Gordon wasn't hurt. Denny Hamlin got loose and spun out to start the incident, collecting Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Gordon. McMurray and Hamlin also appeared to hit an unprotected wall on the backstretch.

THE BIG ONE: With 21 laps to go, Greg Biffle got into Joe Nemechek's left rear bumper and triggered an eight-car "Big One" that was worthy of the Daytona 500. Along with the two drivers who started it, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Regan Smith and Kyle Larson all piled on. NASCAR displayed a red flag as crews cleaned up the mess.

LOGANO LEADS EARLY: Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano dominated the early part of the race, leading most of the first 86 laps. But Harvick passed the pole-sitter on lap 87 by diving underneath him out of Turn 4 – the first green-flag pass for the lead of the day.

DILLON'S WOES: Austin Dillon had his right rear tire cut down while racing with Regan Smith, which eventually caused it to go flat on lap 47. But even after that was fixed, he had another flat tire on Lap 60, causing him to spin out, hit the wall and slide down the track into the grass. The second-year driver nearly got stuck in the wet grass, spinning his tires trying to get back on the track and head to the garage. After he got free, mud covered his rear window.

BIG BOOM: Landon Cassill and the engines in his No. 40 Chevrolet aren't getting along very well to start the season. For the second straight week, Cassill blew an engine – this time at lap 92.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM: Every former past champion in the field except Brad Keselowski started toward the rear of the field after an inspection delay Friday left many cars unable to qualify. Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Stewart and Matt Kenseth had problems getting through inspection, and Harvick had to drop to the rear after blowing an engine in practice Saturday.

LATE START: The race was delayed by a wet track after morning rain and drizzle soaked the 1.54-mile surface. Eventually, the green flag was thrown at 2:12 p.m. ET – 56 minutes after the 1:16 p.m. scheduled start time.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck

SUNDAY'S RESULTS

Lap length: 1.54 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (37) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 325 laps, 126.7 rating, 47 points, $335,901.

2. (2) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 325, 131.2, 44, $284,080.

3. (9) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 325, 120.4, 42, $184,755.

4. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, 325, 126.9, 41, $198,838.

5. (36) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 325, 97.6, 40, $170,891.

6. (14) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 325, 103.2, 38, $150,615.

7. (11) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 325, 86.6, 37, $152,278.

8. (22) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 325, 77.5, 37, $144,284.

9. (12) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 325, 96, 36, $159,261.

10. (7) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 325, 93.9, 34, $144,720.

11. (23) Aric Almirola, Ford, 325, 82.1, 33, $148,746.

12. (5) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 325, 105.7, 32, $107,285.

13. (13) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 325, 79, 31, $118,085.

14. (10) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 324, 99.1, 30, $122,985.

15. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 324, 74.5, 29, $132,943.

16. (18) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 324, 70.4, 28, $115,760.

17. (38) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 324, 61, 0, $120,460.

18. (17) David Ragan, Toyota, 323, 78.1, 26, $146,651.

19. (29) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 323, 63.4, 25, $145,510.

20. (16) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 323, 63.2, 24, $126,593.

21. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 323, 60.7, 23, $129,480.

22. (26) David Gilliland, Ford, 322, 50.6, 23, $121,868.

23. (42) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 322, 53.4, 21, $110,982.

24. (25) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 321, 73.9, 21, $134,768.

25. (19) Greg Biffle, Ford, 320, 60.4, 19, $130,843.

26. (6) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 320, 76.3, 18, $127,018.

27. (24) Michael McDowell, Ford, 320, 43.8, 17, $95,310.

28. (31) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 320, 40.1, 0, $97,785.

29. (32) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 319, 37, 15, $97,510.

30. (39) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 319, 52.6, 14, $126,074.

31. (27) Mike Bliss, Ford, 318, 36.7, 0, $96,710.

32. (33) Josh Wise, Ford, 318, 31.4, 12, $94,035.

33. (28) Joe Nemechek, Ford, 318, 39.2, 0, $93,860.

34. (30) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 316, 30.4, 0, $93,710.

35. (40) Jeb Burton, Toyota, 316, 30.5, 9, $95,035.

36. (20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, accident, 302, 53.8, 8, $101,370.

37. (41) Cole Whitt, Ford, engine, 295, 42.5, 7, $93,204.

38. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 284, 93, 7, $111,105.

39. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 282, 44.4, 5, $120,801.

40. (3) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, accident, 256, 73.4, 4, $110,356.

41. (35) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, accident, 256, 71.3, 3, $124,401.

42. (34) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, rear gear, 187, 24.8, 2, $71,865.

43. (43) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, engine, 92, 37.6, 0, $68,365.

———

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 131.078 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 49 minutes, 6 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.802 seconds.

Caution Flags: 10 for 54 laps.

Lead Changes: 28 among 12 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J.Logano 1-27; J.Nemechek 28; J.Logano 29-48; M.Bliss 49; J.Logano 50-67; M.Bliss 68; J.Logano 69-86; K.Harvick 87-95; J.Logano 96; D.Gilliland 97; K.Harvick 98-138; D.Hamlin 139; B.Keselowski 140-141; M.Kenseth 142-147; K.Harvick 148-176; D.Hamlin 177-189; K.Harvick 190-197; J.Johnson 198-211; K.Harvick 212; J.Johnson 213-225; K.Harvick 226-253; J.Johnson 254-261; D.Earnhardt Jr. 262; J.Johnson 263-293; C.Bowyer 294; B.Moffitt 295; J.Johnson 296-300; M.Kenseth 301-304; J.Johnson 305-325.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Harvick, 6 times for 116 laps; J.Johnson, 6 times for 92 laps; J.Logano, 5 times for 84 laps; D.Hamlin, 2 times for 14 laps; M.Kenseth, 2 times for 10 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 2 laps; M.Bliss, 2 times for 2 laps; D.Earnhardt Jr., 1 time for 1 lap; B.Moffitt, 1 time for 1 lap; D.Gilliland, 1 time for 1 lap; C.Bowyer, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Nemechek, 1 time for 1 lap.

Wins: J.Johnson, 1; J.Logano, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. J.Logano, 88; 2. J.Johnson, 87; 3. K.Harvick, 86; 4. D.Earnhardt Jr., 84; 5. M.Truex Jr., 75; 6. C.Mears, 68; 7. K.Kahne, 65; 8. A.Allmendinger, 62; 9. A.Almirola, 62; 10. C.Bowyer, 58; 11. D.Gilliland, 56; 12. S.Hornish Jr., 55; 13. G.Biffle, 54; 14. C.Edwards, 54; 15. D.Ragan, 53; 16. D.Patrick, 51.

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