Johnson Drives to Las Vegas Win

Jimmie Johnson led only 300 yards of Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race here, but they were the only 300 yards that mattered.

Taking advantage of a late caution flag that erased a comfortable lead for Matt Kenseth, Johnson caught Kenseth on the final turn and edged ahead by a half-car length to win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second straight year.

The win extended Johnson’s red-hot start this year in spite of the suspension of his scandal-tainted crew chief, Chad Knaus, and the El Cajon driver screamed in joy inside his No. 48 Chevrolet after taking the checkered flag.

Johnson, 30, also won the season-opening Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports and then finished second two weeks ago -- behind Kenseth -- in the Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.

“This is the best,” said Johnson, who passed Kenseth on the outside in front of more than 140,000 spectators on a mostly cloudy day that saw temperatures dip to the low 50s.

“I’m sure it was tough on him [Kenseth] to finish second, but he’s a great sport and put up a great fight,” Johnson said.

Kenseth, who turned 34 on Friday, appeared to be cruising toward his second straight win in his Roush Racing Ford until the final 15 laps. That’s when Johnson, who had been running in the top five for much of the day, began steadily closing on the 1.5-mile track.

Even so, Johnson said, he needed the late caution flag that set up an overtime shootout in the form of a two-lap “green-white-checkered” dash.

“If it had stayed green I believe Matt had it in the bag,” Johnson said. “I think we would have been closer to Matt’s bumper, but we wouldn’t have won.”

A disappointed Kenseth -- who won the Las Vegas race in 2003 and 2004 -- said he knew “we would probably be in trouble” if there was a late caution because “we just got slow and Jimmie was catching me.”

“When the caution came out I was hoping we could hold on for two laps, but I didn’t have a real great feeling about it,” he said. “I don’t feel like I could have done anything different.”

The victory was Johnson’s 20th win in 150 starts, and it extended his early lead in this year’s Nextel Cup championship. Johnson has 540 points, Kenseth is second with 488, and Kasey Kahne -- who finished fourth Sunday in his Evernham Motorsports Dodge -- is third with 455 points.

Knaus was suspended as Johnson’s crew chief last month after NASCAR found that Johnson’s car had an illegal rear-window setup that improved its aerodynamics during qualifying for the Daytona 500. He was suspended for four races, fined $25,000 and put on probation for the rest of this year.

Johnson on Sunday dismissed suggestions that his team, led by substitute crew chief Darian Grubb, was doing fine without Knaus.

“I look forward to having Chad back,” he said, but added that “we’re very grateful to be in this position.”

Until the late fireworks, the race was relatively uneventful and crowded with Roush Fords near the lead -- a repeat of what happened in Fontana on Feb. 26. Kenseth led 146 of the race’s 270 laps and Roush drivers Mark Martin and Greg Biffle, who started from the pole, were among those near the front all day.

But it was two Chevrolets driven by reigning Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Johnson teammate Kyle Busch who provided most of the action just behind Johnson and Kenseth.

The two bumped more than once in the last 40 laps, and Stewart shook his fist at Busch and was heard complaining over his team’s radio about Busch’s driving.

When Stewart also griped about aggressive driving at the Daytona International Speedway last month, Busch reportedly was among those he targeted.

Busch, a 20-year-old Las Vegas native and the younger brother of Nextel Cup driver Kurt Busch, said he was merely racing hard Sunday.

With so few laps remaining, “there is no more rolling over and playing dead and letting guys go,” he said. “If I might have aggravated Stewart a little bit, then I apologize to him for that.”

There were 22 lead changes among 11 drivers, and seven caution flags.

Starting today, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway plans a major overhaul that will include raising the track’s corner banking and construction that will give fans a better view of the garages.