Johnson Does It Again at Lowe’s

There’s a very clear reason why Jimmie Johnson considers Lowe’s Motor Speedway his own personal playground: He owns the track.

Johnson won the Nextel All-Star Challenge and its $1-million prize Saturday night, his seventh victory at the suburban Charlotte, N.C., track.

Johnson, who also won the All-Star race in 2003, has won three-straight Coca-Cola 600s and will try to make it four in a row next Sunday night.

Kevin Harvick, who won the second segment of the event, took only two tires on the final pit stops while everyone else took four. It was a risky gamble, and Johnson wasted no time passing him for the lead when the final 20-lap sprint began.

Johnson then pulled away and Harvick finished a whopping 1.729 seconds behind.

Jeff Gordon was third, Carl Edwards was fourth and Ryan Newman was fifth.

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Sebastien Bourdais broke his own course record, finishing his best lap in 1 minute 13.253 seconds at an average speed of 103.401 mph to take the pole for today’s Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico.

Bourdais’ time was 0.279 of a second faster than Justin Wilson, who took the provisional pole Friday.

Wilson’s RuSport teammate, A.J. Allmendinger, the only American in the 17-car field, will start third after posting a top time of 1:13.796.

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Ben Spies raced to his fifth straight AMA Superbike victory at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, beating Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin by 6.989 seconds in the first leg of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown doubleheader.

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Travis Thirkettle continued his dominance over Irwindale Speedway’s late model division with his third consecutive win.

Thirkettle started third, moved into second on the ninth lap and passed pole-sitter Richie Altman on the 10th lap to take the lead for good.

Mike Johnson finished second, 2.54 seconds behind Thirkettle, rookie Michael Wright was third and Altman fourth.