It took 17 races after they won their 199th race to finally make it happen but Jimmie Johnson led the most laps during the race and scored the 200th win in the history of Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson held off Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart on a green-white-checkered finish to score the historic win, which is also the 56th of his career, putting him in sole possession of eighth on the all-time Cup Series win list. Kyle Busch ran in the top 10 all night and spent most of it in the top five, ultimately coming home in fourth place. Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.
After the race there was an altercation on pit road for the second year in a row, this time between the pit crews of Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. The final caution of the night was brought out by a spin by Busch off of turn two that also resulted in Newman being spun into the inside back straight wall. Both cars came into pit lane to the attention of their pit crews and as Busch was leaving his stall he did a rev-limiter testing burnout through Newman’s pit while some of his crew members were still in the box. After the race ended, Newman and Busch ended up tangled up together on pit lane. When Newman’s crew arrived on the scene, after Busch’s crew was already there, some pushing and shoving ensued which resulted in a NASCAR official ending up on the hood of Busch’s car. There will certainly be some punishments handed down in the week to come.
From Hendrick Media Information:
MILESTONE WINS: Hendrick Motorsports’ first win came April 29, 1984, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway with Geoff Bodine at the wheel. Jeff Gordon notched the team’s 50th on March 24, 1996, at Darlington Raceway and its 100th on June 10, 2001, at Michigan International Speedway. Jimmie Johnson scored the 150th Cup win for Hendrick Motorsports on March 11, 2007, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
FIRST-TIME WINNERS: Eight drivers recorded their first career Cup wins while driving for car owner Rick Hendrick: Bodine, Kyle Busch, Gordon, Johnson, Casey Mears, Jerry Nadeau, Ken Schrader and Brian Vickers. Gordon and Johnson have raced for Hendrick for their entire Cup careers.
DRIVERS AND TRACKS: Since being founded in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has sent 15 Cup drivers to Victory Lane at 25 different racetracks. The organization has scored double-digit Cup wins at nine tracks, including a team record 18 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Hendrick has won at four inactive Cup racetracks: Nashville, Tenn., North Wilkesboro, N.C., Riverside, Calif., and Rockingham, N.C.
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