Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2012 Dover Spring Race Recap
Jimmie Johnson aced the final restart, despite a concerted charge by Kevin Harvick to his inside to win a race he dominated for much of the afternoon.
Jimmie Johnson aced the final restart, despite a concerted charge by Kevin Harvick to his inside to win a race he dominated for much of the afternoon.
It wasn’t a particularly good race, but what it lacked in drama it made up for in length. Sort of. This year’s edition of the World 600 was actually the shortest ever at just three hours and 51 minutes.
On the final restart, Matt Kenseth started beside Jimmie Johnson but buzzed his tires trying to get up to speed. That allowed Johnson an easy getaway and once the No. 48 car was back in clean air, it was time to put out the fire and call in the dogs.
All the ingredients were there: a green-white-checkered finish at Darlington, questions about who had the gas to go the extra laps, some drivers who had gambled on fresh rubber late in the top 10, and a notoriously slick racetrack, but the finish was a bit of an anticlimax.
Matt Kenseth got such a jump on the final restart he lost his pusher Greg Biffle. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were able to bypass the No. 17 and settle things amongst themselves.
Tony Stewart’s crew botched the final stop and Kyle Busch emerged from the pits with the lead during the fifth caution. Nobody was able to mount a serious challenge on the No. 18 after that.
Martin Truex Jr. made one last concerted charge at Denny Hamlin with three laps to go but lost grip and slid in behind the No. 11.
With 31 laps left to run, Greg Biffle made a banzai pass on Jimmie Johnson for the lead. Johnson had been struggling with lapped traffic, most notably in the person of one Ryan Newman which gave the driver of the No. 16 car the opening he needed. The pass caused such a stir amongst the nearly dozens of fans left awake in the grandstands it woke up several others in their respective rows. Sixteen laps later, Johnson slapped the wall to all but seal the deal for Biffle.
On the first green-white-checkered restart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green, both on worn tires as competitors behind them on fresh ones licked their chops. Clint Bowyer, propelled by a solid shot to his rear bumper from Ryan Newman, took the Hendrick duo three-wide towards the first turn and it didn’t work out too well for any of the three of them. Meanwhile, Newman snaked his way into the lead and, ultimately, the win.
Tony Stewart took the lead from Kyle Busch on lap 85 and appeared to be in a class of his own. The rain just sealed the deal.
Brad Keselowski prevailed on the final restart to keep Matt Kenseth behind him. Kenseth drove for all he was worth as the duo battled through lapped traffic, to no avail; he lost the race by 0.7 seconds.
In the midst of a race that dragged on at times, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson put on a whale of a show, racing side-by-side, lap after lap.
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