Brain Vickers won this week at New Hampshire and NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jimmie Johnson wishes every race on the schedule was at Daytona International Speedway, as he won for the second time at the track on Sunday to sweep the races there this season after taking the Daytona 500 in the season opener.
Johnson is the first driver in 31 years to sweep both races at Daytona in the same season and now he has four wins on the year to put himself in great position in the points standings. Johnson is the fifth driver in history to do it and the first since Bobby Allison back in 1982 and this time Johnson won the race after being the leader on a restart with two laps to go, holding off Kevin Harvick to take the win.
There was a late accident in the race again that Johnson was able to avoid and Tony Stewart finished in second in front of Harvick. Johnson was able to get in front and to stay in front for most of the race and he ended up leading 94 of the 161 laps on the day on Sunday. Clint Bowyer finished in fourth while Michael Waltrip finished in fifth, followed by Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Casey Mears and Ryan Newman rounding out the top 10.
The race had some issues, including the stoppage for nine minutes after a six car pileup accident with 11 laps left to go in the race. Denny Hamlin dealt with another wreck and he hit the frontstretch wall after spinning out. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon were also involved in the crash and after the race started up again with seven laps remaining and Johnson was able to recover and take the lead later on.
The NASCAR schedule is rumbling towards the Chase for the Cup and next week is the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, followed by the event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Johnson is now tops in points by 49 after winning the race over Clint Bowyer and 71 points ahead of Carl Edwards.
Upcoming schedule:
Sun, Jul 28
1:00 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Indianapolis
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Sun, Aug 4
1:00 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Pocono
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Sun, Aug 11
1:00 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen
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Sun, Aug 18
1:00 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Michigan
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Sat, Aug 24
7:30 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Bristol
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Sun, Sep 1
7:30 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Atlanta
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Sat, Sep 7
7:30 PM ET NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Richmond
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