Jimmie Johnson News

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Singed eyelashes were the least of Jimmie Johnson's problems after a fiery crash knocked him out of the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race roared on without the defending Nextel Cup champion, and if his luck doesn't change real soon, so will the Chase for the championship. It was the second consecutive DNF for Johnson, who has dropped from fourth to ninth in the season standings the past three races. With only six ...

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) _ Jimmie Johnson withstood teammate Jeff Gordon's bumping and banging for much of the last 53 laps Sunday and held him off by a front bumper to win for the third time in six NASCAR Nextel Cup races this year. The teammates with Hendrick Motorsports provided a stirring duel at the end of the second Car of Tomorrow race, one that was mostly devoid of the destructive ...

Jimmie Johnson was ``horsing around'' on top of a moving golf cart when he fell off of it and broke his left wrist, his team told The Associated Press on Monday. The version clarifies what happened during the celebrity tournament in Lecanto, Fla., one day after the initial account from Hendrick Motorsports implied that the Nextel Cup champion had fallen out of the cart. Although Hendrick officials gave no details ...

Times Square has never seemed quite so vibrant to Jimmie Johnson. A short drive through the central part of Manhattan by NASCAR's top 10 drivers in their race cars has already become part of ``Champion's Week'' in New York _ a celebration of the new Nextel Cup champion. Johnson, who finally won the title after four years of flirting with the honour, was at the head of that parade Wednesday ...

David Letterman's idea of cheating is apparently much more severe than Jimmie Johnson's. Johnson appeared on the ``Late Show with David Letterman,'' on Tuesday night, and the host grilled NASCAR's new champion about a penalty his team incurred before the season opening race. Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, was fined US$25,000 and suspended for four races for making an illegal modifications to Johnson's car during preparation for the Daytona 500. ...

Jimmie Johnson's racing goals were a bit different before being stranded in 1994 in the Baja desert. Until then, the Southern California 19-year-old, was content to run off-road races and, maybe some day, win the Baja 1000 or an off-road title. Stuck for a day and a half in the rocky no-man's-land after driving off a ridge, Johnson revised his plans. ``I decided to go a different direction, maybe see ...

Jimmie Johnson's California cool turned to euphoria when he won the Daytona 500. At Indianapolis, his emotions were overwhelmed again after a win he never expected. Still, Johnson had won races before. A first NASCAR championship? For the driver who had everything but, nothing could have come as a bigger relief. ``It's going to take a little bit of time for this to soak in, just to think what this ...

The Nextel Cup title is Jimmie Johnson's to lose. Unfortunately for Johnson, he knows how easy that is to do. Three years in a row, he's gotten off to a miserable start in the Chase for the championship. Had he simply started the post-season the way he ran the rest of the year, he'd be closing in on his third title right now. Instead, he needed frantic rallies to climb back into contention _ only to still ...

Jimmie Johnson, on the cusp of winning his first NASCAR Nextel Cup championship, had a few anxious moments Friday on the way to qualifying 15th for the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ``We're certainly excited to just get to work,'' said Johnson, who needs to finish 12th or better in Sunday's race to win his first title. Since making himself the solid championship favourite with a second-place finish last Sunday in Phoenix that moved him 63 points in ...

The way this Chase for the championship has gone, no one should be conceding the Nextel Cup title to Jimmie Johnson just yet. Granted, his 63-point lead over Matt Kenseth means Johnson will need a total collapse in Sunday's season finale to give his first title away. But this third year of the Chase has been a wild one, in which no driver has been immune from issues. So should ...

There's a new leader in NASCAR's Chase for the championship, and a whole bunch of drivers who are very much back in contention. Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Bobby Labonte with 55 laps to go Sunday and held it through several restarts to win the crash-filled Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and 2003 champion Matt Kenseth jumped ahead in the points as the series heads to Atlanta with seven ...

Here's one thing race fans won't see any time soon: Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers buddying up at the track, or anywhere else. Johnson's anger toward his teammate and friend had not subsided Tuesday, two days after Vickers wrecked Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnson spent the bulk of his weekly conference call avoiding even mentioning Vickers' name, finally unloading on his teammate ...