Johnson has stolen the Dover pole from Montoya in a late run
Jimmie Johnson has now got the distinction of starting first in Dover on the track as well as in the standings.
Johnson got another push to the second consecutive title in his second pole of the season at Dover, when he took the first spot with a lap of 154.765 mph at the Dover international Speedway on Friday. He is also the Nextel cup points leader.
Not starting any bad than the ninth position Johnson currently is the leader of the points standing as regards the second race in NASCAR’s chase in the Nextel cup championship.
“It’s tough to say how important track position is going to be,” Johnson said. “The thing I’m most excited about is having the first pit stall.”
Jeff Gordon is at the same footing as Johnson with 5,210 points each, but since Gordon has just four wins and Johnson has a dainty six, it puts him in a higher position.
The top ten on this Sunday will consist of six of the drivers for the chase in which Denny Hamlin was third, Kurt Busch fourth, Martin Truex Jr. fifth, Kevin Harvick was seventh and Matt Kenseth was 10th.
Last week was good for Clint Bowyer who had his first career win at new Hampshire and who also was considered as the worst Chase qualifier. He had to qualify on owners points and thus will start at the back of the field at the 42nd.
“We’ve got the 12 best guys in this sport, and there’s six or seven right now that all have momentum,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a great battle all the way to the end.”
Montoya said that there was an encouragement by the way his team has adjusted and the way the adjustments paid off.
“When you can nail change after change after change, all of a sudden you’re really competitive,” he said. “We just need to work a little harder to make sure every time we come into the race weekend, we can actually be competitive straight off the bat.”
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