This Indianapolis 500 already has plenty of drama: panic over the size of the field, engine shortages, legal wrangling and issues with underperforming Lotus.INDIANAPOLIS – In the end, Jimmie Johnson kept history waiting.
On a blessedly uneventful day at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard – with no tire issues and only three cautions for 14 laps, it was the fourth fastest race in the event’s history – Johnson muscled the lead from Mark Martin with 24 laps to run Sunday, then held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate to win his second straight Brickyard and third in four years.
Johnson’s victory in 2 hours, 44 minutes and 31 seconds made him the only man in the event’s history to win back-to-back. Johnson won last year in a race dominated by serious problems with the tires Goodyear brought to Indianapolis.
That and the economic downturn left empty seats everywhere at Indianapolis on Sunday, when an estimated 170,000 fans – down about 50,000 from a year ago – saw Juan Pablo Montoya turn the race into a parade for much of the afternoon.
Montoya started second and took the lead on a restart on lap 4, and then led 116 of the next 121 laps. But NASCAR slapped him with a drive-through penalty for excessive speed leaving the pits on lap 125, and that left the race in the capable hands of Johnson, who outdragged Martin on another restart and then had his hands full with the 50-year-old pole-sitter the rest of the way.
“Damn, he was fast,” Johnson said. “Those last 15, 20 laps we had to drive it so hard to stay ahead of the 5 (Martin). Luckily, we held them off.”
