MARTINSVILLE, Va. ? Any chance Jimmie Johnson might have had to win his seventh race at Martinsville disappeared when the five-time champion was flagged for speeding as he entered pit road on Lap 467 of Sunday?s Goody?s Fast Relief 500.
Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have made a science of knowing how to manage the timing lines that divide pit road into segments, and Johnson insisted after the race that the speeding penalty was unjustified. As Johnson sees it, NASCAR doesn?t like the way it looks when he darts between lines to gain an edge on and off pit road.
?I wasn?t speeding,? Johnson said. ?They didn?t like how it looked, the way I managed my timing lines. Had this happen one other time, where I do a good job with my timing lines to know exactly where I needed to accelerate and where I needed to stop. There is just no way. People will say whatever, but with the math and the way we know our timing lines, there is just no way.
?You accelerate real hard through your timing zone. A lot of guys get dinged for that. I?ve been dinged a couple of different times. Usually you get dinged when you pass someone or break the plane of the car in front of you. With no one there, I accelerated like I always do from my mark. There is just no way. There is just no way. It won?t do me any good to have a conversation (with NASCAR); it isn?t going to matter. I guess I just can?t attack pit road like I know I can ? and like I did every single time before this.?
Johnson finished 11th, his first result outside the top 10 at Martinsville since his first race there April 14, 2002.
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