The Chase is On

Isn’t that the No. 48 car pulling into Victory Lane? Un-huh. Must be The Chase. Three-time incumbent champion Jimmie Johnson sent a loud signal to his other eleven fellow Chasemates at Dover Downs Sunday that his quest for an unprecedented fourth straight Sprint Cup championship is indeed on.

Leading 271 out of the total 400 laps in the AAA 400, Johnson was never seriously headed, except for vacating his leader’s role after the first caution—one of those mandated “competition” yellows by NASCAR—when he exited pit lane in fifth place on Lap 30. It took him more than 100 laps, but Johnson eventually reasserted himself atop the field. Johnson is almost Pavlovian in his relationship with Sprint Cup’s postseason: Ring the bell for the final rounds and JJ is on it, this time the El Cajon hombre claimed his second win of the year at Dover International Speedway and fifth career victory there.

A devastating crash occurred early in the race, on Lap 31, when cars backed up in Turn 3. An accordion-like effect took its anger out on rookie Joey Logano, who flipped over seven times before finally coming to a halt. The race was red-flagged for 25 minutes. Logano was uninjured.

As they did one week ago in New Hampshire, both Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya performed excellently, coming in second and fourth at Dover to their first- and third-place finishes at Loudon. The veteran Martin takes a 10-point lead into Round 3 of the Chase next Sunday at Kansas.

With 90 laps to go, out-of-it backmarker Reed Sorenson was logged at 230 laps behind the leader Johnson. You’d think, in the interest of better racing, especially in the postseason, that NASCAR would place a limit on the number of laps that a driver can fall behind before he is made to officially retire. Having out-of-contention racers tip-toeing around the track apron doesn’t bolster the image of the sport or the quality of competitiveness on the track.