Johnson gambles with tires, earns second Brickyard win

Jimmie Johnson took the pole and the checkered flag for the second time in the last three years in the 15th running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Johnson’s win came despite rough tire conditions throughout the race resulting in 11 caution flags.

Action on the track left much to be desired as the cautions resulted in fifty-two caution laps. Six of those cautions were mandatory competition cautions handed down by NASCAR to check tires.

In the days leading up to the race many teams were worried about the abrasiveness of a track known for causing tires to wear rapidly. The track upheld its reputation as there were five cautions having to do with bad or blown out tires within the first 83 laps, making it difficult for drivers to make moves.

“Tires were blowing out left and right,” said Casey Mears. “You couldn’t really pass.”

Race officials had planned to account for few problems during the race. These expectations called for more conservative racing. Drivers were forced to make constant pit stops to replace badly worn tires. The conditions became so bad it was possible that NASCAR would run out of reserve tires. Saturday, NASCAR brought in around 800 tires in preparation for tire problems from Pocono Motor Speedway, the location of next week's race.

Both NASCAR President Mike Helton and Vice President for Competition Robin Pemberton expressed concern before and during the race.

“We want to keep things as safe as we can and evenly balanced,” Helton said. “The effort today is to run it in the best manner possible.”

“The track is very abrasive because we don’t run on it very often,” Pemberton said. “It’s a situation we see probably every time we come here.”

Johnson and his pit crew overcame the track’s adversity by being patient before taking a gamble in the final pit stop by only replacing two tires when they had been replacing four tires during every pit stop before.

“I knew what we were setting up for,” Johnson said. “I was worried about the stop before that maybe we had to go two laps to win this thing. Chad called it perfectly. We had a great stop at the end. I just can’t say enough about this race car all weekend. It was a pleasure to drive, and it’s because these guys have been working so hard.”

Johnson held the lead eight different times for a total of seventy-one laps. The win earns him $509,236 and moves him up from fifth to fourth place, surpassing Carl Edwards in the Sprint Cup point standings. It’s his second victory and 10th top-10 finish this season.

Afterwards, Johnson along with his wife Chandra, and his pit crew knelt down and ceremoniously kissed the yard of bricks. On this day the bricks may have tasted a little more like rubber than in years past.