Jimmie Johnson Wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway
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Jerry Markland/Getty Images(HAMPTON, Ga.) — The pressure is off Jimmie Johnson early this season after he took home the checkered flag at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
Johnson held off Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the second Sprint Cup race of the year.
“I’m just so excited that the guys — we have new guys — could understand what I was complaining about and the things I didn’t like about my race car,” said Johnson, who started 38th.
“This thing was just bad fast. I had a blast racing with the 4. He was awfully strong today. I think track position there at the end set things in place,” Johnson continued. “We had the restart we needed to, cleared the 88 and off we went.”
Johnson increased his chances of making the Chase this year with the win as well.
“Takes pressure off in some ways,” Johnson said. “We don’t have the questions of are you going to win this year. It’s nice to dodge that.”
Last weekend’s Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano finished in fourth and was followed by Matt Kenseth.
“We raced hard,” Logano said. “We raced up toward the front all day, just those Hendrick cars are fast.”
“I did everything I could to maintain on restarts and being aggressive,” Logano continued. “Overall we’re still having a good start to the season.”
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