SONOMA, Calif. — Jimmie Johnson hasn’t been to Victory Lane in 10 races, his longest drought in two years.
NASCAR’s four-time defending champion has finished outside the top 10 in five of the last seven races and dropped to sixth in the Sprint Cup Series standings.
And now he’s at Infineon Raceway, one of just five tracks where he’s never won a Cup race. It’s not that being in wine country poses a problem. Johnson’s just not that good at road course racing.
“Everybody knows how much I have focused on it and how badly I want to win on a road course, especially here,” said Johnson, a Californian. “It’s time.”
But after qualifying second for today’s race — he briefly held the pole until he was bumped by defending winner Kasey Kahne — Johnson believes he’s got a chance at winning on a road course.
“I feel really good about it,” said Johnson, who has run two Grand-Am events this year for more practice.
Edwards wins Nationwide race.
Carl Edwards swooped past Jacques Villeneuve on a restart with nine laps to go, then ran away from the field to win the NASCAR Nationwide series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Villeneuve made a wild charge to the lead with 12 laps to go. But another caution bunched up the field, allowing Edwards to make his decisive move.
Ron Fellows finished second in a Chevrolet, 4.302 seconds behind Edwards’ Ford. Brendan Gaughan finished third in a Toyota.
Power takes Iowa 250 pole.
Will Power won the pole for the Iowa 250, grabbing the top spot for the fourth time this season and first on an oval track in Newton, Iowa.
Power gives Team Penske a record seventh straight IndyCar pole position. He ran an average lap of 181.337 mph on the Iowa Speedway’s 0.875-mile oval, beating out Scott Dixon by a fraction of a second.
Dixon joined Power on the front row for today’s race. Marco Andretti will start third and Helio Castroneves is fourth. Points leader Dario Franchitti, who won at Iowa in 2007 and 2009, will start fifth and Danica Patrick will start ninth.
Force Hood tops funny car.
Ashley Force Hood secured her 11th career No. 1 qualifying position in funny car at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway.
The other No. 1 qualifiers at the 12th of 23 races in the series were Antron Brown (top fuel) and Allen Johnson (pro stock).
Force Hood set the top qualifying mark — her second this season — with a 4.151-second pass at a top speed of 296.70 mph in Friday’s night qualifying session and it held up through Saturday.
Today’s races
NASCAR SPRINT CUP Toyota/Save Mart 350
Site: Sonoma, Calif.
TV: 1 p.m., TNT.
Track: Infineon Raceway (road course, 1.99 miles).
Race distance: 218.9 miles, 110 laps.
Points standings
1. Kevin Harvick 2,169
2. Kyle Busch 2,147
3. Denny Hamlin 2,122
4. Kurt Busch 2,051
5. Matt Kenseth 2,019
6. Jimmie Johnson 1,999
7. Jeff Gordon 1,987
8. Jeff Burton 1,945
9. Greg Biffle 1,865
10. Carl Edwards 1,856
11. Tony Stewart 1,840
12. Mark Martin 1,826
13. Clint Bowyer 1,783
14. D. Earnhardt Jr. 1,745
15. Ryan Newman 1,735
16. Martin Truex Jr. 1,733
17. Joey Logano 1,719
18. Jamie McMurray 1,672
19. David Reutimann 1,649
20. Juan Montoya 1,637
Next race: Lenox Industrial Tools 301, June 27, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Online:
INDYCAR Iowa Corn Indy 250
Site: Newton, Iowa.
TV: 12:30 p.m., Versus
Track: Iowa Speedway (oval, 0.875 miles).
Race distance: 218.75 miles, 250 laps.
Next race: Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, July 4, Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Online:
NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Site: Bristol, Tenn.
TV: 2 p.m., ESPN2 (tape).
Track: Bristol Dragway.
Next event: Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 24-27, Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio.
