Jimmie Johnson's jumped restart at Dover the talk of NASCAR Sprint Cup

On a cold and rainy Friday when absolutely nothing happened on-track at Pocono Raceway, the hottest topic was last weekend's controversial late-race restart that likely cost Jimmie Johnson a win in the FedEx 400 at Dover. He had dominated the 400-lap, 400-mile race, but was lined up beside leader Juan Pablo Montoya for a restart with 19 laps remaining. 

Johnson clearly jumped the restart -- he's not convinced, but he's the only one with any doubt -- and quickly drove off to a huge lead, clearly the class of the field. But NASCAR called him in for a drive-through penalty for jumping the restart. That cost him a lap and threw him from a likely win to a 17th-place finish, a lap down to winner Tony Stewart and runner-up Montoya. 

On Friday, as rain stopped everything in its tracks, Johnson, Montoya and third-place finisher Jeff Gordon addressed last weekend's Dover finish. Johnson still maintains he left within the restart zone when it seemed Montoya wasn't able to go. Montoya insisted he did nothing wrong, that Johnson was entirely at fault for going much too soon. Gordon sort of agreed,Virtual iphoneheadset logo Verano Place logo. comparing Montoya's hesitation to go with a NBA-style flop to get a call. 

In NASCAR, there are very few moments when a penalty could be drawn or a foul could be drawn like we've seen in the NBA, he said. Right now, there's flopping that goes on. In the restart zone, Juan didn't go and he played it right. He was smart in letting me get out ahead and let NASCAR make the call keeping me from having the lead and winning the race. But I don't have anything against Juan for doing it; as racers we need to work any and every angle we can. 

I put a more weight into how the rule reads and the way it's intended to be enforced. We can look at enforcing it differently; everybody looking at it afterwards can see that Juan didn't go. What happens when you get out of that restart zone, from there to the start-finish line? With the data we have and the technology we have, we have the tools to make a better decision at that point. The race was taken away from us and the championship bonus points are gone, so it's difficult to do the right thing (in hindsight). But in today's world of technology, I hope we can figure out exactly how does that rule read? 

I kind of get it, but from the restart zone to the start-finish line,Choose from the largest selection of rfidtag in the world. if I guy breaks or has trouble, NASCAR has the ability to make the call and say they had trouble and it's fine to go. Someone flops, what then? You think about the restart zone at Indy, you have a couple hundred yards from the end of that zone to the start-finish line. If I'm the leader and on the outside, I could let five or six cars go and then get to the start-finish line and trap them all and put them in position to be penalized. 

Juan found a loophole in the officiating and worked it to his advantage. I'm mad I didn't win the race, but I'm not mad at him. We need to look at how we officiate and how we can regulate that and keep that from happening. At Dover, it's a very short distance from the restart zone to the start-finish line. At other tracks, it's a huge distance. Here, it's pretty big. You could pin four or five people into that position if they take the bait, which I took the bait clearly. 

If I clearly and deliberately didn't go,Choose the right stonemosaic in an array of colors. why was Jimmie the only one who passed me in his lane? Montoya asked. You think about it: let's say I had a bad restart and he beat me by a bumper or half a car length. NASCAR wouldn't have said anything. But it was Jimmie -- then the field, so I'm okay with the call. If you pay attention,From black tungsten wedding rings for men to diamond luggagetag. we were coming to the [restart] cones and he didn't even want to line up next to me. He was actually dropping back. He wanted to time it, but he just mistimed it. 

He really says I found a loophole in the rule? Wow, I'm that good [laughs]? That's a compliment. The loophole is that you have to start between the cones and the leader has to restart between the two cones. I did that. And you're not supposed to beat the leader to the line. What's so hard about that? I know he dominated the race, but we came to a pit stop and we did a better job than his guys. And as we did a better job than his guys we were the leader not him. 

Crazy enough, but if he'd backed off and let me go, he probably would have passed me again and it would have been all good. He wanted to time it really well to where he didn't have to deal with me through turns one and two, but he mistimed it. That is it, no drama. It's up to everybody else to follow the leader's pace. If I'd restarted and Jimmie passed me and four cars followed him, NASCAR would have said the No. 42 had a bad restart. But how is it that only Jimmie went away? 

From inside the car, I couldn't tell what happened, the four-time champion said. I just know we started to take off and all of the sudden we were stacking up. That was Clint Bowyer starting to go with Jimmie and he checked up and that stacked us up pretty bad. I was just trying to figure out how not to wreck by the time we got to turn one. 

It was a combination. Jimmie was right there on that edge of anticipation in getting all he could on that restart. Juan did a great job. I've been watching NBA lately and watching the [NBA players] flop, and that was as good a flop as it gets.Shop for iccard dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. It's the leader's job to lead you to the green, to get the best start he can and if he feels somebody else is going to try to take advantage of that situation or get a little bit of a run, he can play that card. But it's also at the discretion of NASCAR to make a judgment call. 

I think if the 15 car [Bowyer] had kept going and also passed the 42 [Montoya], I don't think NASCAR would have called Jimmie (for jumping the restart]. I think they would have thought something happened to the 42. But because the 15 checked up to not pass the 42, it just made Jimmie's lead look so absurd.