Subway Fresh Fit 500 Race Review

"We're back."

That's how Jimmie Johnson assessed the No. 48 team after his anticlimactic fuel-mileage win at Phoenix International Raceway Saturday night.
Despite being sixth in points heading into this weekend's race, Johnson's team and the whole Hendrick organization have faced constant questions about the fact that they hadn't posted a win yet in 2008 - particularly since HMS had already won four times by this point in the season last year.

Johnson defended his team's overall performance, however, despite the lack of wins. "You know, in some ways we recognize that we haven't been running how we want. But we finished second at California, second at Texas last week, fourth at Martinsville. I mean, yeah, we haven't won yet, but we're only seven races into this thing."

Well, eight races now, though Johnson's Phoenix win wasn't pretty as far as exciting finishes go. He cruised across the finish line with a seven-second lead over Clint Bowyer as crew chief Chad Knaus shouted to him over the radio, repeating the two words every racecar driver longs to hear: slow down!

"I was saying, 'Back the hell up, slow down,' " said Knaus after the race. "That's exactly what I was saying. I told him to back up his pace. We had went from a 29:20 to a 30:50. I said, 'Look, slow down another second and a half.' He came around again, slowed down to a 31 flat. That's when I said, 'Look, the next car behind you is 20 seconds back,' because obviously 10 seconds back wasn't far enough. He felt like he was going to need to go faster. I was trying to get him to slow down a little bit more."

Obviously the gamble paid off, as Johnson was able to conserve enough fuel to cross the finish line first, while several strong contenders, including Mark Martin, who had been leading the race, and Denny Hamlin, who was running second, pitted for fuel.

It's not as if Johnson didn't have a strong car all day, however. He was the overall lap leader, running out front a total of 120 of 312 laps. The only drivers to lead laps were Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led 87, Mark Martin, 68, and Ryan Newman, 37.

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