Here is a news flash -- Jimmie Johnson is the favorite to win the Coca Cola 600. The heavy favorite. JJ has won seven different times at the Lowe's Motor Speedway since 2003, most recently in Saturday night's Nextel Challenge All Star Race.
So much about the Charlotte track differed from conditions when Johnson won there last October. During the off-season, the track was re-surfaced. The tire compound used for LMS was changed. Intermittent cool weather and showers this weekend made it even more difficult for crews to get a handle on the set up needed for this late night event.
Johnson, for his part, crashed at LMS during testing earlier in May. During the race Saturday, he was sent to the rear of the lead lap for speeding on pit road. He was not among the top ten with 50 laps to go. By the finish, JJ had fashioned a comfortable lead. The No. 48 car knows its way around this racetrack, it seems, in any form.
Having won three points races in 2006, including Daytona, plus the million dollar Nextel Challenge, the word from trackside is that this could be the year Johnson wins the championship. The driver is quick to caution that his team always runs well through August. The question is whether the Johnson team can avoid its annual autumnal swoon and be in position to make the Chase for the Cup a "November to Remember."
Other performances of note this weekend: Scott Riggs won the Nextel Open, giving him his first win on the Nextel Cup Circuit and a spot in the Nextel Challenge; Kyle Petty earned the 20th and last spot in the All Star Event through a vote by fans. Petty's sponsors had pledged $250,000 for the driver's Victory Junction Gang Camp should he make the field. Petty was pleased with an eighth place finish, and even more thrilled with the attention and support his run generated for the camp, which serves children with chronic illnesses.
