AVONDALE, Ariz. -- A high-stakes fuel gamble paid off for Team Lowe's Racing Saturday night as Jimmie Johnson scored his second consecutive victory at Phoenix International Raceway, crossing the finish line 7.002 seconds in front of runner-up Clint Bowyer.
The victory was Johnson's first of the 2008 season and lifted him to fourth in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. It was also his 34th career victory and the first win of the year for Hendrick Motorsports.
"We're back," said Johnson, the two-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. "We've been working very hard to get back. I couldn't be more proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. There's not a group of people that work harder, and I'm so proud of my guys and everyone at Hendrick. We got off cycle and got a little behind there and had to drive to the front and still ended up saving gas to make it."
Johnson, who led 120 of the race's 312 laps, was leading when the yellow flag waved on lap 133. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus opted to stay on the track while several cars behind them pitted for fresh tires. Just seven laps later another caution flag waved and the Lowe's team came down pit road, forcing them to restart in 14th place, the lowest position Johnson would run all day.
For the next 80 laps, Johnson slowly made his way through the field, and when the event restarted following the final caution with 82 laps remaining, the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was in the seventh position.
With a caution-free race from that point on, Johnson drove his way to second place. And when he inherited the lead from race leader Mark Martin, who had to make a green-flag pit stop for fuel on lap 302, Knaus began coaching his championship driver to save as much fuel as possible. As the drivers behind Johnson began peeling off the track for fuel stops, Johnson found himself 10 seconds in front of second-place Bowyer with five laps remaining and was able to slow his pace, save fuel and cruise to the victory.
"That was a lot of fun," said Knaus. "You know, winning races in this series is so difficult to do, and this Lowe's team has just done a phenomenal job. I'm so proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports -- the effort that's been put into getting these teams running back up front."
"We had to make something happen, and that was cool," added Knaus. "That was really neat. When the (No.) 07 (Bowyer) was behind us and was like 10 seconds back, that's when I knew we had it."
Johnson added, "The fact that we were able to save fuel shows the car was handling really well. The guys peeled off. Once they started peeling off, Chad was reading me splits. I just kind of maintained and tried to keep the thing alive, keep it running, bring it on home."
Johnson's win makes him the fifth driver with back-to-back victories at PIR. The win also marks the third straight at the one-mile track for Hendrick Motorsports (Johnson, November 2007 and Jeff Gordon, April 2007).
All of the Hendrick Motorsports cars finished in the top 13 in Saturday night's race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed Johnson closely with a third-place result, while Casey Mears finished 11th and Jeff Gordon was 13th.
Jeff Burton (No. 31 Chevrolet) continues to hold the top position in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, followed by Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet), Johnson and Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet).
The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off weekend before heading to Talladega Superspeedway for its second restrictor-plate race of the season.
In 12 previous starts at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, Johnson has collected one win (May 2006), four top-five and five top-10 finishes.
TOP 10 FINISHERS AT PHOENIX
1. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
2. Clint Bowyer (No. 07)
3. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
4. Carl Edwards (No. 99)
5. Mark Martin (No. 8)
6. Jeff Burton(No. 31)
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
8. Martin Truex (No. 1)
9. Greg Biffle (No. 16)
10. Kyle Busch (No. 18)
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVERS' FINISHING POSITIONS
1. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
13. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)
11. Casey Mears (No. 5)
TOP 12 IN POINTS AFTER PHOENIX
1. Jeff Burton
2. Kyle Busch -80
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -86
4. Jimmie Johnson -99
5. Kevin Harvick -100
6. Denny Hamlin -137
7. Tony Stewart -158
8. Clint Bowyer -171
9. Carl Edwards -174
10. Greg Biffle -176
11. Kasey Kahne -286
12. Ryan Newman -300
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVERS' POINTS POSITIONS
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -86
4. Jimmie Johnson -99
13. Jeff Gordon -308 (8 out of 12th)
24. Casey Mears -474
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Talladega Superspeedway
Friday, April 25
Sprint Cup practice, 2:30 p.m. ET on SPEED
Sprint Cup happy hour, 4 p.m. ET on SPEED
Saturday, April 26
Sprint Cup qualifying, 11 a.m. ET on SPEED
Sunday, April 27
Pre-race, 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX
Race, 2 p.m. ET on FOX
