When the folks at Atlanta Motor Speedway held a media day earlier this summer to promote the Thursday Thunder Legends racing series, they appeared to be trying to capitalize on the Danica Mania that was the rage among many NASCAR fans. AMS officials promoted the female racers that participate in races on the quarter-mile track inside the 1.54-mile superspeedway.
But the AMS promotion turned out to be more than just hype. While Patrick has struggled on the Sprint Cup circuit since the season opener at Daytona, where she won the pole and finished eighth, the female racers at AMS were strong contenders all season.
When the final points were tallied last week, female racers scored three second-place finishes, with veteran Tina Cooper Johnson of Senoia leading the way.
Johnson won two of the 10 features in the Thursday Thunder series, but lost the Masters Division title to Skip Nichols by 10 points. In the Pro division Maddie Crane, who also races Late Models on the dirt at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, finished second to William Plemons III, while Amber Fleeman was runner-up to Riley Thornton in Semi-Pro.
For Johnson, who also acts as the unofficial track mom to the boy and girl racers in the Legends garage, her dream season almost didn’t happen. Toward the end of last year she was frustrated by a string of poor runs and on the verge of quitting. But she sought the help of veteran racer and chassis expert Doug Stevens, who reworked her car and made it into a winner. Stevens also offered helpful driving tips.
“Doug worked with me all year,” Johnson said. “He helped with adjustments on the car and told me how to adjust my driving, too.”
Track president Ed Clark, who competes against Johnson in the Masters division for drivers over age 40, said she impressed him.
“She had a tremendous season,” Clark said. “Before, you could follow her for a few laps and she’d eventually slip, and you could pass her. That didn’t happen this year.”
Johnson, who had two wins and 10 top-five finishes this summer, said she plans to make another run at Nichols, the seven-time track champion.
“Next year, I’m going for the championship,” she said.
Gordon back at Pocono: Last year, in the second Sprint Cup race at Pocono, Jeff Gordon scored a win that put him in the running for a wild-card Chase berth. He wound up making the most of it as his strong finish to the regular season — a third-place finish at Bristol and runner-up finishes at Atlanta and Richmond — allowed him to beat Kyle Busch for the final spot in the 2012 Chase.
This year he returns to the second Pocono in a stronger position points-wise. Last year he was 15th leaving the Brickyard 400. This year he’s 10th after the Brickyard, because of four top-10 finishes in the past five races, a string that includes a second-place run at Sonoma and a seventh at Indianapolis.
If Gordon’s Pocono history — last year and many years before — is any indication, he’ll be one of the drivers in contention for victory Sunday. He leads all drivers, active and retired, with six Pocono victories, and his 965 laps led there are tops among drivers.
His record also indicates that he’ll be a factor in several coming races. According to NASCAR’s statisticians, he leads all drivers with 24 wins at the six tracks — including Pocono — that host the final races of the regular season.
Dillon puts No. 3 back in lead: When Austin Dillon took the Nationwide Series points lead with a 12th-place finish at Indianapolis it was the first time he's been atop the Nationwide standings and the first time since February 2002 that the No. 3 Chevrolet has been in that spot. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the season opener at Daytona in 2002 and also won championships in the No. 3 in 1998 and 1999.
Dillon, who won the 2011 Camping World Truck Series championship in the No. 3 Chevrolet now driven by his brother, Ty Dillon, won last week’s truck race on the dirt at Eldora Speedway, but is still seeking his first Nationwide win of 2013. He won twice last year and has a runner-up finish and three third-place efforts this year.
Dillon also has made seven Sprint Cup starts this year with a best finish of 11th at Michigan.
NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Ryan Gifford of Winchester, Tenn., is set to make his Nationwide Series debut this weekend at Iowa Speedway as a teammate to Dillon. Gifford, a veteran of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East division, will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
About the Author
