Johnson storms to Brickyard win

The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who famously came back from adversity after his crew chief was banned from February's Daytona 500, had to do it again at Indianapolis when his left front tyre was punctured on lap 39 of the 160-lap encournter, dropping him to 38th after quick repairs.

However, with a strong car underneath him, Johnson made some stellar passing manoeuvres to take the lead on lap 116 from title rival Matt Kenseth.

Johnson extended that lead until a caution was called for debris 19 laps from the end. After the resultant pitstops he was eighth - having lost a position to Kenseth and being behind seven other cars who had chosen not to stop for tyres.

But at the restart, Johnson soon made his way back to the front, including a mesmerising move around the outside of Kenseth at Turn 2 while they were both battling with traffic.

He had the measure of the Roush Racing driver in the final laps and took the chequered flag by more than two seconds.

It meant he emulated Dale Jarrett, who was the last driver to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year, in 1996. It was Johnson's 22nd career Nextel Cup victory.

"I was driving to Victory Lane and saw Greg Zipadelli [crew chief of last year's winner, Tony Stewart] and he told me this is a special day and I'm to enjoy it," Johnson said.

"I'm speechless right now, I can't thank my team enough. We had the tyre go down and we rallied back to the front."

It was the first time Johnson had even led a lap at the famous track, after a series of disastrous Brickyard 400s, including a huge crash last year. His previous best finish in the race was ninth in his rookie season of 2002.

"I never thought I'd win at this race track, I've had such a drought at this race track," he said.

"I was really nervous, I knew I had a fast race car and I knew I'd be harder on the tyres. But this baby was money all day - I can't believe how good the car was today.

"This race was not about the championship. I just want to take the trophy home and pucker up and kiss these bricks on the front stretch!"

Kenseth put in strong drive to finish second despite a starting position of 20th, but was not as fast as Johnson at the crucial moments.

"I didn't have anything for him. He came out of nowhere today," Kenseth admitted afterwards.

Both have a comfortable advantage in the race to the Chase for the Cup, and both are all but certain to make the 10-race, 10-driver playoff.

Kevin Harvick, who had been strong in the middle part of the race, finished third, to move up a position to fourth in the Chase standings.

"We had a good car, but we got a little bit behind on the last pitstop," Harvick said. "We put on four tyres but didn't have enough time left."

Clint Bowyer took a gamble on the final pitstop and only took two tyres. However, this paid off, allowing him to vault up to fourth by the finish. It was a good finish the Richard Childress Racing driver, who was in his first race at the speedway.

Mark Martin was thankful for the final caution period, because he was able to stop under yellow to fix a suspected loose wheel, which had threatened to ruin his race. He finished fifth, ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr, whose race was also saved by the final caution period.

Earnhardt was having a lacklustre day, and was running in 30th when the final caution came out. But crucially he was one of the few who risked not changing tyres under the final caution period.

He led briefly, but his sixth place finish was good enough to move him back into the tenth Chase position after he dropped out thanks to a brace of last place finishes in the recent races at New Hampshire and Pocono.

With Earnhardt Jr moving back into the top ten, Kasey Kahne dropped out, but only thanks to a huge accident on the final lap of the race.

While Johnson was taking the crowd's cheers ahead, Kahne was involved in a collision with Tony Stewart, which turned Kahne headfirst into the wall.

Kahne climbed out of his car unaided, but in that one move he fell to 35th, meaning he lost four spots in the championship battle and dropped out of the Chase positions.

Tony Raines was classified 11th despite jumping in the air after running over debris from that smash and Denny Hamlin also coasted to a halt after being caught up in the aftermath. He was classified 13th, with the field being frozen after the caution came out.

In a separate incident on the final lap, Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle hit each other and spun, finishing 34th and 36th respectively.

Former race winner Jeff Gordon recovered well after hitting trouble in the opening laps after his front anti-roll bar broke on his Number 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

He lost three laps after repairs to his car, but rallied back to 16th, to consolidate his position in the Chase.

Pos   Driver               Make        Laps
 1.   Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet   160
 2.   Matt Kenseth         Ford        160
 3.   Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet   160
 4.   Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet   160
 5.   Mark Martin          Ford        160
 6.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Chevrolet   160
 7.   Kyle Busch           Chevrolet   160
 8.   Carl Edwards         Ford        160
 9.   Tony Stewart         Chevrolet   160
10.   Kurt Busch           Dodge       160
11.   Tony Raines          Chevrolet   160
12.   Jeff Burton          Chevrolet   160
13.   Denny Hamlin         Chevrolet   160
14.   Ken Schrader         Ford        160
15.   Ryan Newman          Dodge       160
16.   Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet   160
17.   Brian Vickers        Chevrolet   160
18.   David Stremme        Dodge       160
19.   Martin Truex Jr.     Chevrolet   160
20.   Scott Wimmer         Chevrolet   160
21.   Scott Riggs          Dodge       160
22.   Bill Elliott         Chevrolet   160
23.   Casey Mears          Dodge       160
24.   Joe Nemechek         Chevrolet   160
25.   Jamie McMurray       Ford        160
26.   Kyle Petty           Dodge       160
27.   Travis Kvapil        Chevrolet   160
28.   Dale Jarrett         Ford        160
29.   Reed Sorenson        Dodge       160
30.   Dave Blaney          Dodge       160
31.   Sterling Marlin      Chevrolet   160
32.   Kenny Wallace        Chevrolet   160
33.   Greg Biffle          Ford        160
34.   J.J. Yeley           Chevrolet   160
35.   Kasey Kahne          Dodge       159
36.   Robby Gordon         Chevrolet   159
37.   Mike Skinner         Dodge       159
38.   Jeff Green           Chevrolet   159
39.   Chad Chaffin         Dodge       158
40.   Bobby Labonte        Dodge       135
41.   Jeremy Mayfield      Dodge        82
42.   Boris Said           Ford         20
43.   Elliott Sadler       Ford         3