Jimmie Johnson returns to his winning ways at Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 25: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 25:  Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC – MAY 25: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson’s bad luck seemed to come to an end Sunday night. The driver, who once seemed unbeatable, returned to his old form at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday night winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600. It was his first win of 2014, his first in 13 races and his seventh, but first since 2009 at the famed 1.5 mile track.

After leading the most laps Johnson passed Matt Kenseth with 9 laps to go and went on to a 1.2 second win. The only drama in the closing laps came with two laps to go when Kevin Harvick passed Kenseth for second while Johnson cruised to his first win of the season, his seventh at Charlotte and the 67th of his career.

“Obviously it’s great to win and we are very happy to win here,” Johnson said. “Just stoked for the night.  Very good race car.  We raced up front all night long and that last restart let us bunch up to those guys on two (tires) and our four (tires) were able to prevail.”

Kenseth held on for third, Carl Edwards was fourth and Jamie McMurray fifth. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.