Dodges and Fords dominated todayıs 400-mile/267-lap Winston Cup race in Las Vegas, but rookie Jimmie Johnson was Chevyıs shining star, as he finished sixth in his No. 48 Loweıs Chevy Monte Carlo. Johnson was the first Team Monte Carlo driver in the field, and the only one in the top 10. Sterling Marlin took the victory in a Dodge.
Johnson brought his Monte Carlo back to the front after losing a lap, and led six laps during a flurry of green-flag pit stops.
The next Chevy Monte Carlo finisher was Jerry Nadeau, 15th, in the No. 25 UAW-Delphi Chevrolet.
Rookie JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWEıS CHEVY MONTE CARLO, was the highest Team Monte Carlo finisher, placing sixth after being down a lap. "We had a lot of things working against us, starting in the back, worked our way back to the front, got caught in the pits when the caution came out, our buddy Robby Gordon tried to get me back once, had me up in the fence. And we rallied back from all that, came home with a top 6, a top 10, so this is awesome. I got a lot of fans and friends out there in the stands, Iım glad I put on a good show for them." "We put ourselves in a real good position and the caution came out." CAME UP TO NINTH, THEN A LAP DOWN; "We just keep working, luckily we were bale to keep working and get the thing under control." FIRST CHEVROLET: "First Chevrolet? Cool. I didnıt know that. Thatıs great." ON GOING SIDEWAYS ON LAP 251 WHILE CHALLENGING FOR FOURTH WITH TWO OTHER CARS: "That wasnıt intentional. It was an accident. I had a run on both of those guys and wanted to try to pass them while I had the chance. When thereıs three cars side by side it depends on how theyıre positioned. One of them is going to get the air off their spoiler and it happened to me. The two on the outside of me, the cars were positioned right and it took the air off my spoiler and got me real loose, and luckily we didnıt wreck." YOU DID A GREAT JOB OF SAVING IT: "That was my off-road days there." YOU HAVE TO BE HAPPY: "Iım really happy. Itıs an awesome way to finish in one of these races. Iım racing with my heroes out here and to race with these guys.I was walking through the garage and Jimmy Spencer stopped me and went out of his way to say hey itıs fun racing with you. Thatıs the start of the respect that I have to develop and earn from these guys. Heıs probably one of the hardest ones to get respect from. The fact that he said that means a lot. Itıs neat to be there; we just have to try to be consistent every week. Thereıs going to be some tracks where Iım going to be strong, like Vegas, Chicago, Kansas City. Martinsville Iıve never been to, Pocono. Rockingham we werenıt so good. Itıs going to be hit and miss until I get some more experience. But when itıs on weıre going to be real good."
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 32 CINGULAR WIRELESS CHEVY MONTE CARLO (37th): ON INCIDENT ON LAP 254: "(Jerry) Nadeau hit me in the back and I hit Kyle (Petty). Nothing I could really, really do about. I tried not to hit him. Thereıs no reason to be racing like that for those kind of positions. Corner before that him and somebody else were together, so once you get back there I guess the best thing to do is just survive. We had a really great race car; Iım really, really disappointed. Weıve got two holes in front of it. I just got too aggressive with (Mike) Skinner. I started to go by him on the outside cause we came down pit lane, we got ourselves back there."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVY MONTE CARLO (17th, never in contention today, ran only as high as sixth): ON CHEVROLETSı LACKLUSTER PERFORMANCE TODAY: "Jimmie did pretty good. If one can run the rest of them can, thatıs what I always say. I always say leave it up to the wind tunnel. Take the cars to the wind tunnel, see what they have there. Those Dodgesthe 40 car has been good here in the past. I wasnıt even close enough to the front to know what the heck we needed to be better. I was loose all day."
POINT STANDINGS:
1. Sterling Marlin, Dodge 507 2. Ryan Newman, Ford 432 3. Jeff Burton, Ford 420 4. Mark Martin, Ford 415 5. Ward Burton, Dodge 414 6. Bill Elliott, Dodge 402 7. Jeff Gordon, Chevy 401 8. Kurt Busch, Ford 400 9. Rusty Wallace, Ford 381 10. Matt Kenseth, Ford 375
MANUFACTURER STANDINGS:
Dodge 24 (2 wins) Ford 21 (1 win) Pontiac 11 Chevy 10
