A visibly irritated Jimmie Johnson explained in his post-rave interview that he wasn't necessarily "jumping" the restart to gain on-track advantage, he was just trying to get out of the track quicker.
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| Current satellite image outside Dover International Speedway |
"Oh, come on, you've dealt with the traffic here!", Johnson vented to a group of reporters. "You don't get out of here early enough and Route 13 is a PARKING LOT. Not to mention the merge onto I-95--there's going to be beach traffic this late in the day!"
Johnson was penalized by Nascar for restarting on the final restart too soon, blowing conspiracy theories everywhere to pieces.
"There was no way I was trying to get an on-track advantage with my restart", Johnson explained. "I didn't need it--Chad (Knaus) made sure we had the oversized engine for this weeke--um, forget that I said that guys."
Johnson remains tied with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for the most wins at Dover with seven. Johnson said that, despite the penalty, he still has fond memories of Dover.
"Our first win here was big, getting stuck in that traffic around Smyrna. Then there was our first win here in the Gen-5 car--man, it felt like we waited behind that overheating RV in front of the Pizzeria Uno for HOURS! And last year I found out that, even if you have a rainbow wig on, they won't let you cut through the fence to the Route 1 bypass."
In an unrelated story, race winner Tony Stewart's sponsor, Code 3 Associates (an animal rescue organization), has said they will drop Stewart for aggressively chasing and attempting to run over a bunny on-track today.