Johnson takes third Brickyard win

INDIANAPOLIS --- Jimmie Johnson cashed in on the most expensive speeding ticket in NASCAR history, grabbing an improbable third victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a penalty to Juan Pablo Montoya blew the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard wide open.

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Associated Press

Jimmie Johnson kisses the bricks after holding off 50-year-old Mark Martin to win the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In a performance that mirrored his dominating Indianapolis 500 victory nine years ago, Montoya was in cruise control as he led 116 laps and built a 5-second lead over the competition. Then NASCAR flagged him for speeding on a routine pit stop with 35 laps remaining.

"I swear on my children and my wife that I was not speeding!" he shouted over his radio. "There is no way!"

Crew chief Brian Pattie begged his driver to calm down, to no avail.

"Don't tell me to relax, dude!" Montoya yelled. "We had this in the bag."

Indeed he did, but the penalty took him out of contention and relegated him to an 11th-place finish. Montoya, who had moved as high as sixth in the Sprint Cup standings as he ran out front, instead lost a spot and is now 10th in the race for the Chase.

The difference in his paycheck was severe: Johnson earned $448,001 for the victory, while Montoya's share of the purse was knocked down to $224,048.

NASCAR said the electronic timing system caught Montoya twice exceeding the limit as he drove down pit road.

The penalty opened up the race for anyone else to claim.

Johnson sailed to the front and pulled away, only to have to hold off Mark Martin over a nerve-racking final five laps. Martin finished second and moved up two spots in the standings to ninth.

Johnson, who won for the third time this season, also became the first driver to win in consecutive seasons since Indy opened to NASCAR 16 years ago.

Johnson wouldn't speculate on if he would have won the race if Montoya had not been penalized.

"I do know I have the trophy," he offered. "I hate it for him. I know it is a story, Juan led so many laps, but when we come back and look at it two months from now the stat sheet is going to have a 'W' next to my name. That's all that matters."