After hours of what seemed to be nothing but caution periods at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson finally crossed the finish line taking the checkered flag. There was little racing on the track, but it did leave room for lots of strategy in the pits. Despite what people may have thought about the race, Jimmie Johnson did agree with the NASCAR officials’ decision to call the six competition cautions during the 200 lap race.

“As much as I didn’t like it,” Johnson said of the yellow flags, “I’ve got to commend NASCAR for calling a safe race.”

And that’s what it comes down to, safety. Even without NASCAR calling all the competition yellows, the race probably wouldn’t have run much different. There still would have been caution after caution, but they would have come from blown tires – resulting in what could have been disastrous racing. Even with calling the scheduled competition yellows, there was still an additional five caution periods during the race – several due to tire wear.

The Top-5 finishers in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard were:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Carl Edwards
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Elliott Sadler
5. Jeff Gordon

For full results, please see the following link:

2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Results

The American Red Cross disaster relief efforts will be getting a bit of a boost this Sunday from Lowe’s, the sponsor of Jimmie Johnson’s #48 Impala SS. Lowe’s Companies Inc. will be joining the Racing for Relief program this July 27th to help disaster victims.

Lowe’s will donate $48 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for every lap that Johnson completes during the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, hosted by Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, they’ve also agreed to give $4,800 should Johnson win the race.

On a similar note, Greg Biffle, the spokesman for Red Cross Racing, will be driving his #16 Ford Fusion featuring the Red Cross during the 2008 season – something that was made possible by a generous donation from 3M.

The hope is that this campaign will increase the nation’s blood supply, by offering a fun, new way to give. Participants also have the chance to win exclusive prizes, for more information, please see redcrossracing.com.

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head out to Indianapolis Motor Speedway located in Speedway, Indiana for the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard. Last year’s winner was Tony Stewart, who also won the race in 2005. Can he repeat this year? Or will he face troubles from the race’s past dominating drivers like Jeff Gordon, who has recorded the most wins for this race at four victories (1994, 1998, 2001 & 2004). Tune in and find out!

The race will be broadcast on ESPN at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 27th.

You can catch the qualifying efforts to be held for the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard on ESPN2 starting Saturday at 10 a.m.