Billy Johnson led 30 laps, including the final 19, to join Jack Roush Jr. in winning the Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International, Round 6 of the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
The drivers of the No. 61 Ford Mustang Boss 302R continued their climb up the Grand Sport standings. They now have five consecutive podium finishes – including a pair of victories – after failing to finish the opening race of the season at Daytona International Raceway.
"It all comes down to the team. They did amazing pit stops and they just worked so hard over this week," said Johnson. "The car did not unload in the best handling position. They just worked long, hard nights to get this thing to where it is now. This is dedicated to their hard work, their awesome pit stops and Jack's phenomenal first stint."
A pair of late-race restarts posed no problem for Johnson, who beat John Edwards to the checkered flag by 1.576sec. It was the fifth victory for the Roush Performance teammates, while Johnson has 10 career CTC class triumphs.
Edwards finished second in the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro started by Matt Bell for their best finish of the season, followed by Terry Borcheller and Mark Boden in the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3.
Grand Sport point leaders Paul Dalla Lana and Bill Auberlen finished ninth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. They lead fourth-place finishers Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell – who finished fourth in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R – by 15 points (151-136. Roush and Johnson gained two positions in the standings and now trail the leaders by 22 points with 129.
The Street Tuner class saw brothers Kevin and Chris Gleason – sons of GRAND-AM veteran Chris Gleason Sr. – take their first victory in the No. 181 APR Motorsports/WV DriverGear Volkswagen GTI. They led only one lap as class leader Chip Herr was penalized for jumping the penultimate restart.
Pierre Kleinubing and Taylor Hacquard dominated ST in the No. 32 i-MOTO Mazda Speed 3, but a cut left-rear tire for Kleinubing led to the final caution of the race and a 22nd-place finish.
Nathan Norenberg and Josh Hurley made it a 1-2 finish for APR by placing second in the No. 161 VW GTI, followed by Derek Whitis and Tom Long in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5.