Team Lowe’s Racing Collects 9th-Place Finish in California
Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line ninth in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway. The result is his ninth top-10 finish in 12 starts at the two-mile track.
Johnson started the 250-lap, 500-mile event from the outside of the front row and immediately showed the strength of his Kobalt Tools Chevrolet by leading the first 74 green-flag laps.
But as the night progressed, Johnson began to struggle with the handling of his race car, unable to continue the dominance that the team had shown throughout the weekend.
“We made all sorts of changes but just never found what we needed,” said Johnson, who led both Friday’s and Saturday’s practice sessions. “We were super fast at the beginning but as the race went on and the track changed we just didn’t have the speed we needed.”
The No. 48 team continued to make adjustments to the car throughout the race. While Johnson never fell out of the top 10, he was unable to make a charge to the front.
“The car was so good all weekend, so we were really hoping for a win or a top two or three finish,” said Johnson. “But ninth is solid – can’t complain about that. We’ll take the points and look ahead to next week in Las Vegas.”
The top-10 finish moved Johnson to 19th in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.
Team Lowes Finishes 31st In Rain-shortened Daytona 500
Team Lowe’s Racing had high expectations for the season-opening Daytona 500. But three-time Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson encountered bad luck and bad weather on his way to a 31st-place finish at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was definitely a frustrating day,” said Johnson, who qualified seventh for the 51st-annual event. “We battled for a lot of the day to get the car where we wanted it. It was pretty good early but toward the halfway mark we were a little off.”
While running in the low 20s, Johnson brought his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet down pit road for a routine green-flag pit stop on Lap 115. Just five laps later, the tire on David Stremme’s machine exploded, bringing out a caution for debris and trapping Johnson one lap down.
The race restarted on Lap 123 and Johnson hoped to get his lap back. But before he could get in position to do so, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers made contact in front of him, causing a 10-car wreck in Turn 2.
While he did a 360-degree spin on the track, Johnson escaped the accident without making contact. He brought his car down pit road as a precautionary measure and when the green flag waved again, the Lowe’s Chevrolet was lined up 32nd, still one lap down.
Seven laps later, Johnson was finally poised to make a charge to the front when he got his lap back as a result of two cars making contact and bringing out the yellow flag.
But before the 2006 Daytona 500 Champion could make a move, Aric Almirola spun through the backstretch grass, bringing out what would be the final caution of the day.
Before NASCAR was able to get the track cleaned up and send the field back to green, a persistent rain set in.
Drivers made several circuits around the track and then were brought down pit road for a 16-minute red-flag stint before NASCAR called the race.
“We definitely didn’t have much go our way,” offered Johnson. “It’s not the way we wanted to start the season, but it’s the first race so it is what it is.
“You never know what to expect in these restrictor-plate races or what the weather will do. Now we’ll look ahead to California and see what we can get done there.”
Team Lowes Finishes 14th in Bud Shootout
The fans got their money worth at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, where Team Lowe’s Racing driver Jimmie Johnson finished 14th in the season-opening Bud Shootout.
Johnson started the 75-lap race 21st and escaped seven of eight accidents with minimal damage. But when three cars wrecked with fewer than three laps remaining, it set the stage for a green-white-checker restart at the 2.5-mile track.
When Johnson took the green flag for the final dash to the finish, he was lined up in the third spot, directly behind leader Jamie McMurray.
But as the field exited Turns 3 and 4 on the closing lap, Johnson’s Lowe’s Chevrolet was tapped in the left rear, shooting him into the No. 11 machine of Denny Hamlin, and sending out the final caution flag of the night.
“I need to look at the video to see what happened there, I’m not exactly sure,” said Johnson. “Coming down the back straightaway, the No. 14 (Tony Stewart) was to my bumper and gave me a great shot; and the two cars in front of me were kind of stalled out and there was a lane in the middle.
“I thought I could take the run the No. 14 gave me and shoot through the middle of them. I’m not sure if somebody on the outside lane was trying to come down or if I came across somebody’s nose or what, but that’s when we made contact and started the wreck.”
Kyle Busch and Casey Mears were also involved in the incident.
“Tonight felt like a dash for the cash for sure, it was pretty dicey out there,” offered Johnson. “I think you can expect some single file racing at the beginning on Sunday (in the Daytona 500), but once things close up at night, it’s going to be a lot like tonight’s race was.”
Kevin Harvick, who had taken the lead just before the accident occurred and the yellow flag waved, took home the victory.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon crossed the finish line fourth, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a Lap 65 wreck and recorded an 18th-place result. Mark Martin was not part of the event.
The Sprint Cup series will hold its Daytona 500 qualifying session tomorrow. There will be 57 cars attempting to make the field. Positions one and two will be set by tomorrow’s speeds; the rest will be determined by the twin 150-mile qualifying races Thursday, Feb. 12.
