Lowe’s Chevy Involved in Late-Race Accident at Talladega

Jimmie Johnson was involved in a late-race accident in Sunday’s Sprint Cup event at Talladega Superspeedway, relegating him to a 31st-place result.

Johnson started the race from the top spot after qualifying was canceled for weather and the lineup was set by driver points. Johnson quickly showed his No. 48 Chevrolet was one of the fastest on the track when the race began. He led seven times for a total of nine laps.

As the race wound down, Johnson looked to be closing in on a top-10 finish but made contact with teammate Jeff Gordon on Lap 181 of the scheduled 188, causing left-rear fender damage to the Lowe’s Impala.

Just two laps later, the caution flag waved when five cars wrecked in the tri-oval, extending the race past its scheduled length and forcing the field to execute its first green-white-checkered restart.

Because of the caution, Johnson was able to come down pit road under the yellow flag for repairs but returned to the 2.66-mile oval deep in the pack. The race restarted and Johnson made his way to the front. But before the leader could take the white flag, nine cars wrecked just in front of Johnson in Turn 4. He avoided the collision and moved up the leader board for the second attempt at a green-white-checker finish.

As drivers took the green, Johnson worked his way through the field. But as he attempted to move to the high line on first lap, he made contact with Greg Biffle, spinning across the track and slamming into the inside wall.

The Lowe’s Impala suffered significant damage and was loaded on the truck with two laps remaining.

The final attempt at a green-white-checker finish ended with Harvick edging past Jamie McMurray at the finish line by .011 seconds.

Johnson maintains the Sprint Cup Series points lead, 26 over race winner Kevin Harvick.

The Sprint Cup Series will be under the lights next weekend when they visit Richmond International Raceway for Saturday night’s event. The race will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Johnson, Team Lowe’s, Earn Runner-Up Finish in Texas

Jimmie Johnson overcame a flat tire and avoided a multi-car accident late in Monday’s race to bring home a runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson started the race fourth and challenged as a top-five car throughout the event, leading 39 of 334 laps.

When he and teammate Jeff Gordon made contact on the track racing for position on Lap 241, the Lowe’s Chevrolet suffered left-front fender damage, causing a tire rub. Johnson eased his way around the 1.5-mile track for the next 30 laps, hoping a caution flag would wave and he could visit pit lane for repairs. But on Lap 272, he was forced to give up his fourth-place running position when his front-left tire went flat during the green-flag run. When Johnson returned to the track he was 19th and one lap down.

But with green-flag pit stops ensuing, Johnson not only got his lap back, he eventually returned to the top spot as all the cars on the lead lap pitted.

Johnson continued to run in the top five as the laps ticked down, but on Lap 317 a final caution flag waved when Gordon and Tony Stewart made contact, starting a chain reaction that collected nine cars and brought out the red flag.

After sitting on the track during the red-flag period, tire pressures had dropped on the Lowe’s Impala and Johnson lost two spots when the race restarted with 12 laps remaining. But as the tire pressures rebuilt, so did Johnson’s momentum. He drove from seventh to second in the closing laps and crossed the finish line just .152 seconds behind race winner Denny Hamlin.

“All in all it was a great day,” said Johnson. “We had that left-front tire go down and we were fortunate enough to catch the caution when we did. And then at the end the car was just dragging the nose too bad for the first couple of laps. I think we sat too long and the front tire pressures dropped and I lost a few spots – I almost hit the wall down in (Turns) 1 and 2 trying to work the top. When those front tire pressures came in and the splitter got off the ground I started coming, but it was a lap too late.”

The finish expanded Johnson’s lead to 108 points over second place Matt Kenseth in the driver point standings.

Talladega Superspeedway is the next stop for the Sprint Cup Series. The race will be broadcast Sunday, April 25th at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

Team Lowe’s Grabs Top-5 Finish in Phoenix

In Saturday night’s race at Phoenix International Raceway, Jimmie Johnson reminded everyone why he had won four of the past five races at the one-mile track by earning his ninth top-five finish in 14 starts. Johnson finished third after a wild race to the finish under a green-white-checker flag.

Johnson started the event from the 16th spot after what he called a loose handling race car in qualifying.  But the championship driver didn’t stay mired in mid pack for long moving the Lowe’s Chevrolet to ninth place by Lap 17.

Johnson’s car would mainly stay tight in the center and get loose off in the first part of the race. Chad Knaus and the 48 crew performed flawless pit stops and made adjustments throughout the early going to correct the condition. By Lap 150 Johnson had passed Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead.

He maintained the top spot for much of the mid part of the race, leading four times for 113 of 375 laps. However, as the sun set Johnson began to lose some of the handling of the car. After radioing in that the back of the car was on top of the track a little too much, Knaus commented that the conditions were cooling off and that was likely the reason for the change in feel.

The crew made slight adjustments to the track bar in the final 100 circuits but Kyle Busch was able to hold off Johnson until the closing laps when a caution caused by the 90 car forced the field into a green-white-checkered finish.

“We had a decent night all night long,” said Johnson. “Worked our way up through the pack.  Got to the lead, held on to the lead for a long time.  As the sun went down and stayed down the temperature kept dropping.  We got a little behind on our adjustments.  Definitely not bad, but the 18 came to life and was the strongest car this last maybe two runs, I guess it was. So we were just chasing him and trying to work on our stuff and make it better.  I was excited to see the caution come out because it was an opportunity to win.”

Knaus radioed to Johnson asking whether he wanted to take four or two tires. Johnson called for four. As he exited the pits, six cars were ahead of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy, having taken two tires. Johnson restarted seventh and was able to battle his way through traffic to a third-place finish.

“I made the call for four tires,” continued Johnson. “It’s the first time that I can remember in a long time that I actually said what I wanted for a pit stop, with the way Martinsville played out and Bristol and last night’s (Nationwide) race.  I knew with the green white checkered there weren’t a lot of laps, but I felt we might get a caution with everybody racing so hard. So I made the call for four and made the most of it.  We got from seventh to third and just did what we could.  So not a bad night at all.  Excited to see us stretch out the points a little bit and get another top-five finish here.”

Johnson expands his hold on the top spot in the point standings, now 36 points ahead of Matt Kenseth and 92 ahead of Greg Biffle.