Disappointing Night in Charlotte for Team Lowe’s Racing
Jimmie Johnson finished 37th in Sunday’s 600-mile Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Johnson started the Memorial Day weekend event fifth and slowly worked his way to the front of the field during the first quarter of the 400-lap competition.
The Lowe’s Chevrolet took the lead for the first time on Lap 94 and went on to lead 36 laps before a Lap 166 incident halted his progress.
As Johnson rounded the 1.5-mile track, the back end of the No. 48 machine got loose and Johnson smacked the wall coming out of Turn 4. The caution flag waved and Johnson came down pit road for repairs to the right rear of his Chevrolet.
After several trips down the pit lane, Johnson found himself in 25th place and battling for position to stay on the lead lap.
But as Johnson circled the asphalt oval trying to regain track position, he found himself loose once again and lost control of the Lowe’s Chevy on the backstretch, making contact with the outside and inside walls, sustaining heavy damage and coming to rest on the grass.
Johnson made his mandatory trip to the infield care center while the 48 machine was towed to the garage by a wrecker.
While many assumed the night was over for the Lowe’s team, the crew went to work, replacing the front end of the Lowe’s Impala and sending Johnson back to the track on Lap 307 to gain as many points as possible.
Johnson maintained the minimum speed necessary and completed the remaining 93 laps, finishing 37th, 36 laps down.
“That first (incident) was just a racing deal,” said Johnson. “I got in the fence and did some damage and we were trying to recover from that and I was trying to run from the leader, trying to be respectful of the leader, and I had the leader on my tail. We made some big adjustments to the car and basically adjusted it to free it up there and I just spun out off of (Turn) 2.”
“We’re just racing,” added Johnson. “We’ve had some bad luck and made some mistakes. I’ll be back next week.”
Kurt Busch, who won last weekend’s All-Star event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, took home the victory. Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and David Reutimann followed Kurt Busch to the finish line.
