Team Lowe’s Finishes 25th at Chicagoland

Jimmie Johnson finished 25th in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Johnson started the 267-lap event from the second position and quickly showed the strength of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet by grabbing the lead on the first lap. He went on to lead the first 92 circuits before attempting to pit for a green-flag stop on Lap 93.

As he rounded the 1.5-mile track, Johnson wasn’t able to get slowed down enough to make pit road and was forced to make another lap, losing the lead to Jamie McMurray.

Johnson found himself running third after the green-flag stops, but was still the fastest car on the track as he chased the first and second place cars. Johnson passed Martin Truex Jr. for second and was making the move on leader McMurray on Lap 129 when the yellow flag waved for debris.

McMurray and Johnson led the field to green when the race restarted on Lap 136 but just one lap later Johnson got loose racing with third-place Martin Truex Jr. and his Lowe’s machine spun across the infield grass.

“It was really just a racing thing,” explained Johnson. “He was trying to squeeze his way in between me and the white line. I came up off the white line a little bit and the air flow changed as he got close to me. I could feel it when he got close and it just started my car into a slide and at that point I was just hanging on and it finally turned around on me.”

Johnson was able to avoid contact and brought his Chevrolet down pit road for new tires and to have the grass cleaned off the splitter. He restarted 24th on Lap 140.

Johnson began his climb back through the field and moved into the Top 20 on Lap 169. But as the four-time champion rounded the track on Lap 174 he cut a right-front tire and made contact with the outside wall.

“… After (the spint) we were coming through the field and I felt like we could still salvage a top five or something and I cut a right front tire down and then just got in the wall,” explained Johnson. “I think between sliding through the grass and touching the wall, it messed up the body and the nose started dragging pretty bad for the final run or two.”

Johnson was forced to bring his car down pit road for new tires and lost two laps to the leaders because the race was still under the green flag. He reentered the competition 33rd and spent the remainder of the night battling his way through the field.

“At the beginning of the race we had a great race car and a thought we had a shot at a win tonight. But stuff happens and we’ll just come back in a couple of weeks,” said Johnson.

His 25th-place finish allowed him to remain third in the driver point standings, now 188 points behind leader Kevin Harvick.

Team Earns 8th-Place Finish in Chicago

Jimmie Johnson finished eighth in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup event at Chicagoland Speedway.

After starting third in the 267-lap, 400-mile event, Johnson battled a tight No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS for much of the race, but challenged for top-five position throughout the night, leading 58 laps.

On Lap 251, the three-time Sprint Cup Champion led the field to a restart with fewer than 20 laps remaining, but several cars made contact when the green flag waved and Johnson got loose in the traffic. The Lowe’s Chevy fell out of line briefly and lost valuable track position, squeezing back in in the eighth spot.

“I don’t even know what happened,” said Johnson, who earned his seventh top-ten result in eight starts at the 1.5-mile track. “I think the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) got inside of me and got me loose. He was on new tires. And then the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) and I touched and he body-slammed me after that. So, that was the least of my problems. The bigger problem I had was when I was leading and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) pushed me all the way through (Turns) 1 and 2 and eventually I lost control of the car and that’s what put me back there. But it was just hard racing.”

Johnson was able to avoid other incidents but was never able to make a charge back to the front, crossing the finish line eighth.

“It was one of those days,” he continued. “I thought we had this thing won at one point and then on that restart it didn’t work out so well for us and then everybody was out of control back there racing and body-slamming. The No. 83 (Brian Vickers) and the No. 11 went at it for a little bit. We were bump-drafting down the straightaways and that was some wild racing. I didn’t think we could race like that on a 1.5-mile.”

Johnson’s teammate Mark Martin won the race, his fourth victory of the season.

“Our cars were pretty good and we could get away,” Johnson added. “But Mark (Martin) really had the dominant car in my eyes. There were a couple of segments where we were better, but overall Mark had the dominant car and I’m glad to see him win the race.”

Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 212 behind Stewart. Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off weekend before traveling to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the July 26 event.