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.

Rough days ends with 38th-place finish in Texas

Jimmie Johnson started 12th in Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway but was involved in a Lap 3 accident and credited with a 38th-place result. He is now 73 points ahead of Mark Martin in the point standings.
 
“It was definitely not the day we wanted,” said Johnson. “We did not want to lose points like that. Luckily we had a big margin. We’re going to two great tracks for us here and we’ll just keep racing. We’ve been saying all along that anything can happen, I just wish the Sam (Hornish) could have waited a little while longer before he hit something. Instead, he lost it and hit me and off we went.”

When Johnson took the green flag, he quickly began moving through the field and passed a couple of cars in the first two laps. But as the Lowe’s Chevy went three-wide and moved to the outside of Sam Hornish on Lap 3 to take a top 10 position, Hornish’s car was tapped by David Reutimann  who was on the inside.
 
That forced Hornish to become loose and he made contact with the left side of Johnson’s machine, sending him scurrying up the track. Johnson managed to avoid contact with the outside wall, but crossed back down the 1.5-mile oval and slammed into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch.
 
Crew chief Chad Knaus called Johnson to the garage area where the team went to work on the No. 48 Impala SS, including replacing the front and rear suspension as well as the drive shaft.
 
Johnson spent an hour and eight minutes in the garage before returning to the track, over 100 laps down.
 
“I just played back through the crash (while sitting in the garage) and what happened and if I could have done anything differently,” explained Johnson. “I could have maybe given him more room, but I would have had a more direct angle at the wall and would have hit the outside wall.
 
“So, when I think back, I was just hoping he’d get out and hoping there would be some cautions and we could make up some spots and the first report Chad (Knaus) gave me wasn’t good. He thought we were going to have to put the car on the truck because it was so torn up. So, as time went on I could see their spirits lift and I knew we could at least get back out on track. I started to focus on things I needed to.”
 
Johnson went on to pick up six spots in the remaining laps, finishing 38th.
 
“It’s just one of those things,” added Johnson. “There’s not a lot we can do about it. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guys did a great job to get this car back out on track to pick up some more spots. And we’ll go to Phoenix and race.

“We’ve got two great race tracks for us (coming up, Phoenix and Homestead). We didn’t want this by any means but we’re still in a great position and we’ll go to Phoenix and race.”
 
Kurt Busch went on to win the 334-lap event, moving to fourth place in the point standings.
 
Johnson now leads Martin (-73), Jeff Gordon (-112), Busch (-171) and Tony Stewart (-178) in the Championship standings with two races remaining.

Johnson finishes second to Gordon at Texas

It looked like deja vu for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, where they started ninth, fell back through the field and then climbed to the front in the closing stages of the race.

The only difference between this weekend and last was this time Johnson didn’t have enough laps to get past leader Jeff Gordon and finished runner-up to his teammate at The Great American Speedway.

“Five more (laps) and we would have had a shot at him,” said Johnson, who jumped to second in the point standings. “But we were both driving as hard as we could. It was nice to get our car up to the front and get some clean air on it. We had to work really hard all day long to get the car right. So, I’m very proud of the team.”

Last week at Martinsville, Johnson started ninth and fell back to 27th while crew chief Chad Knaus worked on the car’s handling. The No. 48 Chevrolet got better and Johnson slowly made his way back to the front, taking the lead with 16 laps remaining and going on to win.

In Sunday’s 334-lap race, Johnson fought a tight-handling machine and fell back to 18th, pitting at every opportunity to allow Knaus to work his magic.

As the laps wound down, Johnson got better. He worked his way back into the top 10 and was running fifth when he came in for his final pit stop.

The Lowe’s crew had a strong showing and sent the three-time champion back to the track third. Johnson chased Gordon down to challenge for the win, but came up .378 seconds short.

“In another five laps we would have been racing with him,” said Johnson, who has collected top 10 finishes in his last four events. “I’m not sure what would have happened, but it was a great race all together and I’m very happy for Jeff.”

Johnson added, “We have our old style back where we just keep plugging away and we’ll get it right come the end of the race. If we look at what took place during the course of the day and how we made the car better and got to the front, we’re very proud of that.”