Subscibe to our feedJohnson's 6th-Place Finish Extends Points Lead to 184
Jimmie Johnson once again extended his lead in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship by finishing sixth at Talladega Superspeedway.
Johnson started the race from the pole position after qualifying was canceled for weather and the field was set by driver points.
Click here to see photos from the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega
Shortly after the race began, Johnson found himself riding in the back of the pack after green-flag pit stops put him off sequence with the leaders. He remained there for most of the race until fewer than 20 laps remained, when he began to make a charge toward the front.
He barely avoided a late-race crash on Lap 184 of 188 that took out five cars and left the No. 39 machine of Ryan Newman resting on its roof as emergency workers cut him out. He had no injuries.
Crew chief Chad Knaus sensed a lengthy delay and called the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy down pit road for fuel. When cars ahead of Johnson began to run out of gas because of the red-flag period, Johnson moved up on the track, restarting 11th when the green-flag waved.
The field was forced to a green-white-checker restart when a 13-car accident took place on the final lap, leaving Johnson with a sixth-place result.
“I feel good about things,” said Johnson. “I am very, very happy. I hate to see so many (torn) up cars and the big wreck that took place, but for us what really made the difference, obviously we were conservative all day long. But (crew chief) Chad's (Knaus) decision to take fuel; there were just a few of us that took fuel, and we had the wreck and the red flag. At that point guys just started running out of fuel.
“The caution came back out and waved off the restart a few times,” added Johnson. “Then more guys ran out and hit pit road. And we went from 25th up to, I think, 11th before we took the green. We had some good moves I made through that opening lap to get up to speed and all that kind of thing. I was far enough ahead to not be caught up in the (final) wreck - because at least the car on the outside of me and right behind me was cleaned out.”
Jamie McMurray went on to be the unlikely winner, followed by Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton.
Johnson now leads Mark Martin (-184), Jeff Gordon (-192), Juan Pablo Montoya (-239) and Tony Stewart (-279) in the Championship standings with three races remaining.
“I'm not going to let up and lose focus of the job I need to do and allow the championship to be in the forefront of my mind until it's mathematically locked out” said Johnson. “I can lose 165 points next week if I miss a shift and blow the engine at the start of the Texas race and Mark (Martin) has a perfect day.”
“So with all that in mind, yes, I am feeling much better about things,” Johnson continued. “I was so concerned about this race. I thought I was going to lose points with about three or four to go. So to have it turn around and lead with points over the guys, I didn't expect it. Very, very good situation we're in. But I just can't stop doing what I do… Racing will reach up and bite you at any point and anything can happen.”
The next stop on the Sprint Cup Series schedule will be Texas Motor Speedway. The race will be broadcast live Nov. 8 on ABC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.