Even with wreck, Jimmie Johnson still solidly in Chase For The Sprint Cup lead
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson lost significant ground after an early crash in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Related content: Photos: Jimmie Johnson’s difficult day at Texas Motor Speedway
FORT WORTH, Texas - Jimmie Johnson and his Chad Knaus-led Hendrick Motorsports team have been impeccable during races in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup in recent years. But they refused to buy into the theory that their 184-point lead in the standings with three races to go was enough to guarantee this year's title.
Sunday, fans saw just why they felt that way as Johnson was hit by Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. on the third lap of the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hornish, who was pushed into Johnson after contact from Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann, tagged Johnson's rear and sent the Hendrick driver's Chevrolet toward the outside wall.
Brakes spewing smoke, Johnson almost kept it off the wall and sustained only minor damage. He looked on the verge of saving the car – another stunning Johnson Chase move in the making – but he couldn't hold it and came back down across the track, hitting Hornish and then the inside wall a couple of times.
He limped his car to the garage, both the front and rear ends damaged, and spent more than an hour there with his crew – and members of other Hendrick crews – patiently and methodically making changes to the car. The team had to replace the front clip, the rear deck lid, the wing, the right-side rear quarter panel, suspension parts and the driveshaft.
"The sway bar had been slammed shut," Johnson said of the damage. "The mounts and everything the A-frame is bolted to, everything was twisted up so bad, [Chad] wasn't sure we were going to be able to get it back straight, hang suspension on it.
"At that point I just stayed in the car. I didn't want to hop out and let the crew guys think it was done. I was going to stay in it until he pushed it up on the ramp. I wanted them to keep working on it, find a way to get it on the track."
They did just that.
The car, black on both the front and rear after the repairs, finally returned to the track on lap 116. Johnson was 116 laps off the pace - and forfeiting the majority of his points lead.
He managed to make minimum speed, though, and kept his car on the track until the end, moving to 38th courtesy of teams that fell by the wayside in the race.
That enabled him to maintain a 73-point lead in the standings over teammate Mark Martin, who finished fourth. Now, though, four other drivers are within that same 184 points of Johnson that only one was entering the race. Third-place Jeff Gordon is 112 points back, followed by Penske Racing's Kurt Busch (171) and Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart (178).
Still, Johnson admits that watching his lead trimmed so dramatically is cause for concern with two races to go in his pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship.
"This could take place at the start of the race next weekend," he said. "You just never know. That's the stuff that worries me. It's a nice points lead. We just need to follow the 5 [of Mark Martin] in a sense and everything would be fine.
"As we saw today, anything can happen. … It's not as bad as it could have been. We could have been 43rd. At one point Chad told me to hop out of the car, it was done, we're going to have to put it on the truck. They were able to get it fixed. Mark didn't win. There were a couple small things that helped us in the end. It's still a big ouch."
Johnson said that he's still optimistic, though, that his team can snare its fourth consecutive title.
He said that he couldn't really compare Sunday's race to past experiences that well just yet. After all, that hour-plus he spent sweating out the changes in the car was still fresh on his mind.
Now, he's already back to thinking about how to recover – or hold steady – in the final pair of races.
"I guess at the end of Homestead I will be able to really understand how these emotions, what they mean," he said. "Right now I'm still optimistic. We still have a nice points margin. Hopefully we don't need the points we lost tonight to win the championship. I don't think the sting from this race will really show up till the checkered falls in Homestead and we see where we're at, how the points shake out.
"[I] just sat in the car, was thinking through what went on, how I could have done something different. On the outside lane, driving by a couple cars, and I didn't really even see the 77 [of Hornish] get loose. I got clobbered from the side. Around I went. I thought about those things sitting in the pits. Watched the guys, hoped that they could get the car fixed and on track. I could see the televisions, was watching the race. Just kind of paid attention to where the 5 [of Martin] and 24 [of Gordon] were on track. I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed. But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful."
