Jimmie Johnson's Texas trouble reignites NASCAR Sprint Cup championship battle
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson leads the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings by 73 points heading into this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. // Bill Anderson, NASCAR Scene
Is NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup back on? Or is Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson still a lock for his fourth consecutive Cup championship?
The Chase clearly had a shakeup as a result of Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson led second-place Mark Martin by 184 points before the race, but after a crash on lap three and more than an hour in the garage having his car rebuilt, he lost most of that.
Johnson finished 38th, and instead of talk about potentially clinching the title at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend, the discussion is whether the championship race is back on.
Johnson is still being chased by two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Martin and Jeff Gordon, but they are much closer than they were before the Texas race. Martin finished fourth at Texas to move to 73 points behind Johnson, and Gordon is 112 points behind the points leader.
“You know, it's still a respectable lead,” Johnson said. “Seventy-three with two to go is still a good position to be in. I hate that we gave up all these points tonight. … The guys did a great job getting this car back on track to pick up a couple more spots, and we'll go to Phoenix and race. We've got two great race tracks for us. We didn't want this by any means, but we're still in a great position, and we'll go to Phoenix and race."
Johnson conceded that his lead before Texas truly was an “unusual situation,” though it was “one that I really liked.”
“Hoped we could have left Phoenix in that situation, as well,” Johnson said. “We're still in a great position. We'll dust ourselves off. There's really not much we can do, reflect back on this, say it was a bad car, a bad pit stop or something I did wrong. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Wrong place at the right time, depends where you want the points to go.”
At least Johnson can retain his sense of humor, if not his large points lead. That’s likely because his lead is still sizable, and he can clinch in the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix. Johnson needs to gain 122 points this weekend, and while that’s unlikely, it could happen.
More likely is the scenario that he wraps up the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway the following week. He simply needs to average a fourth-place finish over the final two races, or a fifth and a lap led in each of the final two races, or sixth and the most laps led in each of the final two races. If he does that, he'll clinch no matter what any other driver does.
Martin even admitted after the Texas race that he simply can’t outperform Johnson in the final two races to win the championship. Martin can beat the No. 48 team, but he’ll likely need help if he wants to win his first Cup title.
“I still have got my hands full for the top-six positions with all those guys,” Martin said. “Two guys that knocked me out of championships [Gordon and Tony Stewart] are breathing down my neck, so the race is still on. I don't know why everybody tries to cap this thing out and doesn't just wait and watch. There are still two races to go, and still things that can happen."
Gordon is 39 points behind Martin, with Texas winner Kurt Busch fourth, 59 behind Gordon. Stewart is fifth, seven behind Busch, with Juan Pablo Montoya 58 behind Stewart in sixth place.
And seventh-place Greg Biffle is only 11 behind Montoya as positions two through seven are separated by 174 points.
Gordon, though, lamented his struggles at Texas, a track where he’d never won until earlier this year. He won the pole for Sunday’s race but faded early and never contended.
"I think more than anything [this was] a missed opportunity,” Gordon said. “I'm just terrible at this place. I don't know what it is. I can qualify, and the guys gave a real good car on Friday, but I just don't have the feel for this place. I don't know what it is. It just challenged us all day today. We seemed to be the best at the beginning of the race, and we made some adjustments trying to make it better based on what I was telling them, and we just went backwards from there and lost some track position.
“So it was a frustrating day. Kind of a more typical Texas day for us rather than what we had in April. So it was a missed opportunity when the No. 48 [of Johnson] had trouble, so I'm bummed about that.”
Johnson could be bummed about his tough race, but he won’t get down. He knows that he’s still in a good position, although he is realistic that anything can happen at Phoenix and Homestead.
“In the back of my mind, I couldn't shut down the possibility of something going wrong,” Johnson said. “This is racing. You've got to drive the race. We've heard it from other sports: You have to play the game.
“I just think it's a good lesson for everybody. We'll learn a lot as a race team from this. I think the media side, as well, you have a much better understanding why [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] and I have been so nervous. Even after winning races, fielding questions, the possibility was out there. It's still out there. There's no telling what's going to happen.”
