Johnson handles Talladega with veteran aplomb

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Raybestos Rookie of the Year point leader Jimmie Johnson’s one-race swoon ended Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where Johnson scored a groundbreaking inaugural top-10 finish in a NASCAR Winston Cup restrictor-plate race.

Johnson, whose phenomenal first season had him third in points two races ago, fell to seventh after he took a beating last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

But after he parlayed a contending seventh-place finish in the Aaron’s 499 into a one position gain back to sixth in the standings, Johnson could only see better things ahead for him and his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team, with five top-10s in his 12 career starts.

“That was cool,” said Johnson, who started from the Bud Pole and was third on the race’s final restart with four laps remaining. “I had a shot at winning it but had a little rookie mistake on both restarts the first one with DJ (Dale Jarrett) and the second when Kurt Busch got by me.

Credit: ASP

“All in all, it was a good run.”

It definitely was, considering Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team had taken the Monte Carlo he won the Daytona 500 Bud Pole with and did a major rebuild on it after the body was torn to pieces at Daytona.

“It’s just indescribable how much I learned from Daytona to here,” he said. “We tore up that race car in Daytona pretty bad. They (re) built it, brought it here -- no testing, no wind tunnel time (and) sat on the pole and finished in the top 10.

“It’s an incredible accomplishment for these guys (and) I’m really proud of them.”

It figures Johnson would slough off all the credit he could give himself, in his short-lived Winston Cup career.

“I give the credit to them for qualifying,” Johnson said. “I still have to earn my credit in the race here at other race tracks and I think I did it today, running in the top 10.”

Johnson led the first eight laps from the pole and, even though they were the only laps he led, his competitors knew he was there.

“I don’t think anyone could beat my car,” race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “even though I think the No. 48 had the best car.”