Fall Talladega event unkind to Johnson

Final plate race of year ends in disappointment

NEW YORK -- Jimmie Johnson is reclined in an airplane seat somewhere in the frigid skies between Alabama and Manhattan. He relaxes easily with a cold beer while reenacting (in animated fashion) the accident that eliminated him from the EA Sports 500.

Eyes closed and hands clenched at 9 and 3 on an imaginary steering wheel, he grins at the thought. But the frustration is palpable nonetheless.

Can't blame him. It was a typical Talladega Sunday for the Winston Cup sophomore.

VIDEO CLIPS Waltrip celebrates his second win of the season Play video Waltrip holds off Junior and Gordon in the final laps Play video Junior was in the middle of the madness all day Play video Sadler goes for a wild ride with seven laps to go Play video Contact with Waltrip and Junior sends Johnson spinning Play video Green spins on pit road after contact with Sadler Play video Six cars are collected in a lap 10 wreck Play video

After leading 15 of the first 140 laps and spending the entire day in the top five, Johnson had positioned himself to vie for his first career superspeedway victory.

But as he screamed across the start/finish line and into the entrance of Turn 1 in door-to-door formation with Michael Waltrip on lap 141, Dale Earnhardt Jr. tapped Waltrip in the rear, unsettling Waltrip's Chevrolet.

Waltrip slipped up the track a bit, and as he corrected the machine, he slammed doors with Johnson, who spun down onto the apron, then back up the track and into oncoming traffic.

Johnson managed to steer clear of the outside retaining wall, paused in the high groove for a moment, then released the brake to slide back down the track and restart his Chevrolet.

Despite damage to the front valence, he'd escaped virtually unscathed.

After several pit stops to repair the damage -- the first of which resulted in a penalty after Johnson pitted before pit road was officially open -- Team 48 started at the tail end of the lead lap.

No matter.

Five laps after the restart, on lap 154, Johnson was back in the top five, having hooked up with championship points leader Matt Kenseth and drafted back into the mix.

But by lap 160, he was in street clothes, en route to the airport behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Trail Blazer.

Blown engine.

"It took me a while to get the new rules package figured out, because it seemed to help the guys from 10th on back more than the leaders," Johnson said. "But Elliott (Sadler) and I had worked real well together all day long, stayed up front and cut each other some slack, gave each other some breaks.

"Then, I don't know what happened with Michael. I was going into Turn 1 and next thing I know I'm sliding all over the place. I guess the 8 got into the back of the 15 and the chain reaction turned us around.

	Johnson scored just one top-10 (Daytona 500) in the four plate races in 2003. Credit: Autostock

"Luckily, we didn't hit anything. I thought we were going to come back through there and have a shot at winning, but something happened with a piston. I had the clutch in and the brakes locked down the whole time once I got sideways."

Johnson is no stranger to good runs gone bad at Talladega.

In the 2002 EA Sports 500, Johnson was the pole sitter after qualifying was rained out. But as the field coursed through Turn 4 coming to the green flag to start the race, Mark Martin, who started on the outside of the front row, shot down the track and into Johnson.

Then, this past spring, Johnson was the race leader late in the race when Earnhardt shot low past Kenseth to take the lead. Johnson was shuffled out of the draft and fell outside the top 20.

In an effort to get back in line, he attempted to put the Lowe's Chevrolet in a hole that wasn't big enough and ended up spun out on the frontstretch.

"My luck hasn't been so great at Talladega, for sure," Johnson said. "But we're racing well. We've led laps and drafted well. We've had great pit stops and fast racecars. It's not like we're not competitive or something. We are. We just can't seem to finish the deal. Is it frustrating? Very."

Johnson lost a position in the point standings to Earnhardt, who finished second to Waltrip Sunday, and stands just eight points ahead of fifth place Ryan Newman, Sunday's fourth-place finisher.