Pit-road penalty not able to tarnish Johnson's Chase

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Carl Edwards is wrong. Jimmie Johnson isn't magic. He has the Midas touch.

When told in Victory Lane that Johnson somehow rallied from running 30th after a rare speeding penalty to finish second in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Edwards was first surprised and then almost accepted it as a given.

• Send Mark your thoughts
• Mark's Community page

"Are you kidding me?" Edwards asked his interviewer. "Man, you've rained on my parade all day. I could have done without that one. ... Man, Jimmie is magic."

More like 24 karat gold.

"I'm just as shocked as he is," Johnson said. "I thought we were going to finish ninth or 10th [Sunday]. That last caution came out there and I give [crew chief] Chad Knaus credit for making the call and playing the strategy right. It worked out well for us."

Johnson must have felt like he stole a second-place finish Sunday. But the heist was certainly a team effort.

Needing a perfect pit stop to get in position to get the free pass, the No. 48 crew pulled it off. Not merely content to finish in the top 10, Knaus called for four fresh tires, and Johnson "drove the crap out of the car" over the final eight laps to charge his way through the field. Even Denny Hamlin seemed to be touched in some way, somehow saving his sideways car in the final corner to keep from crashing into Johnson.

While it seemed like Chase contenders Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton attended the school of hard knocks on Sunday, Johnson turned apparent misfortune into his own personal vault at Fort Knox (watch video).

The championship chasers had a glimmer of hope when Johnson locked up the brakes at the entrance to pit road on Lap 90 during green-flag stops and was assessed a pass-through penalty on the next lap. That put him 30th -- one lap down -- and for the first time, gave the unusual impression that perhaps the No. 48 team isn't invincible. (Continued)