DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Jimmie Johnson climbed out of his race car after his runner-up finish at Darlington Raceway, tossed a pair of unnecessary sunglasses on the roof, and walked over to have a word with fellow competitor Ryan Newman. Then he stood in front of his No. 48 Chevy surrounded by television cameras, a regular part of the routine for a driver who's won 41 races and three consecutive championships on NASCAR's premier level.

Teammates tangle

Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson battle to the end for Southern 500 supremacy at Darlington.

• Watch the final laps
• Post-race reactions
• Press Pass: Johnson
• Race Chatter: Johnson

Ho-hum, just another top-five finish, now 106 and counting for the most businesslike operation on the Sprint Cup tour. Johnson churns them out like an assembly-line factory churns out automobiles, like a fast-food restaurant churns out hamburgers, like Texas churns out football players -- so many, they all seem to run together. No one who's watched NASCAR the past decade was in any way surprised to see that menacing black and blue car in second place on Saturday night.

No one, except for maybe the driver himself. Not after crashing in qualifying, going to a backup car, getting trapped on pit road, falling a lap down, getting spun out, feuding with other drivers, losing his temper, and at the very end worrying about fuel. After it was all over he stood outside his car, cool as always, his bearded visage staring straight into the cameras with the same unblinking professionalism he's always shown. As usual, he made it look easy. There was no sign of the frayed tempers, the curse words, the bare-knuckled climb from the back to the front Johnson was forced to make again and again and again.

"It was just a chaotic night," he said as fireworks exploded and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin celebrated in Victory Lane. "So I'm very relieved and proud of the race team, because we kept our heads and fought through it all night long, and we got ourselves a good finish."

If only it were that simple. Johnson started from the rear Saturday night because he crashed his primary car in qualifying (watch video), a factor that didn't seem to matter as he zoomed to second place just 45 laps into the race. The hurdles would emerge soon enough, the first a fiery crash by Michael Waltrip that brought out a caution. Johnson was nowhere near it. He was on pit road, and the yellow trapped him a lap down (watch video). He spent the next hour battling not for the lead, but with David Stremme just to be in position to receive the free pass when the next caution came out.

He got it on Lap 118, when Sam Hornish Jr. spun, and all seemed right with the world again. The car was posting lap speeds comparable to those turned by the leader. "It's going to be perfect when we get back to the front," crew chief Chad Knaus told his driver over the radio. "Go get 'em, brother."

When [David] Ragan finally spun out, taking Juan Montoya with him, Johnson uncharacteristically lashed out with almost Buschian fury, spouting a list of unprintables so vehement that the No. 48 team worried it was going to be penalized by NASCAR.

But the front would have to wait. Soon Johnson had another problem in the form of David Ragan, who was running nose-to-tail with the No. 48 car, and whose rather physical approach left the reigning champion none to happy. When Ragan finally spun out, taking Juan Montoya with him, Johnson uncharacteristically lashed out with almost Buschian fury, spouting a list of unprintables so vehement that the No. 48 team worried it was going to be penalized by NASCAR. "That [expletive] has been trying for 20 laps to wreck us," was the tamest of it. "Good for him."

Knaus stepped in, telling his driver in a stern voice to calm down and stop yelling over the radio. Still, Johnson fumed. "Everybody needs to take a deep breath," Knaus told his race team. "Everybody." Johnson followed orders. Before the next restart, when spotter Earl Barban asked the driver if he was all right, the reply was succinct. "Absolutely," Johnson said. "It's a beautiful day."

It was, other than the fact that Johnson was mired in 21st place on a narrow race track where passing is difficult at best. Johnson bore down and started charging again, zooming high on the frontstretch to avoid a spin by Kurt Busch, edging up to 15th before entering pit road on the ensuing caution. That was when Kevin Harvick slowed, got bumped from behind by Jeff Burton, and barreled inadvertently into Johnson, spinning the No. 48 car in front of its own pit box. Suddenly, they were headed to the back again. From up on the spotter's stand, Barban reported that the contact was accidental. Johnson's reaction was almost resigned.

"What did we do to deserve this?" he asked.

Again they fell backward, this time to 22nd. Again Johnson put the adversity behind him and started climbing again. Up to 12th he went. "You keep picking them up and putting them down like that, you're going to get a top-10 out of this," Knaus said. Not so fast. Back down to 17th they fell. Every gain seemed followed by another loss. Advancing even one position was an effort. There was too much traffic, too many cars that wouldn't let them by. "I can't fix it, dude," Knaus lamented at one point. "I can't fix it."

Then it was Johnson's turn to offer moral support. The driver suggested an adjustment the team had made earlier in the race, one which seemed to help the car come to life. They made changes, they dug in, and they ticked off one position after another. By the time Greg Biffle spun to bring out a caution with 70 laps remaining, Johnson and company had somehow clawed their way to 11th. When the race restarted, they were unthinkably in the top 10. Over the radio, teams began to speculate on whether they'd be able to make it on fuel.

One of those was the No. 48. During the next caution, which came out for debris with 46 laps remaining, Knaus told Johnson that they appeared to be a gallon and a half short. "Ten-four, buddy," Johnson replied. "You know the numbers. Do whatever you've got to do." Ultimately, Knaus decided to come in for fuel -- but by the time he relayed that message to his driver, the No. 48 car had passed the pit-road entrance.

"Too late. Way too late," Johnson said.

Knaus was nonplussed. "Save fuel," he said. "We're going to be fine, man. You know what to do. We're going to get more cautions."

The miscommunication proved to be a huge break. Johnson gained the track position he so sorely needed, moving up to second on the restart. There were indeed more cautions -- a track record 17 of them, to be exact -- that kept the No. 48 car safe on fuel. Johnson tracked the leader Martin, occasionally peeking around the No. 5 car, toeing the line between aggression and caution on a track where one slip can send a vehicle sliding into the wall. With nine laps left, Knaus said he was giving Johnson four more circuits to try and catch Martin, and then he was calling him off.

"I've got news for you," Johnson replied. "I don't have anymore."

Rarely had a runner-up finish felt so much like a victory. Johnson snapped a streak of two finishes of 30th or worse, those stemming from a wreck at Talladega and a brake problem at Richmond. He avoided posting three consecutive results outside of the top 10 for the first time in a year. He gained two points positions on a night that again and again looked like it had the potential to be a complete loss. He salvaged the kind of finish that championships are made of, even if his race team was left wondering how they did it.

"Good work, everybody," Knaus told his team afterward. "I don't know how we managed to pull that off."

As crewmen broke down their war wagon, Johnson pulled his scratched-up but intact car to an assigned spot on pit road that NASCAR reserves for the top-five finishers in each race. He climbed out and looked into the cameras. He made it all look so easy, just like he always does.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.