Johnson's start slowed by tire, axle damage in 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For as many fast finishes as Jimmie Johnson has had in the past four years, he rarely seems to get off to a fast start. With a 35th-place finish Sunday, Johnson now has finished no better than 27th in Daytona 500s since winning it in 2006.

After crashing in each of the previous three 500s, this time Johnson was slowed 16 laps shy of the scheduled distance with rear-end issues.

"It was something with the drive, either the axle or the locker broke in the rear end or something with the hub on the left side," Johnson said. "We only have drive in the right-rear tires, so something broke coming through Turns 3 and 4 and I just had the one wheel driving."

In 2009, Johnson was caught up in a multi-car accident triggered by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers, and eventually finished 31st. Two years ago, Johnson spun coming out of Turn 2 and was collected by Martin Truex Jr. He wound up finishing on the lead lap but was credited with a 27th-place finish. And in 2007, Johnson slammed the outside wall on the backstretch, setting off a five-car pileup on Lap 174.

On Sunday, Johnson never did lead a lap but he had the No. 48 Chevrolet running near the front of the pack early, participating in a three-car breakaway with Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger during the longest green-flag run of the race, building an advantage of more than 2 seconds over the rest of the field before Joe Nemechek's accident on Lap 66 bunched things together.

Some 50 laps later, Johnson's day began to unravel. He suddenly slowed with a flat right-front tire and was heading for what would have been a crippling pit stop under green. But seconds later, John Andretti hit the wall, bringing out the caution -- which then turned into the first of two red flags for track repairs -- and keeping Johnson on the lead lap.

Starting at the tail end of the field, Johnson gradually worked his way back through the pack, moving into the top 10 with 20 laps to go. But on Lap 184, Johnson began slowing, this time with terminal issues.

When asked if he thought the large pothole in Turn 2 that plagued the second half of the race might have led to the failure, Johnson didn't believe there was a connection.

"It's hard to say," he said. "I don't think so. We'd been hitting it with the right-side tires and something in the left side broke. So I don't think it was that."

If there's a silver lining, it that Johnson usually bounces back with a vengeance at Auto Club Speedway. He's finished third, second and ninth in the past three spring races near his hometown of El Cajon, Calif., not counting three consecutive victories in the fall return.

Video:
• Tire goes down on No. 48 but all is not lost