Six-time champion falls short of advancement despite leading 84 laps
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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jimmie Johnson knew he was a long shot coming into Talladega Superspeedway, but after leading for a race-high 84 laps, it looked like the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion could be able to pull off something extraordinary to stay on the path to his seventh title. He found himself behind Brad Keselowski late in the race, and had to make a quick decision on how to propel himself to the front.
“I had such a strong car, I had a chance,” Johnson said. “I was sitting in the second row outside, and I was just left with the decision to help the (No.) 2 and see if I could find a way by or try to make quick work of the 2 and go on, and I chose to try to make quick work of the 2, and as I got to his outside and pulled up alongside of him I looked up in the mirror and there was nobody back there helping. So I knew at that moment I was in trouble.”
That decision led to a 24th-place finish for Johnson, leaving him 11th in the standings and eliminating him from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. And with six titles to his name, Johnson knows what it takes to earn one — and he didn’t think his team had it.
“I showed up this weekend thinking I was playing with house money and kind of a very unique opportunity to advance,” Johnson said. “In any Chase, after two bad races like we had in the last two weeks you wouldn’t have a shot at the championship.”
After qualifying on the front row in a new format that left many drivers baffled, Johnson’s No. 48 looked to be the car to beat. The often-unpredictable Talladega, however, is among Johnson’s worst tracks. He only has worse average finishes at Richmond and Daytona.
He showed he planned to be aggressive early, knowing that he needed a win to move on. He found himself battling against Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led a second-best 31 laps. Along with Johnson, Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne would all leave Alabama out of title contention.
“It’s just Talladega,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “We have been up front all day and I don’t know where we are going to end up. You just can’t avoid it down here when you are running that close together. It’s just what you have to get used to and accept it and move on. It’s not easy.”
Johnson, on the other hand, found Sunday’s race easier than what his team has faced in the past two weeks. After being involved in a wreck in the opening race of the Contender Round at Kansas Speedway, the No. 48 team headed to Charlotte in 12th, 44 points back from points leader Joey Logano. Battling an ill-handling car that could only get Johnson to a 17th-place finish at Charlotte, Johnson fell 57 points out of the lead.
“Today I went down swinging, and I’ll take pride in that,” Johnson said. “Am I disappointed in our Chase? Absolutely. In the last two weeks, people tuned in on the radio and there’s been plenty of articles written this week. Frustration was high. Frustration’s been high between Chad and I and the fact that we haven’t been able to produce like we wanted to. Today we went down swinging, we had a chance. We came up short, and we have to make the best of 2015.”
The No. 48 team still has a chance to end the season in the top five in points, a finish Johnson is determined to get. His worst finish so far during his full-time Sprint Cup Series career is sixth.
“We still have a chance to finish fifth in points, which would mean the world to me, ” he said. “The worst I’ve ever finished is sixth in points, so it’s not time to put our feet up, we need to finish strong and try to be in the top five.”
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