(AP Photo/Glenn Smith)
Jimmie Johnson topped both practice sessions at Kansas, yet he had the worst starting position of the four Hendrick cars. Not that he really needed much sympathy for rolling off eleventh. The winner at Kansas, almost universally, has come from a top-10 starting position, which had Johnson on the statistical outside, looking in from the start.
Early on, it looked to be a snoozer as Johnson made up two spots before exiting turn two on the first lap. On lap 19, Johnson’s spotter radioed him with a “looking good today boss.” Three laps later he was going by the nine car for sixth, and by lap 37 he had passed Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and Jamie McMurray, looking ahead to the 25 car in second.
At lap 53, the leaders pitted, and Johnson took four tires. Less than ten laps later, Johnson took the lead. Reed Sorenson tagged the wall and brought out another caution, which brought cars in at lap 70. Johnson took four tires, lost the lead, and dropped five spots.
Some serious side-by-side action occurred between Johnson and Greg Biffle from lap 84 to lap 101. Biffle somewhat jokingly commented about how Johnson is considered a phenomenal driver, yet he couldn’t pass the 16, when Johnson had four fresh tires compared to Biffle’s two. On the backstretch on lap 101, Biffle got caught behind the lapped car of Max Papis, and Johnson not only took the lead but checked out to a 2.3 second lead.
Brian Vickers had a tough day, including a spin on lap 125 that occurred as some cars were beginning to short pit. Johnson maintained his lead coming out of the pits, but Biffle had a serendipitously timed pit stop with the yellow flag so that he was the race leader on the restart. The 48 passed the 16 in turn three on the restart lap.
Turning point
Lap 146 proved to be the turning point for the 48 team. Johnson radioed to Chad Knaus about the status of his car. “It stayed with me the whole run…started neutral. Thought it would get tight, but it stayed with me.” Knaus talked Johnson through the decision process of taking four tires in the upcoming stop, but the majority of the field took two. Johnson dropped eight spots to ninth in the running order as a result. Before the restart, Johnson told Knaus, “Don’t talk it through as much, so the other guys don’t do the opposite.” It seemed that something had gotten into Johnson’s head, and soon his car would prove the four-tire decision to be a bad one.
On the lap 150 restart, Johnson dropped to 11th in serious traffic. Five laps later, Johnson was worried. “Something is just not right.” Knaus began to work as cheerleader. “It’ll come to you. It’s just dirty air.”
“I don’t think this set of tires is good,” Johnson told Knaus on lap 161.
“If you get around that set of five, it’ll be a whole different ballgame” was the reply from the pits.
Curtly, Johnson responded, “I’m aware of that.” Johnson set his sights on moving up before the next stop, passing Kyle Busch for tenth. The characteristic, mild-mannered demeanor Johnson is known for was beginning to show the early signs of frustration.
“I made a mistake there. We shoulda just taken two,” Knaus admitted.
On lap 198, Johnson radioed just ahead of the final planned stop, “I need a new set of tires. These are dog…”
To which Knaus replied, “10-4 on the dog poo-poo.” Johnson brought the car down on lap 202 with Knaus coaching his crew, “Man up, boys. Man up.” They did, and Johnson got out of the pits in fifth position. In an effort to make up for his mistake, Knaus continued to chatter to his driver, some times walking over the spotter.
“Enough with the cheerleading, Bud. I’m good,” Johnson said to get the radio quiet. About ten laps later, Johnson was locked in a multiple lap, hard-racing battle for fifth through eighth positions between Jeff Gordon, Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya and himself.
The racing was tough, and left his spotter a bit breathless when things settled during lap 228. The spotter told Johnson, “I’ve got my pink tutu and pompoms up here, man.”
With 30 to go, the entire field came in after a yellow for fluid on the track from the 88. Johnson took two and fuel, leaving pit road in third behind Stewart and Kasey Kahne. On the restart, Johnson found himself in a sketchy situation with three-wide racing immediately after the green flew and dropped to sixth position. Seven laps later, Johnson had dropped to ninth, where he remained through to the checkered flag.
While many had come to expect either Martin or Johnson to be in victory lane in Kansas, Stewart (-67) took the checkered flag, climbing back into serious title contention behind Martin, Johnson (-18), and Montoya (-51). A top-ten is still a solid finish. Next week, Johnson returns to his home track, Auto Club Speedway, where his record poses yet another serious threat.
For more information on Southern California Motorsports, check out:
How did California's Nationwide drivers do in Kansas?
Sunday outlook for Cali drivers in the land of Dorothy
Jimmie Johnson goes to Kansas hoping to avoid Kryptonite (Hint: The reference is regarding comments by Mark Martin)
Jimmie Johnson takes care of uncertainty with the checkered flag
Janelle Jalbert is a fan of a variety of racing formats and equally enjoys the history of the sport. Janelle grew up in an auto mechanic’s family and swears that there is carb spray running through her veins. She can be reached via email for both comments and story ideas. You can follow Janelle as the Southern California Motorsports Examiner on Twitter as @SoCalMotorsport.
Janelle also serves as the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner. Feel free to join the discussion about the hard racing in the CWTS at the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner fan page on Facebook
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