Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson had a trying Southern 500, a trying weekend. But as has become custom for Johnson’s No. 48 team, Johnson pulled off a big rally to finish second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway on Saturday night.
Johnson’s weekend started by crashing the primary car Friday, forcing him to go to a backup car. But Johnson led laps 23 and 24 after staying on the track under race’s second caution.
Johnson was seventh when the yellow waved for the 15th time in lap 320, but crew chief Chad Knaus kept him on the track. Suddenly, he was in second place and challenging for the lead.
“In my heart I felt it was going to be like [a] 10th-place [finish] because we would be in 17th or 18th again after something went wrong, then I’d get to 10th or 12th, we’d pit again, and it would all start over,” Johnson said. “That was kind of our range, from 15th or 17th to 10th or 12th. We kept fighting with everybody in that area. Scene Daily
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.”
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Video: Jimmie Johnson’s Big Crash Means Back-Row Sunday
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.
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.
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.” NASCAR.com
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