In recent weeks, Jimmie Johnson has worn out the already threadbare phrase, “Anything can happen in our sport.”
On Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, it finally did.
Capitalizing on superior fuel mileage, Kurt Busch drove his No. 2 Dodge to victory in the Dickies 500, after disaster struck Johnson like a lightning bolt and made a race of the Chase after all.
Johnson suffered a Lap 3 wreck that sidelined his No. 48 Chevrolet for more than an hour as his team made extensive repairs. With a 38th-place finish, Johnson lost 111 points off his 184-point lead in the Chase to second-place Mark Martin, who finished fourth and trails Johnson by 73 points with two races left. NASCAR
Coming out of Turn 2 on the third lap, Sam Hornish got loose after being tapped by David Reutimann. Hornish made contact with Johnson, who scraped the outside wall. It looked as if Johnson might save his car before he was hit again by Hornish, then slammed into the inside wall.
“By the time that I knew that I was hit, I was already sideways,” Hornish said. “I was just trying to correct it and not get into the 48. Obviously, you don’t ever want to detract from the championship when you’re not really even involved in it.” The Associated Press
Johnson stayed in the car through the entire repair process.
“Just sat in the car, was thinking through what went on, how I could have done something different,” he said. “[I was] on the outside lane, driving by a couple cars, and I didn’t really even see the 77 get loose. I got clobbered from the side. Around I went.
“I thought about those things sitting in the pits. Watched the guys, hoped that they could get the car fixed and on track. I could see the televisions, was watching the race. Just kind of paid attention to where the 5 [Martin] and 24 [polesitter Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th and trails Johnson by 112 points] were on track.
“I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed. But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful.” NASCAR
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