Jimmie Johnson wins at Charlotte as numerous Chase drivers have issues

Jimmie Johnson is heading to the third round of the Chase as five of his fellow Chase competitors had major problems Sunday afternoon at Charlotte.

Johnson controlled the second half of the race and sprinted away on the race’s final restart after Denny Hamlin’s blown engine. The win breaks the longest winless streak of Johnson’s career. It had been 24 races since he last won in April at California.

As Johnson did a burnout towards Charlotte Motor Speedway’s turn 4, crew chief Chad Knaus jokingly radioed that “I didn’t know you could still do that.”

The win is Johnson’s eighth at Charlotte.

“We knew we’d get back [to victory lane],” Johnson said. “Yes, it was slower than we wanted it to be.”

Johnson won the second race of the season at Atlanta and then won at California for his second win of the year. Since then, his team — and all of Hendrick Motorsports — had struggled to keep up with the speed shown by the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas.

From his California win to the start of the Chase, Johnson had led just 95 laps in 21 races. He also finished lower than 30th five different times. It was hard to consider Johnson a contender for the title as the Chase began three weeks ago in Chicago.

He’s definitely a contender now. Not only is he advancing to the third round for the first time in three tries in the elimination-style Chase format, he’s shown considerable speed at three of the first four Chase races.

Johnson led 118 laps at Chicago but finished 12th thanks to a pit-road speeding penalty under green. Johnson said he got the penalty when he hit the accelerator a fraction of a second too early when leaving pit road on his final green-flag stop of the day.

He was really fast at Dover too. Johnson led 90 laps a week ago and was a contender for the win until another pit road penalty. Johnson had to serve a pass-through penalty after a stop because a crew member jumped over the wall too soon. But Johnson still finished seventh.

There were no penalties at Charlotte on Sunday, a track where Johnson once won five-straight races. Instead, he was one of the race’s fastest cars and capitalized on the misfortune of five Chasers who now face a huge points hole heading to Kansas and Talladega.

In addition to Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott all had major problems in the form of accidents or engine issues. And that list doesn’t even count drivers like Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards who recovered from damage or miscues.

Hamlin was running second behind Johnson at the time of his engine failure. The engine simply exploded in a plume of white smoke as Hamlin entered the frontstretch on lap 307 of the 334-lap race.

Harvick and Logano had their problems at almost the same time on lap 155. As Harvick’s car lost power, Logano smacked the wall for the second time thanks to a tire issue. Logano finished 36th while Harvick finished 38th.

Dillon and Elliott were caught up in a restart crash that started when Martin Truex Jr. bumped Dillon shortly after the green flag on lap 258. Dillon was on the front row for the restart thanks to a two-tire pit stop and didn’t accelerate as quickly as Truex. The contact sent Dillon sliding into the inside wall as Elliott got tagged by Kyle Busch as the field behind scrambled to avoid hitting each other in the melee.

Edwards also sustained damage in the incident, though like Busch’s team, his team was able to repair the problems.

Truex finished 13th after his car stalled leaving pit road on lap 313. Here are the race results and points standings.

 

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Ryan Newman
5. Kyle Larson
6. Kyle Busch
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Kurt Busch
9. Tony Stewart
10. Jamie McMurray
11. Danica Patrick
12. Carl Edwards
13. Martin Truex Jr.
14. Michael McDowell
15. Aric Almirola
16. Chris Buescher
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Trevor Bayne
19. Landon Cassill
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21. Regan Smith
22. Brian Scott
23. David Ragan
24. Michael Annett
25. Matt DiBenedetto
26. Jeffrey Earnhardt
27. Cole Whitt
28. Reed Sorenson
29. Josh Wise
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Ryan Blaney
32. Austin Dillon
33. Chase Elliott
34. Paul Menard
35. Greg Biffle
36. Joey Logano
37. AJ Allmendinger
38. Kevin Harvick
39. Alex Bowman
40. Casey Mears

 

CHASE STANDINGS

 

1. Jimmie Johnson (Win), 3,045
2. Matt Kenseth, 3,040
3. Kyle Busch, 3.036
4. Brad Keselowski, 3,034
5. Kurt Busch, 3,033
6. Carl Edwards, 3,029
7. Martin Truex Jr., 3,028
8. Denny Hamlin, 3,012
9. Chase Elliott, 3,009
10. Austin Dillon, 3,009
11. Joey Logano, 3,006
12. Kevin Harvick, 3,004