Subscibe to our feedJohnson Earns 8th-Place Finish in Chicago
JOLIET, Ill. -- Jimmie Johnson finished eighth in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup event at Chicagoland Speedway.
After starting third in the 267-lap, 400-mile event, Johnson battled a tight No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS for much of the race, but challenged for top-five position throughout the night, leading 58 laps.
Click here to see photos from the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway
On Lap 251, the three-time Sprint Cup Champion led the field to a restart with fewer than 20 laps remaining, but several cars made contact when the green flag waved and Johnson got loose in the traffic. The Lowe’s Chevy fell out of line briefly and lost valuable track position, squeezing back in in the eighth spot.
"I don't even know what happened,” said Johnson, who earned his seventh top-ten result in eight starts at the 1.5-mile track. “I think the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) got inside of me and got me loose. He was on new tires. And then the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) and I touched and he body-slammed me after that. So, that was the least of my problems. The bigger problem I had was when I was leading and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) pushed me all the way through (Turns) 1 and 2 and eventually I lost control of the car and that's what put me back there. But it was just hard racing.”
Johnson was able to avoid other incidents but was never able to make a charge back to the front, crossing the finish line eighth.
"It was one of those days,” he continued. “I thought we had this thing won at one point and then on that restart it didn't work out so well for us and then everybody was out of control back there racing and body-slamming. The No. 83 (Brian Vickers) and the No. 11 went at it for a little bit. We were bump-drafting down the straightaways and that was some wild racing. I didn't think we could race like that on a 1.5-mile.”
Johnson’s teammate Mark Martin won the race, his fourth victory of the season.
“Our cars were pretty good and we could get away,” Johnson added. “But Mark (Martin) really had the dominant car in my eyes. There were a couple of segments where we were better, but overall Mark had the dominant car and I'm glad to see him win the race."
Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 212 behind Stewart. Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.
The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off weekend before traveling to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the July 26 event.