Subscibe to our feedJohnson Earns Top-5 Finish at New Hampshire
Jimmie Johnson started 16th in the first event of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Johnson ran in the top 10 for nearly the entire event and required minor adjustments to fix a tight center on his No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS early in the race.
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Various pit strategies began playing out from the midway point of the race. Johnson even led for 14 laps, earning five bonus points.
The closing laps brought out several cautions and double-file restarts produced some exciting closing laps. Johnson was able to stay out of trouble and maintained a fourth-place spot throughout, bringing home the first to five finish for the Lowe’s team in the Chase.
“Yeah, good day for us,” said Johnson. “Strategy got a little weird there in the middle part of the race. Cautions at the end really weren’t working for us, we were starting to catch the 2 (Kurt Busch) and the 5 (Mark Martin). The way the tires were cycling around. It worked out well. We were running strong all day long and I’m glad we got a good top-five. Great start to the Chase -- very happy with things.”
Johnson’s fourth-place finish puts him in a tie for second in points with Denny Hamlin, 35 points behind leader Mark Martin.
The second race in the Chase takes place at Dover International Speedway where Johnson has four wins and six top-five finishes in 15 starts.
Coverage begins Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. ET on ABC.