Johnson Credited with 38th-Place Finish in Texas; Leads Martin by 73 in Standings
Jimmie Johnson started 12th in Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway but was involved in a Lap 3 accident and credited with a 38th-place result. He is now 73 points ahead of Mark Martin in the point standings.
"It was definitely not the day we wanted,” said Johnson. “We did not want to lose points like that. Luckily we had a big margin. We're going to two great tracks for us here and we'll just keep racing. We've been saying all along that anything can happen, I just wish the Sam (Hornish) could have waited a little while longer before he hit something. Instead, he lost it and hit me and off we went."
Click here to see photos from the 2009 Dickies 500 at Texas
When Johnson took the green flag, he quickly began moving through the field and passed a couple of cars in the first two laps. But as the Lowe’s Chevy went three-wide and moved to the outside of Sam Hornish on Lap 3 to take a top 10 position, Hornish’s car was tapped by David Reutimann who was on the inside.
That forced Hornish to become loose and he made contact with the left side of Johnson’s machine, sending him scurrying up the track. Johnson managed to avoid contact with the outside wall, but crossed back down the 1.5-mile oval and slammed into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch.
Crew chief Chad Knaus called Johnson to the garage area where the team went to work on the No. 48 Impala SS, including replacing the front and rear suspension as well as the drive shaft.
Johnson spent an hour and eight minutes in the garage before returning to the track, over 100 laps down.
"I just played back through the crash (while sitting in the garage) and what happened and if I could have done anything differently,” explained Johnson. “I could have maybe given him more room, but I would have had a more direct angle at the wall and would have hit the outside wall.
“So, when I think back, I was just hoping he'd get out and hoping there would be some cautions and we could make up some spots and the first report Chad (Knaus) gave me wasn't good. He thought we were going to have to put the car on the truck because it was so torn up. So, as time went on I could see their spirits lift and I knew we could at least get back out on track. I started to focus on things I needed to."
Johnson went on to pick up six spots in the remaining laps, finishing 38th.
“It's just one of those things,” added Johnson. “There's not a lot we can do about it. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guys did a great job to get this car back out on track to pick up some more spots. And we'll go to Phoenix and race.
"We've got two great race tracks for us (coming up, Phoenix and Homestead). We didn't want this by any means but we're still in a great position and we'll go to Phoenix and race."
Kurt Busch went on to win the 334-lap event, moving to fourth place in the point standings.
Johnson now leads Martin (-73), Jeff Gordon (-112), Busch (-171) and Tony Stewart (-178) in the Championship standings with two races remaining.
The Sprint Cup Series will travel to Phoenix International Raceway for the second to last stop on the schedule. The event will be broadcast live Nov. 15 on ABC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.