DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Fortunately for Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 crew, a disappointing finish in the Daytona 500 is no indication of how the season will unfold for Team Lowe's Racing.

Last year, Johnson finished 39th in the "Great American Race," but 10 wins and a second consecutive Cup series championship was an effective salve for the team's frustrating Daytona finish.

This year's running of the season opener was another eventful race for Johnson and the Lowe's team. Trouble on pit road, coupled with an accident late in the race, resulted in a 27th-place finish for the No. 48 crew.

"The No. 77 (Sam Hornish Jr.) got loose inside of me or something went on there where he just barely got me and turned me around," Johnson said. "I thought we were going to make it without getting hit real hard, but we had a little bit of contact. We stayed on the lead lap and did a good job there, but we had lost track position early in the day and we were fighting to get it back all day and it was really difficult to pass anyone out there."

After starting from the pole position, Johnson ran comfortably in the top 10 in the opening laps. The 43-car field began making green-flag pit stops around lap 35 and completed a total of 79 laps before the first caution flag of the race came out for debris on the track.

When Johnson came to pit road during the caution, crew chief Chad Knaus called for a four-tire pit stop. As the crew went to work on the left side of the Lowe's Chevy, the car slipped off the jack, costing the team precious seconds as it hurried to raise the car and complete the stop.

The issue dropped Johnson well back in the field for the restart, but the Lowe's team overcame the setback and patiently worked its way back into the top-15.

With just 23 laps remaining, misfortune again found the Lowe's team when Johnson and Hornish made contact coming off turn 2 of the 2.5-mile superspeedway, sending the No. 48 sliding across the infield grass.

Fortunately, the Lowe's Chevy was not severely damaged in the crash, and quick repair work by the No. 48 pit crew kept Johnson on the lead lap.

While the race was slowed just two times by caution flags in the first 160 laps, five caution periods blemished the final 40 circuits of the event. Three cautions fell in the laps after Johnson's crash, preventing the No. 48 team from mounting a sustained charge to regain lost positions in the race's final stages.

With the finish, the No. 48 Lowe's team sits 27th in points as Johnson heads to his home state of California for the second event of the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Johnson finished third at California Speedway one year ago, the first of three consecutive top-five finishes in 2007, including two wins.

The Auto Club 500 will air live from California Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 24, beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST on FOX and MRN Radio affiliates.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE

California Speedway

Friday, Feb. 22

Sprint Cup practice, 3 p.m. ET on SPEED

Sprint Cup Qualifying, 6:30 p.m. ET on SPEED

Saturday, Feb. 23

Sprint Cup practice, 5 p.m. ET on SPEED

Sunday, Feb. 24

Pre-race, 3 p.m. on FOX

Race, 3:30 p.m. on FOX