LAS VEGAS -- In a car that never handled the way he wanted it to, Jimmie Johnson posted a frustrating 29th-place finish in Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Carl Edwards won the race by .504 seconds over Dale Earnhardt Jr., but NASCAR found an oil tank cover violation in Edwards' winning car during post-race inspection. The car will be taken to NASCAR's research & development center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation.
If penalties are forthcoming, they will be announced later, but for now, Edwards' second consecutive win of the 2008 season remains intact.
As for Johnson, who had won the previous three races at Las Vegas, the only thing that helped the driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was attrition. Though Johnson finished two laps down, his position improved as other cars fell out of the race, which produced a track-record 11 caution flags. The UAW-Dodge 400 also ended a streak of 10 races in which Johnson finished on the lead lap.
The two-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion also took a hit in the points standings, dropping six places to 14th -- outside the top 12 required to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Crew chief Chad Knaus, however, promised after the race that future efforts will be better.
As Johnson rolled off pit road to take his pace laps, Knaus acknowledged a large group of Lowe's employee-partners seated in turn 3.
"I'm on the inside?" Johnson asked as he took his pace laps.
"Yeah, you're 35th, I think," Knaus replied, uncertain of the starting position because the Lowe's Chevy rarely starts that deep in the field. "Maybe 34th. How about 'I'm not sure?'"
Johnson actually had earned the 33rd starting position during Friday's qualifying, but because Clint Bowyer was relegated to the rear of the field for going to a backup car after a practice crash, the Lowe's Chevy moved up one position on the inside row, effectively starting 31st.
As it turned out, that small promotion made little difference. The mediocre qualifying run proved an accurate portent of the race itself.
"Jimmie, something else you need to keep in mind here today -- with the wind, there's going to be a lot of debris," Knaus warned his driver before the green flag flew. "So I'm going to ask you to check your temps periodically."
"It'll be a long, hard day, but we're up to the challenge," Johnson said optimistically.
"OK, coming to green, tighten them belts. Let's have a good 'un," spotter Stevie Reeves chimed in.
From the outset, handling was a major issue.
"The car wanders all over, following people into the corner," Johnson told Knaus a few laps into the race. "On throttle it's good."
On lap 20, Johnson described the handling characteristics as "tight off."
"Can you dial some more front brake into it, Jimmie?" Knaus asked.
"I just put a round in," Johnson replied a few moments later. Then, after trying the change, he reported, "It's helpful to use the front brake on entry." But that didn't alleviate the "wobbly" feeling Johnson was experiencing in the car.
"We'll get you fixed up here when we get a caution," Knaus promised.
By lap 44, Johnson was in 26th position, nearly 25 seconds behind Edwards, who was leading.
"Buddy, go get a couple of those guys," Knaus urged, exhorting Johnson to overtake several of the cars immediately ahead of him. "Leader's at the line now."
Johnson had pitted during the first caution of the race on lap 10, while the leaders had remained on the track. So the No. 48 Chevy could remain on the track, hoping for a caution.
"These guys are going to start pitting," Knaus said on Lap 48, referring to the leaders. "I need you to hold onto it for a while."
Fifty laps into the race, Sam Hornish Jr. hit the turn 2 wall, but no caution was called because Hornish remained under power. As a result, Johnson had to pit on lap 55 at the end of a long cycle of green-flag stops. By lap 65, he had improved his position to 19th.
NASCAR called a caution on lap 68 for debris in turn 2, prompting another pit stop to address Johnson's handling issues.
"Put two pounds in the left side," Knaus said. "Gotta hurry. Take a spring rubber out of the right rear. Put a spring rubber in the left rear. We'll be better off just trying to get the car handling better at this point, Jimmie."
"Will a little more front brake help you?" Knaus asked on lap 70.
"To me it felt like it did in the past when there was no (panhard) bar load in it," Johnson replied. "It's gotten better, but it's still not correct."
"For a while there, you were running fast," Knaus rejoined. "I just want to know what happened at that point there."
"The edginess came back," Johnson said. "It was like the bar load wasn't in it anymore. It got into a cycle where it would turn too much, then not enough."
On lap 88, having fallen back to 25th, a lap down, a disappointed Johnson said, "Same as the first run, Chad."
"Keep digging," Knaus replied. "We've got another 170 laps to go, man."
"Something definitely wrong with this car at the end of the straightaway," Johnson said 10 laps later.
"Sorry, buddy, I can't fix it," Knaus answered. "We've been trying to fix it all weekend."
On lap 108, under caution for Tony Stewart's hard crash into the turn 4 wall, Knaus called for wholesale changes to the Lowe's Chevy.
"Let's pit early to make sure we get all the changes," Knaus urged, knowing that doing so would force Johnson to restart at the rear. Accordingly, Johnson brought the No. 48 Chevy to the pits before pit road was open.
One stop wasn't enough to make all the adjustments. Johnson circled the 1.5-mile speedway and came to the pits again with the lapped cars.
"Let's get our lap back," Knaus said after the stop. "I don't want to finish one lap down here. That's ridiculous."
"I'm edgy off now," Johnson said after a restart on lap 115. "I just want to get a feel for it before I get up in the middle of these guys."
Unfortunately, the adjustments had little positive effect. "We just moved the evil part," Johnson said. "It's still in it."
"I can't fix it," Knaus repeated.
On lap 144, after Robby Gordon's crash brought out the fourth caution of the race, Johnson told Knaus, "It's evil when I get to the center of the corner."
"We'll put a packer in the right rear," Knaus suggested. "Drop the right side panhard bar all the way down."
Moments later, Reeves reported on a conversation with Jeff Gordon's spotter, after Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate had lapped the Lowe's Chevy. "Jeff wanted to say it looks like it was riding on the splitter when he went by you," Reeves said.
After a restart on lap 156, Johnson keyed his radio to let Knaus know the handling was marginally better. "Tight center off," Johnson said. "Entry's good."
Three laps later the driver added, "I'm doing all I can here. That's all I've got."
With Johnson two laps down and doomed to a disappointing finish, Knaus told his driver on lap 170 that the Lowe's team would give its tires with lug nuts "glued-up" to Gordon's No. 24 team.
By lap 183 Johnson was reduced to simply riding out the finish.
"Sorry to all the Lowe's people," Knaus said after the race. "You guys made a long trip out here for us not to do any better than we did. We'll do better."
