MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The No. 48 Lowe's team had one of the most dominant cars at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, but an on-track incident denied Jimmie Johnson and his crew a shot at their fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Series win at the legendary track.
After leading five times for 135 laps, Johnson was running in the top five when contact with the car of Ryan Newman sent the Lowe's Chevrolet spinning on lap 296 of the 500-lap event.
Determination, coupled with fast pit stops, allowed Johnson to race his way back up through the field to a fourth-place finish, but the lost track position kept him from mounting a charge on race winner Denny Hamlin.
"Definitely it was a good day," Johnson said. "We had fantastic stops and we had a shot to win today when it was all said and done. We lost a lot of track position early -- I'm not sure exactly what happened. I believe the (No.) 16 (Greg Biffle) got into the (No.) 12 (Ryan Newman), and that kind of set my spin off. It was unfortunate, but that is short-track racing."
Starting from the 10th position, Johnson methodically worked his way through the field, taking the lead for the first time on lap 103. He held the point position for just four laps before his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the pass to lead a lap, but then Johnson retook the top spot for the next 53 circuits.
The Hendrick teammates continued to battle, and Earnhardt Jr. took the lead on lap 161 for 22 laps, only to see Johnson back atop the leaderboard on lap 183.
The next time Johnson lost the position, it was to Hamlin, who led for seven laps before the No. 48 took the point from laps 215-261 and again from laps 263-268. It was another Hendrick driver, Jeff Gordon, who passed Johnson for the lead on lap 269.
The race was then slowed by two caution flags over the next 13 laps. Following the lap 293 restart, Johnson was running in the outside lane while Newman, who was a lap down, held the inside line.
As the field headed into turn 1, Biffle bumped Newman, which pushed Newman's No. 12 up into Johnson's No. 48 entry, sending Johnson sliding up the track and bringing out the 13th caution flag of the race.
After coming to pit road for fresh tires, fuel and chassis adjustments, Johnson returned to the race in 21st position for the lap 302 restart.
It took Johnson and the Lowe's team just 34 laps to work their way back into the top 10, but caution flags and lapped cars made it difficult to gain more track position.
In the closing laps, Johnson again found himself battling Earnhardt Jr. for several laps before Johnson made the pass to take over the fifth position. With four laps remaining, Johnson got by Carl Edwards to finish fourth.
Team Lowe's Racing's second top-five finish of 2008 moved Johnson into the top 10 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers' points standings after six events of the 36-race season.
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers had top-10 finishes at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) finished second in the race and jumped to ninth in the points standings. Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps (146) of any driver and finished sixth to move up one spot to fourth in the points standings. Casey Mears (No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet) finished seventh, his best finish of the year, and is 27th in points.
Next up for the Lowe's crew is a trip to Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth, where the No. 48 team has an impressive record -- four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in nine starts, including a win in the most recent Sprint Cup race held at the facility (November 2007).
The 500-mile race will air at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX and PRN Radio affiliates.
TOP 10 FINISHERS AT MARTINSVILLE
1. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
2. Jeff Gordon (No. 24
3. Jeff Burton (No. 31)
4. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
5. Tony Stewart (No. 20)
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
7. Casey Mears (No. 5)
8. Jamie McMurray (No. 26)
9. Carl Edwards (No. 99)
10. Clint Bowyer (No. 07)
TOP 10 IN POINTS AFTER MARTINSVILLE
1. Jeff Burton (No. 31)
2. Kevin Harvick (No. 29)
3. Greg Biffle (No. 16)
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
5. Kyle Busch (No. 18)
6. Tony Stewart (No. 20)
7. Kasey Kahne (No. 9)
8. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
9. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)
10. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVERS' POINT POSITIONS
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Jeff Gordon
10. Jimmie Johnson
27. Casey Mears
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Texas Motor Speedway
Friday, April 4
Sprint Cup practice, 1 p.m. ET on SPEED
Sprint Cup qualifying, 4:30 p.m. ET on SPEED
Saturday, April 5
Sprint Cup practice, noon ET on SPEED
Sprint Cup final practice, 1 p.m. ET on SPEED
Sunday, April 6
Pre-race, 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX
Race, 2 p.m. ET on FOX
