CUP: Johnson Can’t Seal Deal

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Can’t Seal Deal

The good news for Jimmie Johnson is that his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finally seemed to find the speed...

Tom Jensen | Posted July 12, 2008 Joliet, Ill.

Jimmie Johnson was quickest in Happy Hour practice for the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images Photo)

The good news for Jimmie Johnson is that his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finally seemed to find the speed it’s lacked for so much of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

The bad news is that it still wasn’t enough to keep the all-conquering Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch out of victory lane in Saturday night’s Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Johnson passed Busch 17 laps from the end of the race and appeared to have the race locked up.

But when David Gilliland blew an engine in the closing laps, it set up a 2-lap shootout for the victory and Busch made a banzai charge to pass Johnson. When the green flag fell on Lap 266, Busch made a hard charge to the outside of Johnson at the entrance of Turn 1 and made it stick through the exit of Turn 2 as he took his seventh victory of the season.

Johnson was furious with himself for letting Busch pass him at the end, though he was encouraged that for once he had the dominant car. “I should have known better than to give him the top,” Johnson said of Busch’s race-winning pass. “I’m pretty frustrated with myself. That restart, he timed it just right and rolled up on me. I really thought that I had a better car and could just roll it around on the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2 and get away from him. When I heard the spotter say, ‘High,’ I knew I was in trouble. All he had to do is break that plane down the straightaway and for a 2-lap shootout, the outside always wins.”

In the end, Johnson took the blame. “I didn’t make the best decision there on the restart,” he said glumly. “I apologize to my guys.”

Still, he was encouraged by the performance of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which in recent weeks appears to have finally begun making up the ground it had been losing all season.

“We had a great race tonight,” Johnson said. “Great race car, great stops. We showed we can beat that No. 18 tonight. Before that, we were running away, gone with it. Just made a mistake on the restart.”

LIFELOCK.COM 400 RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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Tom Jensen

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