Just when things seemed to be clearing up in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, everything gets murky yet again. As if fans didn’t know how close the new points system would make the hunt for the title, everything took a dramatic change on Saturday night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Sure, the leader in the points had a strong night, and gained four points on his closest competitor, but the story was the guy who won last week.
A top-five run was erased in an instant on lap 318. Jimmie Johnson got loose in the low line and started to spin. The car hung on for a while, but cut back up the track. The Lowes/Chevrolet 100 Years Impala nailed the Turn 2 wall hard enough to sent the rear tires off the ground. The car rolled for a while around the track, but stopped in turn 3.
“Pack it up guys, we’re done,” Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus said over the radio.
Yeah, they were done for the night, as a 40-point night suddenly got just 11 points for his 34th-place result. That finish dropped the five-time champion from third to eighth in the standings. Normally this is a margin that could be made up in a race, or maybe two. But because of how the schedule is this year for the Chase, it’s going to be races seven and eight in the Chase that could be the chances for Johnson to close back in.
Next Sunday’s race is at Talladega, a track where practically everything is out of the driver’s control. It’s a track where having the right drafting partner at the right time is critical, and communication becomes the important part of the race.
Johnson will have to wait until Martinsville and Texas to make his biggest moves, despite him being the winner at Talladega earlier in the year. That race could have been won by one of eight drivers in the last corner, or the tri-oval. Too many factors to consider, and no way to control them at a track where relying on others is what it takes to win.
The fall of Johnson is certainly surprising at this point because even with the Chase now at the mid-way point, he should have at least three wins or at least be in the lead in the points. But that certainly hasn’t happened.
Sure the 48 team is trying to play off the struggles, and in-house communication problems between Johnson and Knaus, but there’s no question that it’s having an effect. Eighth in the standings, for the five-time defending champion…that doesn’t sound like a winning team. It sounds like a team in trouble, and needing to dig out of a hole. The 35-point deficit they find themselves in is a margin that can be made up, but not next weekend. That’s a race where Johnson is just gonna ride around and when the time is right, come to the front and finish, or at least survive.
“Five Time” is in trouble, and Charlotte certainly played a major factor in it.
RESULTS: 1-Kenseth 2-Kyle Busch 3-Edwards 4-Kahne 5-Ambrose 6-Harvick 7-Allmendinger 8-Stewart 9-Hamlin 10-Newman
NOTABLE FINISHES: 13-Kurt Busch 16-Keselowski 19-Earnhardt Jr. 21-Gordon 34-Johnson
CAUTIONS: 8 for 34 laps. Lap 78-81 (Debris-T1), 148-152 (Debris-T3), 156-158 (Debris-T4), 239-242 (#21 stopped on track), 288-292 (Fluid on track), 294-298 (#4, 6, 24 accident-T2), 301-303 (#16 accident-T1), 318-322 (#48 accident-T2).
LEAD CHANGES: 16 among 10 drivers. Stewart 1-42, Kenseth 43, Edwards 44, Johnson 45, Yeley 46, Stewart 47-49, Biffle 50-78, Newman 79-84, Biffle 85-123, Ragan 124, Kyle Busch 125, Montoya 126-127, Kenseth 128-147, Stewart 148-196, Yeley 197-199, Kyle Busch 200-309, Kenseth 310-334.
TIME OF RACE: 3 Hrs, 25 Mins, 37 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 146.194 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.968 Seconds
2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup: 1. Edwards, 2203 points; 2. Harvick, -5; 3. Kenseth, -7; 4. Kyle Busch, -18; 5. Stewart, -24; 6. Keselowski, -25; 7. Kurt Busch, -27; 8. Johnson, -35; 9. Earnhardt Jr, -60; 10. Newman, -61; 11. Gordon, -66; 12. Hamlin, -86.