Jimmie Johnson put had a quick car and was running the quickest laps of the race. Chad Knaus had played the right strategy to put his driver out front. It looked as though he would score the victory. Then the caution happened. Rather than celebrating a victory, Johnson crossed the finish line in sixth.
Under the caution, all of the leaders except for Johnson and four others stayed out – something that he wasn’t worried about at first.
“We made that next lap, I saw there were a bunch of cars between myself and the first guy on (new) tires. I felt pretty good about things,” he stated.
However, those good feelings escaped quickly as the Busch brothers and Clint Bowyer quickly made their way up through the field, putting Johnson back to fourth with about four laps to go. He would then fall two more spots before the end of the race.
“I was just surprised how fast they got through traffic and got to my bumper,” he said. “Tires were definitely the call, but we had a strategy that we were going to stick to. We were one caution away from it working out just right.”
Despite the strategy not working out as planned, Johnson feels that he would’ve done the same thing if given the chance as he says they played it perfectly.
“We were one caution away from it working out just right,” he commented. “So, this situation we’re in with the wins and being locked in the Chase, we wanted to come out and be aggressive with our strategy in the Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet.”
