Commentary: Mistakes continue to haunt Johnson’s season
For years Jimmie Johnson was thought to be superhuman.
His Lowe’s Chevrolet team from Hendrick Motorsports was called invincible. Because year after year it seemed Johnson never stumbled, never faltered. The team built bulletproof cars and appeared unbeatable, they were best in the business.
When Johnson failed win the championship in 2011, after having won five straight, all those compliments died down and the critics jumped at the chance to call Johnson human after all. Insisting that his reign was over as was the domination he once knew.
The 2013 season has been both kind and harsh to Johnson. He’s won four races and leads the point standings over Clint Bowyer by an incredible 75 points. Johnson has dominated races and stirred the critics back up.
Except, for every race Johnson and company have won this year, they’ve left another one on the table. Sunday in Indianapolis Johnson was looking for his fifth Brickyard 400 win and trying to make it back-to-back at the famed speedway.
And once again, Johnson dominated the event by leading a race high 73 laps. He was the leader as the final round of green flag pit stops began with less than 30 laps to go. Taking four tires and fuel it should have been a 12 or 13 second stop, instead the rear tire carrier came around to the left side slow.
Johnson came off pit road after a 17 second stop and watched Ryan Newman, the only other driver who could stay with him, take two tires and later inherit the lead. A seven second difference was too much for Johnson to overcome; he finished second to Newman.
“I don’t know what the distance was at the end. I would have been a lot closer to him,” Johnson said afterwards, as he’ll have to wait another year to try and win an unprecedented fifth Brickyard 400.
“Catching them and then passing them is different. I’m not sure what the delta was when I entered the track, how big of a gap I had from the 39 [Newman] to us. But we definitely had a mistake on our stop. Could have been four seconds closer leaving pit road.”
When Johnson took the four tires, as well as having the slow stop, it possibly changed the pit stop call for Newman’s team. They took two tires and were off pit road even quicker than had they taken four. Johnson tried not to hang his head when looking back on the course of events.
“Stuff happens. Everybody scans us. When you’re the dominant car, they’re going to do the opposite of what you do. I think I pitted before them, so it was an easy call for them to do the opposite. The 2 [tires] gave them the track position they needed. With the mistake, they had good track position,” he said.
Mistakes have been massive for the 48 team this season. Sunday was another missed opportunity with a car that should have been in Victory Lane. Think of all the lost wins and certainly the bonus points that have disappeared into thin air.
There was the restart controversy in Dover, where Johnson led 143 laps but was deemed to have jumped the final restart with 19 laps to go. It took him from second to 17th.
In Michigan, in which he again complained of a restart, the team continually lost spots on pit road and he had to make it up on track. He charged to second and was hunting down eventual winner Greg Biffle before he blew a right front tire and hit the wall.
And how can anyone forget Kentucky. Again the class of the field was the Lowe’s Chevy, leading 182 of the race’s 267 laps. But on a late restart Johnson spun himself out, after which he claimed eventual winner Matt Kenseth slowed down the start.
Indianapolis was another mistake in as many weeks. Uncharacteristic for a team that has made their living when the pressure is on. What was once a sure thing – Johnson dominating and heading toward victory – becomes a nail bitter when the pay window opens.
That was when they shined, now they’re trying to right the ship. After the checkered flag flew, crew chief Chad Knaus complimented the team on a solid race but acknowledged there is still some work to be done.
“We’ll try. What’s on my mind, we win as a team, lose as a team,” Johnson stated when asked how quickly everyone would be able to get over Sunday’s disappointment.
“There’s been some late race mistakes on my behalf that have taken race wins away from us. Granted not a major event like this. But we win as a team, lose as a team. We still ended up second. We have a lot to be proud over the course of the weekend. We’ll do the best to let it roll off our shoulders by tomorrow afternoon.”
The good news, Pocono comes next where Johnson won last month. A week after they let a race win slip away. They again head north needed to rebound and needed to get all the bugs worked out now before the Chase begins in six weeks.
South Bend Native Ryan Newman Wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Ryan Newman, from South Bend, Indiana won the 20th annual Crown Royal Presents The Samuel Deeds 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday after starting from the pole and breaking the nine year old track record. Prior to his win, Newman, in the #39, Stewart-Haas Racing Quicken Loans Chevrolet had only scored two top 10 finishes at Indy in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. “I knew we had a good car. Starting on the pole and winning the race. Just an awesome day for us. This is a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to push my lips on those bricks”, said Newman after his win. “It will take a week or so for this to set in. Just a great run today. Happy it stayed green. We needed that. A great long-run car”, he added.
Newman’s teammate and car owner, Tony Stewart, in the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, ran strong all day and finished in the 4th position. When asked about Newman’s win, Tony said “I can’t wait to give him a big hug and congratulate him. He did a great job all weekend. It was between him and the 48. I didn’t know what the strategy was going to be at the end. I just kept watching the jumbo-trons coming off (turn) four to see where he was at.”
Points leader, Jimmie Johnson started the race in 2nd and finished in the same spot, 2.657 seconds behind Newman. Johnson, in the #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet took the lead from Newman after the first round of pit stops and would lead four times for 73 laps and extending his lead to 75 over Clint Bowyer in the points standings. Johnson’s final stop cost him the lead over Newman after a slow stop on pit road. “There’s definitely disappointment there. But that’s racing – it happens. I’ve given away a few out there this year too. Ryan was fast all day long. I can’t take anything away from him. He was plenty fast”, said Johnson when asked about the last pit stop. In regards to his car, Johnson said, “It wasn’t the easiest one to drive. I was real tight in and loose off. In traffic, it was a little tougher than I wanted. It was still an awesome race car. I just came up a little bit short today.”
Third place finisher, Kasey Kahne, in the #5 Great Clips Chevrolet started 7th and scored his fifth top-10 finish in ten starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We kept falling back too far. It takes awhile to get back to the front. Congrats to Ryan. He had a big weekend. He deserved it. He needed it.” said Kahne.
Matt Kenseth, in the Joe Gibbs Racing, #20 Dollar General Toyota continued his strong season finishing in the 5th position after starting the race in 13th. “We had really, really great pit stops from my Dollar General crew and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) mad a great call to get us some track position. That’s really what got us our top-five. We didn’t have a car that good today. We were just off all weekend. We never hit is exactly right.” said Kenseth after the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started in the 15th position and finished 6th after rebounding from an early unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel. Four time winner of this race, Jeff Gordon, finished in 7th, followed by Joey Logano, in the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford in 8th, 9th place finisher, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kyle Busch in 10th.
Remarkably, Ryan Newman is searching for a ride for the 2014 season. It was recently announced that Kevin Harvick would be moving over to the Stewart-Haas Racing team. Ryan said of his search for a new ride, “The biggest thing is confidence. We still got a championship to go after. We still got the Chase to chase.”
The win was Newman’s 17th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. There were 3 cautions for 14 laps and 20 lead changes among 12 drivers. The average speed of the race was 153.485 mph and all 43 cars that started the race were running at the finish.
2013 Crown Royal Presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at The Brickyard Results:
1. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet
2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
3. Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet
4. Tony Stewart, Chevrolet
5. Matt Kenseth, Toyota
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet
7. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
8. Joey Logano, Ford
9. Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet
10. Kyle Busch, Toyota
11. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota
12. Paul Menard, Chevrolet
13. Carl Edwards, Ford
14. Kurt Busch, Chevrolet
15. Jamie McMurray
16. Marcos Ambrose
17. Aric Almirola
18. Denny Hamlin, Toyota
19. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet
20. Clint Bowyer, Toyota
21. Brad Keselowski, Ford
22. AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet
23. Mark Martin, Toyota
24. Greg Biffle, Ford
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford
26. Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
27. Casey Mears, Ford
28. Trevor Bayne, Ford
29. David Reutimann, Toyota
30. Danica Patrick, Chevrolet
31. Travis Kvapil, Toyota
32. Michael McDowell, Ford
33. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet
34. David Ragan, Ford
35. David Gilliland, Ford
36. Bobby Labonte, Toyota
37. Dave Blaney, Chevrolet
38. Josh Wise, Ford
39. JJ Yeley, Chevrolet
40. David Stremme, Toyota
41. Joe Nemechek, Toyota
42. Timmy Hill, Ford
43. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet
Newman wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Polesitter Ryan Newman captured the lead during the final round of pit stops with 30 laps to go and won Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Newman’s crew chief Matt Borland, elected to only change two tires while Johnson’s team changed four. The two tire stop gave Newman a seven second lead over Johnson and he was able to hold off Johnson despite the tire advantage by 2.658 seconds.
“Matt Borland made an awesome call. I’ve won more races on old tires and out of gas than I have with four tires and the best car.” Newman said.
This was Newman’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) win of the season was the 17th of his career and his first at Indianapolis.
“There is definitely disappointment there, but this is racing that stuff happens. I have given away a couple late in the race myself this year. We win as a team we lose as a team, it’s just how it is. I wouldn’t take another race team out there. I’m very proud of this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet team and everything that goes into it. Great day, Ryan (Newman) was fast all day long. I can’t take anything away from him.” Johnson said.
Kasey Kahne finished third, Tony Stewart fourth and Matt Keneth finished fifth.
