Johnson KO’d at Darlington

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, S.C.

Four-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson got knocked out of the Southern 500 on Saturday night, the third time this season he won’t finish a race.

The race was not completed in time for this edition.

Johnson was slammed by AJ Allmendinger between turns three and four, the No. 48 car crumpled. Johnson was checked and released at Darlington Raceway’s infield care center.

“I’m still clueless as to where he came from,” Johnson said. “I didn’t see [Allmendinger] until the last second before he hit me.”

The wreck ended a woeful night for Johnson, who swept both races at Darlington in 2004. He hit the wall early on, then was involved in a crash with Martin Truex but was able to get back out.

“I feel like we were doing our best and really made the most of a bad starting position,” Johnson said. “I felt like we were going to be competitive, but unfortunately, we got taken out.”

Allmendinger said he was dealing with failing brakes for several laps and when he hit the pedal to keep from hitting Johnson, his car’s brake rotors exploded.

“I’m sorry to Jimmie,” Allmendinger said. “It wasn’t his fault.”

Johnson’s familiar Lowe’s Chevrolet was towed into the garage, looking nothing like the machine that took the past four titles.

He was running at the end of all but seven races from 2006-2009. He’s nearly halfway to that mark in 2010.

Back in black?

Darlington Raceway hasn’t been the same since a multimillion dollar repaving before the 2008 race.

Sprint Car drivers have noticed — and some want the old “Lady in Black” back.

“I’m no chemist,” said Mark Martin, the 2009 Southern 500 winner. “I can tell you that this is different.”

There was no doubt the track needed work to smooth over the cracks and ruts that developed at a facility built in 1949. So a mini workyard went up outside the track in 2007 for the paving project and construction of a more modern infield access tunnel.

The result? A surface where drivers testing in March 2008 hit 200 mph at the end of Darlington’s backstretch.

The faster speeds have continued — Southern 500 qualifying records were set each of the last two years — and drivers have had less margin for error when racing near the wall.

“That edge is so close and it’s such a fine line and it’s such a lot easier to go over,” said Jeff Gordon, who leads active drivers with seven Darlington victories.

Carl Edwards, for one, can’t wait for the track to get a bit less slick and a lot more worn.

“If they could come out here and just rough it up, do whatever they can. Maybe it’ll rain a little extra this year or something,” Edwards said. “The quicker we can back to that, I think the better.”