Johnson sailing to 5th title

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

A piece of debris clung to the grill of Jimmie Johnson’s car a mere 17 laps into the race at Auto Club Speedway, and for a bit, it appeared the four-time defending NASCAR champion was in some rare trouble.

As the garbage flapped off the front of his Chevrolet, the temperatures climbed to levels high enough to cause concern for Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team. It also created some wishful thinking from the championship contenders eager to see Johnson suffer a stroke of bad luck.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

A pit stop 21 laps later gave his crew a chance to clean the grill, and Johnson set sail for a third-place finish. Not so for many of his challengers, who one-by-one suffered through championship-crippling crisis’ during Sunday’s race.

Now Johnson again sits atop the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings, and the list of drivers capable of dethroning him is dwindling. What was one of the tightest Chases in its seven year history at the start of the race — nine drivers were separated by 101 points — was blown open three hours later when the checkered flag fell.

The unraveling began with a disastrous day for Roush-Fenway Racing. Greg Biffle’s engine expired 40 laps into the race, Carl Edwards had a problem with his ignition box that sent him to the garage, and Matt Kenseth had engine problems.

“That probably took all three of us out for a legitimate shot in one race,” Kenseth said.

Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick were both flagged for speeding on pit road, Kyle Busch’s engine failed late in the race, and older brother Kurt was wrecked by David Ragan with seven laps remaining to wipe out his shot at a top-10 finish.

When the carnage was over, the field had been widened to only three drivers within 85 points of Johnson. Tony Stewart, the winner, shaved 20 points off of his deficit but sits fifth.