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Tire issues keep Jimmie Johnson from winning back-to-back races

jj vegas car AP

Jimmie Johnson’s hope of winning Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway came to an abrupt end with when tire issues sent him into the wall.

Johnson, who won last weekend’s race at Atlanta, was running 27th Sunday, a lap behind the leaders, when he hit the outside wall. That brought out the caution on Lap 173. He went to pit road for repairs and continued.

The caution waved again on Lap 187 when the right front tire on Johnson’s car blew and he again hit the wall, suffering significant damage.

Johnson took his car to the garage for repairs. He returned nearly 30 laps later but still finished 41st.

“The first one, they said the bead blew on it,” Johnson told Fox Sports. “We don’t have any brake temp here, so I don’t know what could have caused that. It was kind of a freak deal.

“The second one, it went soft. There could have been some damage or rub or something like that. It went soft going into Turn 3 and I hit the wall, unfortunately.”

Earlier in the race, Johnson had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 91 due to a loose wheel.