Jimmie Johnson’s championship hopes were in peril on Lap 197 of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.
They were saved on Lap 198 by a 14-car crash that Johnson narrowly made it through.
Johnson, who finished 11th in the playoff elimination race, had come off consecutive spins on Laps 189 and 194 and trips to pit road for repairs when the wreck broke out on restart following his second spin. The first spin had sent his No. 48 Chevrolet sliding through the rain-soaked grass in the infield.
“The car was extremely loose,” Johnson told NBCSN. “We fought the balance throughout the day and the car would swing so hard. We were trying for short run speed to free the car up and we just got too far with it and I spun out twice. Thankfully I didn’t hit anything too hard.
“And when things really changed was down the back straightaway in that wreck. Somehow, I went through there at a high rate of speed and missed everybody. I don’t know how, but I made it. And then the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) car was sitting there and I thought I had him lined-up for a square impact, but fortunately he slid out of the way. ... It wasn’t a pretty day, but we got it done.”
Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief, had less kind words for his team’s day.
“We ran like (expletive),” Knaus told NBC Sports. “It was a bad weekend. We managed to capitalize on some other people’s misfortune, which was great for us. We’ve got some work to do. I don’t know what’s going on. We definitely don’t have the speed that we need.
“Good news is we’ve got three really good racetracks coming up for us, at least historically. Very optimistic heading into Martinsville and going to Homestead this week to test, so hopefully we can hit on some stuff there to take to Texas. We’ve obviously have run well there in the past. Phoenix has been a really good race track for us as well. We’ve got three great opportunities. Just got to do the best.’’
Johnson is the active wins leader at Martinsville with nine. He is the defending winner of the fall race. It is his only top five in the last six races at the short track.
“It’s not a bad track for us,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we can repeat last year’s performance there. And then we have Texas coming up. We’re not where we want to be. There’s no doubt about it. But, we’re staying alive and I know this team so well, we can find something and we’re going to sure as hell try to get it.”
Johnson is also the defending winner at Texas Motor Speedway, where he earned one of his three wins this year in April.
At Phoenix, Johnson has four wins, but the last one came in 2009. He also only has one top five there in his last six starts.
Johnson heads into the Round of 8 seeded fifth in the standings with 4,017 points.
“It’s not back to zero with all those stage points,” Johnson said. “For us to advance moving forward, we’ve got to win. We’ve got to win one of these next few races coming up. It’s really simple from our standpoint. We’ve got to get some speed in our cars and we’ve got to win a race.”
In his quest to win a record eighth Cup championship, Johnson has earned just four top fives this season. His third-place finish at Dover in the final race of the first playoff round is the only one since his June win also at Dover.
Johnson is the only driver who has won a race in every season of the playoffs entering 2017. He has four races left to continue the streak.