By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
INDIANAPOLIS – Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson’s chance to make the 2019 NASCAR playoffs came to an abrupt end on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. For the first time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Johnson will miss NASCAR’s post-season.
Johnson entered Sunday’s Brickyard 400 winless in 2019 and two spots below the cut line for the 16-driver playoff lineup. It was not impossible for Johnson to make the playoffs, but it left him in a situation where he either had to win or finish higher than the other drivers on the playoff bubble.
After qualifying his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet in a solid fifth-place starting position, Johnson was in position to earn stage points in the first stage. However, when he came in to pit for four tires and fuel, he was involved in an incident on pit road that wasn’t of his doing.
Due to an incident involving Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace, Johnson was forced to come down pit road a second time for service on the right rear of his Chevrolet. Ultimately, Johnson would lose valuable track position and have to work his way back through the field.
No problem. Johnson would do just that and end up finishing the second stage in the eighth position, earning valuable stage points.
On lap 105, everything would change. Johnson was running on the inside of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, making it tight three-wide racing quarters.
The outcome wouldn’t be pretty as Johnson wound up spinning in the grass and ultimately slid up the track and into the wall. The damage was too extensive for Johnson’s crew to do anything, ultimately ending his hopes of making the playoffs and leaving him with a disappointing 35th place finish.
“Disappointed that the door is closed on our chance at a championship. I am very proud of the 15-year run we’ve had to make the playoffs for 15 consecutive years, and unfortunately that’s over now,” Johnson said.
“We’ve got 25 races leading into this one where a few things could’ve gone our way differently and we’d be in this thing. There’s still 10 races to go win and we can still climb the points and finish higher in points. More importantly, this team has so much momentum and brotherhood right now, we need to cultivate that and get ourselves setup for 2020.”
Johnson is the only active driver to make the NASCAR post-season since it’s inception in 2004 and win a title in each version of the format that has existed. Over a 15-year span, Johnson has won 7 Championships, he has 83 MENCS wins with 29 of those coming in the postseason.
Through 26 races this season Johnson has just three Top-5s and eight Top-10 finishes.
The next race on the MENCS schedule is next Sunday’s SouthPoint 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Like many tracks on the Cup schedule, it’s a track where Johnson has seen past success and will look to finally get the monkey off his back and capture his first win of 2019, and his first victory since 2017 at Dover International Speedway.
In 19 starts at Las Vegas, Johnson has four wins, six Top-5s, 9 Top-10s and has led 595 laps but it’s been a while since he’s visited victory lane there as he’ll look to capture his first checkered flag at the 1.5-mile track since 2010.
“I just know in my heart this team is going in the right direction. We’re getting stronger”, said Johnson.