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SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Scoring three consecutive Brickyard 400 wins is a record that will have to wait for at least two more years.Jimmie Johnson, the latest driver in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history with an opportunity to take three straight checkered flags, drove to quite an unimpressive 22nd-place in the Brickyard 400 with a poorly handling race car.
"I'm not really sure (what was wrong with) the car today," Johnson said in his sweat-drenched Lowe's firesuit after pulling his car to the IMS hauler lot. "We had high expectations for the day. I just had a really bad understeer problem on the corner entering and into the center."
The four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion entered Sunday's race as a logical favorite. Johnson just missed winning the pole during Saturday's qualifications and took Sunday's green flag from the front row alongside Juan Pablo Montoya.
Johnson grabbed the lead on lap 20 -- only for a lap -- when Joe Nemechek pitted while the field came to the green after Nemechek was the lone car that didn't originally pit with the leaders during the race's second caution.
A lap later, though, Montoya was again scored as the leader as Johnson's demise started. By lap 50, Johnson was scored 9th after apparent issues with a green flag pit stop. Ten laps later, the No. 48 was 8th, but after pit stops during the race's third caution for debris on lap 67, Johnson dropped all the way to 23rd.
He wouldn't recover, and a lengthy pit stop to change the Chevrolet's front shocks put Johnson a lap down -- and the stop didn't seem to help.
"I had guys out-braking me at a track where you really don't charge the corner. We were really confused as to why," said Johnson, who is now fourth in the series standings, 261 points out of first. "Maybe something went on with a shock or something in the front, although we changed both shocks thinking that might be it and that didn't really correct the problem."
More late cautions allowed Johnson to get the wave around and join the lead lap cars, but he could never fully challenge and finished just ahead of his also-struggling and damaged Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.
"We didn't expect it to be (a tough day)," Johnson said after recording his third-straight 22nd-or worse finish. "We had a good practice session and slept well last night, really. I had high expectations for today, so at this point, I'm a little confused."
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