LAS VEGAS, Nev – Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway pre-race favorite Jimmie Johnson saw a strong performance in a race adorning his sponsor’s name thwarted by tire problems Sunday.
Climbing from his ninth place starting position, Johnson’s No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet took a commanding control of the race on Lap 43 and led for 34 laps before making a green flag pit stop.
When the second caution of the race flew on Lap 83 for debris in Turn 1, Johnson led the parade down pit road for another set of Goodyear tires, but little did the six-time champion know his day would disintegrate from there.
Racing resumed on Lap 87 with Johnson in control, but just a handful of laps later, Johnson informed Knaus he thought he had a loose wheel.
Losing the lead to eventual winner Kevin Harvick and the situation worsening, Johnson pitted on Lap 91 and lost a lap in the process.
An impressive rally from deep in the field found last week’s race winner in position for the free pass, but Johnson’s tire blew on Lap 172 sending him into the Turn 1 wall.
Despite a mangled machine, Johnson still had a competitive race car. That was until the next caution on Lap 186 when, Johnson lost another tire in Turn 4.
The damage from the second incident proved to be more costly and sent the team to the garage for repairs. Johnson later returned to the race and finished 41st, 31 laps in the arrears.
“The first one, they said the bead blew on it,” Johnson said. “We don’t have any brake temp here, so I don’t know what could have caused that. That’s kind of a freak deal. The second one, it went soft. So there could have been some damage that caused it or some rub or something like that, and it went soft going into Turn 3 and I hit the wall, unfortunately.
“I’m disappointed. We certainly had an awesome race car. I wish we could have won this KOBALT race in this KOBALT car, but we’ll come back next week.”
The finish dropped Johnson five spots in the championship standings to seventh, 43 points from leader Kevin Harvick.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
