HAMPTON, Ga. -- In 2007, Jimmie Johnson swept both races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 500, Johnson had to use all his formidable driving skills just to avoid getting swept away in a crash at the 1.54-mile speedway. Fighting a loose condition in his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, Johnson twice went a lap down but rallied to salvage a 13th-place finish as the last driver on the lead lap.
Johnson's former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Busch, won the race, taking Toyota to Victory Lane for the first time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In fact, Busch's win was the first for a foreign manufacturer since Al Keller triumphed in a Jaguar on the airport road course in Linden, N.J., in 1954.
Busch beat his Joe Gibbs racing teammate, Tony Stewart, to the finish line by 2.066 seconds. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran third, followed by Greg Biffle and polesitter Jeff Gordon.
Despite the frustrating day, Johnson improved his position in the Cup standings by one position, to 13th. He's 198 points behind Busch, the leader, but only three behind Matt Kenseth in 12th, the final Chase-eligible spot.
Johnson started the race from the 11th position, with his customary optimism.
"Let's go out there and have some fun today," crew chief Chad Knaus said as the Lowe's Chevy rolled off pit road. "It's a long race, a lot of laps. Remember, Jimmie, we have a long time to get to the front. Try to stay around the top 10 all day, and we can race hard at the end. Everything seems to be working, OK?"
"Working fine," Johnson radioed back. "Your radio's scratchy. OK, guys, let's have some fun today. It's going to be a challenge, but I know we're up for it. It's one of my favorite tracks."
"Just a reminder," Knaus rejoined, "you've got an in-car camera today."
"So keep those hand gestures to a minimum," Johnson replied knowingly.
"OK, pull 'em tight here," spotter Stevie Reeves said on the final pace lap. "Coming to the green. Have a good one. All right, pace car's down. Ready ... green flag!"
On lap 5, Johnson had gained one position to 10th, and he told Knaus the car was "not edgy, just loose."
On lap 10, Reeves pointed out to his driver that Earnhardt, the leader at the time, was running the top of the track in both sets of corners.
"32.40, leader's 31.40," Knaus said on lap 11, telling Johnson he was a full second off Earnhardt's lap time.
"This thing just got really bad," Johnson replied, even though he had claimed the ninth position by then.
"Just for what it's worth, man, the 88 is running extreme high entry all the way through (turns) 3 and 4 and 1 and 2," Knaus told Johnson after he had surrendered ninth place to Ryan Newman.
"I can't do that," Johnson replied. "I'm going to knock the wall down."
"OK, buddy, keep digging," Knaus radioed on lap 32 after the Lowe's Chevy had fallen to 12th in the running order. "Stay ahead of these guys. You're doing awesome."
"It's real loose on throttle," Johnson said five laps later. "I don't even have a scale to tell you how it is."
Lap 38 brought the first caution of the race, for debris in turn 2, and the first pit stop.
"It's not edgy just, loose, so I'm encouraged by that," Johnson said as the Lowe's team planned the stop. "If we can get it to roll through the corners and I can use the throttle up off, I think we've got a good foundation to work with."
After an air-pressure adjustment, the Lowe's Chevy exited the pits in 13th position.
"Tires are good," Knaus reported.
"I would have sworn that right rear would have been worn to the cords," Johnson answered incredulously.
"They're perfect," Knaus replied.
"This reminds me of Rockingham, or Darlington in the early days, the way you have to slide the car in," Johnson said after a restart on lap 43.
On lap 46 Johnson passed Scott Riggs for 12th, and two laps later he picked off Stewart for 11th.
"What have you got there, bud?" Knaus asked on lap 55.
"With the rear grip, maybe 15 or 20 percent," Johnson said. "Still fighting rolling in the center and late off. This last adjustment seems to have helped late off more than anything."
"So tight in the center and late off?" Knaus asked, to which Johnson responded, "Not tight, just wandering. When I use more of the wheel, it seems to throw it into the loose a little more."
"We're going to keep working on it here, buddy," Knaus reassured him. "We've got some ideas."
Caution flew for the second time on lap 84, again for debris, and Johnson brought the Lowe's Chevrolet to the pits on lap 86.
"(Tires) look great, Jimmie," Knaus reported after the stop. "You can see all four corners working really, really well, but there's a lot of rubber left -- not like Fontana, where the tire doesn't work. We're back up in 11th here. Get a couple of spots, a couple on the track."
"Still just as loose," Johnson said on lap 99.
"You're doing great," Knaus replied. "That's all you can do. Just drive that car up there. That's all we've got."
Three laps later, Knaus was a cheerleader again. "Keep digging, buddy," he said. "32.80 (seconds per lap). Leader's 32.40. That's the closest we've been to him all day."
"We did make it a little better," Johnson replied. "You put a little forward bite in it here."
Kasey Kahne spun on the frontstretch on lap 114 to bring out the first caution for a racing incident.
After Johnson told Knaus the car was still loose, the crew chief replied, "We're going to make some adjustments. It's all track position. Nobody can do anything."
After a quick pit stop on lap 116, Knaus added, "You're ninth right now. Welcome to the top 10."
"The car's a little more comfortable under the edge, but when I get to the edge, it goes sideways," Johnson reported on lap 131.
"I hate to be a broken record, but it's all track position," Knaus replied.
"Then let's not say it anymore," Johnson rejoined.
By lap 140, Johnson had dropped to 12th in the running order. "Get that rhythm back, buddy," Knaus urged. "We'll work on it."
By lap 157, the Lowe's Chevy was running 15th and in danger of going a lap down to Busch, the leader.
"I think I'm going to try to short-pit you here," Knaus suggested. "If a caution comes out, we're going to get lapped, but we're probably going to get lapped anyway."
"Pit this time," Knaus instructed his driver on lap 163. "Rubber in left rear. You're going to have to haul, dude, when you get out there."
By the time the green-flag pit stops had cycled through on lap 173, Johnson was up to 12th and had gained five seconds on the leader.
The improvement, however, was short-lived. By lap 182, the Lowe's Chevy was 15th, the last car on the lead lap. "Hang in there, buddy," Knaus said. "Keep trying."
On lap 186, Johnson was struggling to hold off leader Clint Bowyer, who had surged to the front after the cycle of green-flag stops. "The 07 behind you is the leader," Reeves said. "The 7 (Robby Gordon) is running the extreme top."
Shortly thereafter, Bowyer lapped the No. 48. "Stay on him -- we'll get the lucky dog when the caution comes out," Knaus said.
On lap 198, under caution for debris in turn 4, Johnson reported on the handling: "Started off the best that it's been. Then (it was) the worst that it's been.
"We'll get a good pit stop, get out there and pass these guys, and we'll get back in the top 10," Knaus said, undeterred. "Get one spot on pit road and another on the track. Then, get the 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) in the pits -- right here, guys."
Johnson exited the pits in 14th position, the second car one lap down.
"Great stop," Knaus said. "Good job. All you've got to do is pass that 16 (Biffle, who was 13th and in position to get a free pass to the lead lap under the next caution)."
"I'll try like hell," Johnson said, to which Knaus replied. "Don't try, just do it."
On lap 213, the driver described his handling as "loose off, so at least we've gotten it to respond a little bit to something."
Elliott Sadler's spin on lap 221 caused the fifth caution of the race, promoting Biffle to the lead lap and elevating the Lowe's Chevy to the first position one lap down.
"This is your shot, buddy," Knaus told Johnson on lap 224. "A hundred laps to go when you take the green."
"It felt snappy loose, but it was a little snug in the center for once," Johnson reported on lap 232. "A little darty over the bumps."
The team got signals crossed on lap 232, after NASCAR called a quickie yellow for Sadler's brush with the wall in turn 2. Johnson didn't get to pit road until a lap later, but he did regain the last position on the lead lap and restarted 13th.
"They didn't call quickie yellow until turn 3, and he was talking," Reeves said, indicating that Johnson had been describing his handling at the time.
"I was trying to get him to shut up, too," Knaus replied.
Before the field took the green flag on lap 236, Knaus apologized to his driver.
"Sorry if I yelled at you there, Jimmie, but they called quickie yellow and one to go at the same time, and I was trying to get you to pit road. Didn't mean to yell at you."
On lap 259, after complaining that the car was still loose, Johnson was lapped again, this time by Carl Edwards, who had taken the lead on lap 240. But another caution, again for a Sadler accident on lap 261, put the Lowe's Chevy back on the lead lap.
"Try to settle in and find something," Knaus urged as the laps wound down.
After a subsequent testy exchange about the handling, Johnson tried to pick up the morale of the Lowe's team.
"The worst thing we can do is get ticked off and start yelling at each other," he said. "We qualified 11th, which wasn't bad. The car is just out of control."
Johnson managed to stay on the lead lap the rest of the way, and all things considered, the 13th-place finish was a satisfactory end to a frustrating day.
