JOHNSON RALLIES

Truex finishes 8th at Bristol

bristol, tenn.» It was just last month when people were wondering what was wrong with Jimmie Johnson after he got off to a slow start. How silly it was to worry. Johnson grabbed a rare victory at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday, giving him consecutive wins for the 11th time in his storied career. It was just the second career win in Thunder Valley for Johnson, who considers it one of his most vexing tracks.

His Hendrick Motorsports team hit on something during Saturday’s practice for his Chevrolet, and that locked him in for the race delayed a day by rain.

“This track has been really difficult,” admitted Johnson, who last won at Bristol in 2007. But that Saturday find was “honestly, it’s what I’ve been looking for for 16 years.”

“We finally figured it out. So, I’m very, very happy,” he said. “I’ve loved this racetrack from afar ... and it’s been a journey since 2000 until now.”

Johnson snapped his seasonstarting slump on April 9 at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR’s last event prior to Monday. It ended any chatter that the seven-time and reigning champion might not be up for a record eighth title.

“After securing a win last week, it obviously takes a huge load off of your shoulders,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “Being able to come in here this week confident, relaxed, we had a weekend off.”

Johnson now has 82 career victories, and is just one away from tying Cale Yarborough for sixth on the all-time wins list. Two more would put him alongside Darrell Waltrip.

“That’s mind-blowing,” Johnson said of his spot in history.

Johnson doesn’t like Bristol but had no trouble contending with Kyle Larson, the points leader and most dominant driver of the day. A speeding penalty on Larson late in the race allowed Johnson to make it look easy in the end.

“I knew I gave the race away there,” Larson said of the speeding penalty.

Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. was running a close second to Johnson when he came down pit road for the final time on Lap 462 of 500.

It appeared that his No. 78 was going to take the lead when he exited pit road, but NASCAR called Truex for a speeding penalty that sent him back to 16th.

“We were going for it; I wish we could have had a shot there just to see if we could have won,” said Truex, who battled back to finish eighth. “You try to get what you can and sometimes you cross the line, and today we crossed the line.”

Erik Jones finished 17th.