What Happened To Jimmie Johnson?

For most of the Sprint All-Star Race, no one could touch Jimmie Johnson.

It was looking like another Johnson/Knaus/Hendrick/48 kind of race. By now, everyone knows the drill.

But Johnson was beaten on the final pit stop and came out third, then lost the air on his car while racing with Denny Hamlin (which was apparently a theme with Hamlin on Saturday night).

The 48 car spun through the infield grass – much to the delight of the crowd – and ultimately finished 13th despite leading a race-high 56 laps.

Afterward, Johnson immediately got out of his car and approached the waiting group of reporters to answer questions.

He didn’t appear to be angry or overly disappointed and said he simply tried to make too much happen in crunch time.

“I knew I had to clear the No. 11 on the outside of me, so I just kept my foot in it and I could feel ... the outside of me kind of pulling the back end of my car around,” he said. “But I said, ‘The hell with it, it’s the All-Star Race.’ Kept my foot to the floor and hoped that I made it off the turn, and I didn’t.”

Johnson said he was mentally prepared for a wild ending and realized he was no longer in control of the outcome when he was beaten off pit road.

At that point, “I was needing a mistake (by other drivers) and I almost had one when the 18 (Kyle Busch) and the 11 (Hamlin) got together,” he said. “But I was so occupied watching them and got out of the gas (because) I wasn’t sure where they were going to go.

“Then the 2 (Kurt Busch) came blowing by on the inside.”

And that’s how the All-Star Race was won...and lost.