2014 NASCAR standings: Jimmie Johnson overcomes slow start to finish 3rd

You would have thought it impossible considering the inauspicious beginning he had to the Southern 500, but Jimmie Johnson somehow managed to finish third Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.

Johnson, who started 26th after struggling in qualifying, was well off the pace through the early stages and at one point running as low 31st, besieged by a car that wouldn’t handle. And it wasn’t just that the defending series champion was slow, it was how the situation completely perplexed crew chief Chad Knaus.

“I have no idea what to do,” Knaus radioed to his driver. “I really don’t.”

The turning point for Johnson came during a Lap 60 caution for Travis Kvapil’s encounter with the Turn 3 wall. This allowed Johnson to make numerous pit stops and his crew to make dramatic adjustments to the No. 48 Chevrolet.

The changes worked, and as the race transitioned from daylight to night, Johnson steadily picked his way through field running soundly in the top-10 by the halfway point. And with 10 laps to go, he was second to leader Kevin Harvick, who had the dominant car throughout the race.

When the caution waved with eight laps to go, Knaus elected to give his drivers just two tires in order to grab track position. It was a gamble that nearly paid off, as Johnson restarted in the lead.

But rather than restarting in the faster inside lane, Johnson chose the outside, which had proved problematic all night because of a lack of traction. Not surprisingly, he struggled to get going when the race restarted and was quickly passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick.

“The restart at the end, I was talking to the guys on the radio and they said the outside was kind of the place to be,” Johnson said. “I hadn’t seen the front all night long and I was talking to (Earnhardt) as I got out of the car, and he said that was a bad move.”

While Johnson has been in position to win several races this season, victory has been elusive, and he enters the first off-week of the year winless.

“We seem to find a way come race time to get a good finish and honestly have a shot to win some races,” Johnson said. “But showing up at the track a little bit closer is key for us. We’re really just trying to get a grasp on these rules, and we go home with what we’ve learned from a previous race, bring a new mousetrap, and unfortunately we’ve had to continue to work on it each week. That’s really our goal is to show up closer.”

Sprint Cup standings