Open for second-guessing

Jimmie Johnson blamed no one but himself for his failure to win the LifeLock.com 400 Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway.

Johnson was pulling away from the field when David Gilliland's No. 38 Ford blew up with six laps to go, bringing out the final caution flag of the night. Shortly after the ensuing restart, Kyle Busch coaxed his No. 18 Toyota to the outside of Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet on the backstretch of the 1.5-mile track -- and eventually into the lead off Turn 3 and into Turn 4 right before the white flag flew, signifying one lap remaining.

From there, Busch sped off to his seventh Sprint Cup Series victory of the season. Johnson was forced to settle for second and wonder what might have been if he had played it a little differently on the final restart.

"I look at myself on this one. I didn't get the right restart. I got a good restart, but I shouldn't have given him the top," Johnson said. "These cars punch a big hole in the air. He sucked up to me down the front stretch, and I should have just given him the bottom.

"Looking back on it now, I really thought that I could run away from him on the inside if I just took the best line around the track. But he just sucked up and got to my quarterpanel. Once he broke that plane and inside drafted me, I was a sitting duck. So I'm disappointed in myself."

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As soon as I felt him break that plane on my rear bumper, I knew I was in trouble. I started yelling at myself from there on out.
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JIMMIE JOHNSONJohnson's second-place finish still enabled him to hold onto fifth in the point standings, but he lost more ground to Busch, who is in the lead and now holds a 387-point cushion over Johnson. And after winning a series-high 10 Cup races last season, when he captured the second of back-to-back championships, Johnson longs to get back to Victory Lane.

He's won only once this season, and that was way back on April 12 in Phoenix. Saturday's finish was his fifth top-10 finish in the last seven races, but his first top-five since the Phoenix race.

He led only 15 laps at Chicagoland, but thought he was in position to lead the most important one until the last caution came out -- and even after the last caution came out.

"Before that last caution came out, we were gone. ... And you know, we had such a great car I really felt like the restart would come and we would march off and be fine," Johnson said. "But Kyle timed that restart just right, and as soon as you break the plane and get to somebody's outside, it changes the air around the cars. And it got me tight and started slowing me down. As soon as I felt him break that plane on my rear bumper, I knew I was in trouble. I started yelling at myself from there on out."

Shortly after the race's conclusion, the usually affable Johnson was able to force a smile and try to take some positives from the night despite beating himself up over the failure to hold off Busch, his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

"They've done a great job and they've set the mark. But I think we showed today that the 48 team is gaining a lot of ground on them," Johnson said. "These cars, if you can find balance where they're freely drivable, they're fast. But when you're too comfortable in them, you're too slow. You feel good and you feel like you can drive 'em hard, but they're too slow. We got that balance [Saturday night]where it was loose but still drivable.

"I don't think I left anything on the table out there. To run with the 18 and those guys and do what we did, I had to come from behind on some guys that took fuel only or right-side tires only a few times when we took four tires. I had to pass a lot of cars tonight. I didn't leave anything out there; I just made a mistake on that last restart.

"All in all, it was a great night for us. I'm looking at the positive, looking at the progress that we made."

Even after Busch got by him with barely one lap left to go, Johnson tried hard to get back in front. He almost tried too hard, wiggling badly twice as he attempted to make a couple final runs at reclaiming the lead he had lost.

"I was trying. I went into [Turn] 3 way over my head and tried to get in there and pack some air into the back of him and get him to get loose, but it didn't work. Once he got to my outside, I knew I was in trouble," Johnson said.

"I did think I could beat him on the inside, but I knew better. I'd been there before. I knew better than to give him the outside, so I'm disappointed in myself."