Who says lightning can’t strike twice? Oh yeah, Jimmie Johnson:
“I don’t believe lightning can strike twice.”
But of all people, should Jimmie Johnson really be the one to mutter those words? Johnson may have forgotten that, in 2004, lightning did strike twice for the then-third-year driver.
Going into the third race of the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup at Talladega, Johnson sat 4th in the championship standings. The California native was poised to make a run at the title. He was off to a good start, even leading some laps in the early going. But with 30 laps to go, the #48 car suffered an overheating problem.
Johnson finished 37th, and fell to ninth in the standings.
The next week at Kansas Speedway, a track quite similar to that of this weekend’s venue, Homestead-Miami Speedway, it appeared that Johnson may be able to rebound. He qualified his car in the 4th position, and looked for awhile as if he may be able to pick up some ground on some of the other title contenders.
Surely, lightning couldn’t strike twice, could it?
Yes, with 28 laps to go, it did. And don’t call me Shirley.
Running 16th, Johnson lost the back-end of his #48 car coming off of turn 2 just after a restart. Johnson’s car careened into the outside wall with the left-front, destroying the suspension.
The accident can be seen below(bear with it as a Ryan Newman crash will precede it):
Video: Lightning Strikes Twice For Johnson
While Johnson would go on to win 4 of the next 5 races, it wasn’t enough. Kurt Busch would defeat Johnson by 8 points; the smallest margin of victory ever recorded in the Chase.
Now, I know lightning cannot strike consecutive times for Johnson is this Chase like it did 5 years ago. But that doesn’t mean it can’t strike twice. And, as I said yesterday, lightning has a tendency to strike in Florida.
As I have said, and will say several times between now and Sunday, this Chase isn’t done yet.
FanSided
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