NASCAR Cup Series

Johnson's quest for No. 7 on life support after Charlotte hiccup

Published Oct. 11, 2014 11:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

With seven victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson appeared to be heading to the perfect place to get back in the hunt for the 2014 Sprint Cup Series title.

After a wreck at Kansas Speedway in the opening race of the Contender Round, Johnson entered this weekend's race 12th in the Chase standings and in need of a win or at least a top-five finish.

Unfortunately for the six-time champion, he got neither in Saturday night's Bank of America 500.

Starting in the 21st spot after a poor qualifying effort, Johnson spent the majority of the race working his way through the top 15 and into the top 10. Struggling with the handling of the car, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus became testy with one another over the team radio at times throughout the event.

Eventually, the team was able to get the handling on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet going in the right direction and Johnson made his way to fourth with only a handful of laps to go.

However, when an engine failure for Brian Vickers brought out the final caution of the night with seven laps to go, Knaus called his driver to pit road for two fresh tires as most of the leaders stayed on track.

Restarting the race with just two laps to go, Johnson was not able to make up the lost ground and finished the night 17th.

As a result, Johnson heads to next week's elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway 11th in the Chase standings, 26 points out of the eighth-place transfer spot.

While Johnson does have two wins at Talladega, he finished 23rd there earlier this year, has only one top-five in the last six races, and has finished 13th or worse in five of those six races.