DARLINGTON, S.C. – For much of the first stage of Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson looked like his old self, so to speak.

Perhaps more specifically, Johnson appeared to resemble the driver who won five straight championships and numerous Cup races from 2006 through 2010, as opposed to the driver who entered The Track Too Tough To Tame riding a career-long 99-race winless drought.

The El Cajon, Calif., native drove to the race lead in the first NASCAR race in two months and appeared to be well on his way to the stage one victory – and perhaps a potential race win – when disaster struck.

Johnson dipped low in turn two on lap 90, the last lap of the first stage, to try and put Chris Buescher’s Ford Mustang a lap down with his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. As he did so, Buescher had to check up off the exit of the corner and Johnson couldn’t avoid contact with the left rear of the No. 17.

That contact sent Johnson’s car spinning out of control to the inside of the backstretch and hard into the SAFER Barrier, causing terminal damage that put Johnson out of action after what former Darlington winner and FOX NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven called “an inspiring run” from the future Hall of Famer.

Johnson was relegated to a 37th-place finish, and was understandably disappointed after exiting the infield care center when speaking to on-site pit reporter Regan Smith.

“Gosh, what I would do to get that corner back and do it over again,” Johnson lamented. “Coming to the end of the stage, I was just trying to make sure I got a good run off turn two. I felt like I was going to be able to exit the corner side by side with him (Buescher), and things just went horribly wrong there.

“2020 has been a great year for Hendrick Motorsports and I’m really disappointed I wasn’t able to capitalize on that today,” Johnson continued. “We had such a good run going. I’m not sure what I’m going to take away from it (other) than hurt pride right now. I’m pretty bummed out.”

In the next breath, however, Johnson found some optimism that his three-year drought may soon come to an end, because he had the speed to contend on Sunday and entered Darlington sixth in the playoff standings – fifth overall in points accumulated through the first four rounds of the season.

“What a great car we had. I’m so incredibly thankful for my team and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, Ally and all the support we have. We’ve got great race cars right now and things are definitely moving in the right direction,” Johnson noted. “It’s just unfortunate that things didn’t turn out (the way they needed to) off of turn two.”

Also maintaining a positive outlook was Johnson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels, who reminded Johnson and the rest of the No. 48 team that in barely 72 hours – Wednesday night – they’ll have a shot to try again.

“I don’t want a single person on this race team to get down right now,” Daniels told his crew over team communications. “Was that a bummer? Yes, it was. Am I worried? No, I’m not. We’ve got a fast piece.

“And guess what? We’ll be back in (three) days.”

Daniels’ assessment was spot on. Sunday’s race marked Johnson’s most laps led at Darlington in a Cup car since his second Southern 500 win there in 2012 and the third time in five 2020 races he’s led laps.

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues May 20 with a Wednesday-night primetime event at Darlington, the Toyota 500 at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.