WATCH: Jimmie Johnson Loses His Lead to Kevin Harvick in Under a Lap to Finish Third at Dover

When the NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover concluded, Kevin Harvick grabbed the race win ahead of Martin Truex Jr. Meanwhile, poor old Jimmie Johnson had to settle for 3rd, despite leading on the final restart. Apparently, Johnson was done in by his strategy, because he was on a two-stop strategy.

As a result, he was left vulnerable against Harvick and Truex Jr. The two went and overtook him on fresher tyres, leaving him to defend against William Byron. During the last two laps, Byron hounded him mercilessly, but Johnson was able to eke out a little more life in the tyres and maintain 3rd place.

After overtaking and gaining the lead, Kevin Harvick simply rabbited off into the distance, building a 3-second lead to Truex Jr. In the end, the newly-crowned champion took a comfortable win, but Jimmie Johnson was made to sweat.

How did Jimmie Johnson stay in 3rd place?

With two laps to go, Johnson’s case was not helped when he came across some traffic. To make matters even more complicated, William Byron loomed threateningly in his mirrors. At last, the ordeal was over and Jimmie Johnson staved off a stern challenge from Byron to keep 3rd place.

Of course, this gives him a massive boost in the playoff battle against Byron. Unfortunately, this also means that Byron is set to start ahead of him for the coming race in Daytona. Even though the two are teammates, they know that this battle will be no holds barred between them.

Johnson is battling to enter, what could be, his final playoff battle. This is because the 44-year old is stepping away from full-time racing. However, he insisted that this isn’t goodbye forever. Johnson is still passionate about racing an is keen to keep racing as long as possible.