CONCORD, N.C. -- Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International featured two red flags after multiple-car incidents, one of which included Jimmie Johnson.
Below are some takeaways from the event.
'EVERYBODY IS ALL RIGHT'
After a pit road penalty that put him a lap down, Johnson had raced his way back onto the lead lap midway through Sunday's event.
Then, on Lap 53, a competitor began to wreck ahead of him.
"The cars started checking up in front of me and they all moved out of the way and the No. 17 was sitting there, stopped," Johnson explained.
The No. 48 Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet SS made hard contact with the No. 17 car, causing enough damage that it ended Johnson's race prematurely.
"I remember seeing a door number and I was so thankful it was the passenger-side door and not the driver-side door," Johnson said. "I really hit the car hard. I was afraid that I might have injured him. But, thankfully he’s okay and everybody is all right."
Johnson was scored 40th.
BOUNCING BACK
A week after Jeff Gordon and Chase Elliott finished 27th and 33rd, respectively, at Pocono Raceway, the pair of teammates were the first Hendrick Motorsports drivers to take the checkered flag at Watkins Glen.
After contact with a competitor in the opening laps, Gordon was able to recover -- thanks to quick repairs by the No. 88 team on pit road -- and move toward the top 10 late in the race.
Elliott was caught in an incident last week at Pocono, but Sunday at Watkins Glen he was able to avoid contact en route to his best finish since June 12 at Michigan -- and his second top-15 finish in the past three races.
The rookie took the checkered flag in 13th at the road course, with Gordon just behind him in 14th.
PIT ROAD PENALTIES
Johnson fell a lap down due to a pit road penalty, but he was far from the only driver to have to make a pass-through on pit road Sunday at Watkins Glen.
"We had a rough first pit stop and then we were just kind of biding our time and trying to get on a fuel strategy that could benefit us," Johnson explained.
Kasey Kahne was also penalized for a pit road infraction early in the race. But while Johnson was caught up in a late-race incident, Kahne was able to avoid contact all the way to the finish.
After restarting in 30th following the penalty, Kahne was able to regain 10 positions before the end of the race, finishing 20th.