TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jimmie Johnson walked up to crew chief Chad Knaus in the fading twilight at Talladega on Sunday, gave him a little bro-hug and exhaled.

"Dude, seriously?" Johnson asked after his improbable sixth-place finish extended his points lead to 184 with three races left in the season.

Seriously.

On a day when the three-time defending champion's game plan backfired, he still somehow managed to squeeze his way into the top 10 and take another major step to becoming the first driver to win four consecutive titles.

Johnson planned on spending the first half of the race in the back of the pack to avoid "The Big One," the term given to the massive pileups that have become a trademark of restrictor-plate racing at the massive 2.66-mile oval.

One problem, NASCAR's warning about bump drafting in the corners had drivers on their best behavior and Johnson found himself 30th with 18 laps to go and no Hendrick Motorsports teammates in the vicinity.

It had all the makings of disaster. And Johnson knew it.

"Our strategy killed us, our strategy didn't do us any good today because there wasn't the big wreck halfway through the race," Johnson said.

Yet, as has become routine over the last three-plus seasons, a little luck and some quick thinking from Knaus saved the day. Again.

When the race was red-flagged following Ryan Newman's spectacular wreck with five laps to go, Knaus ordered Johnson onto pit road for fuel. While other chase for the championship competitors found themselves out of gas on the restart, Johnson zoomed to the front and managed to avoid the pile-up at the finish for his best performance at the track in two years.

"Everybody had the option (to get gas)," Johnson said. "People can say we were lucky today but if you really think about it, Chad made the decision to pit. It wasn't that we missed something or got lucky about something. Chad called me down pit road for fuel, and that's what got us into position."

Newman's Ride

One second Ryan Newman was running behind boss Tony Stewart, the next he was lying upside down on top of Kevin Harvick's car at 180 mph.

If this is progress on safety at Talladega, count Newman out.

Newman's wild ride with five laps remaining was the kind of high-profile wipeout NASCAR was hoping to avoid when it modified the rules hours before the race. Newman had his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet tucked in behind Stewart when he nudged his boss.

Newman checked up slightly before getting nicked by Marcos Ambrose, sending Newman veering to the left. He flipped upside down and landed on top of Harvick before sliding off and skidding several hundred feet on his roof.