Jimmie Johnson proved that he is still a force to be reckoned with on Saturday night when he crossed the finish line behind Kyle Busch to record a second place outing.

Johnson had a good lead when David Gilliland’s engine blew forcing a yellow flag.

"Before that last caution came out, we were gone," said Johnson. "And you know, we had such a great car I really felt like the restart would come and we would march off and be fine.

The restart commenced with a two lap shootout to the checkered. Johnson blocked the high lane thinking that there was a very little chance Busch would get around him.

Once again Busch found yet another way to win when he passed Johnson to collect his seventh win of the season. Despite the second place finish Johnson was mad at himself for blowing his shot at victory.

"Kyle timed that restart just right, and as soon as you break the plane and get to somebody's outside it changes the air around the cars. And it got me tight and started slowing me down. As soon as I felt him break that plane on my rear bumper, I knew I was in trouble. I started yelling at myself from there on out."

In an effort to continue his championship run and collect his third straight title, Johnson and the No. 48 team have been building new cars and begun testing those cars more than ever.

"We built new cars the last couple of weeks and are building all new cars going forward," Johnson said. "And you know, the engine shop's been really making up some ground.

"So hopefully we can gain some momentum and keep everything headed in the right direction these next few weeks heading in to the Chase."

In spite of his disappointment, Johnson is confident of his efforts on Saturday night at Chicagoland.

"I don't think I left anything on the table out there," Johnson said. "To run with the 18 [Busch] and those guys and do what we did, I had to come from behind on some guys that took fuel only or right-side tires only a few times when we took four tires. I had to pass a lot of cars tonight. I didn't leave anything out there; I just made a mistake on that last restart."

"All in all, it was a great night for us," Johnson said. "I'm looking at the positive, looking at the progress that we made."