CONCORD, N.C. – Jimmie Johnson may not have come away with his record-tying fifth win in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night, but he did come away with renewed energy following one of his best outings of the season.

Johnson scored a fifth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the No. 48 Lowes Patriotic Chevrolet, rallying through the field twice and then running as high as third following the final pit sequence before fading to those behind him with slightly fresher tires.

The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion’s effort was his second top-five of the year, but his first on an intermediate track, venues where all the Chevrolet teams have struggled since debuting the new Camaro ZL1 body style at the start of the year.

It didn’t come easy, either. Johnson had to come back from the tail of the lead lap after contact with Denny Hamlin on lap 121 sent him for a spin. He then endured a broken jack later on that caused a slow pit stop.

“(Hamlin) ran into me,” explained Johnson. “It was just a racing deal, I think. I heard my spotter (Earl Barban) mention something late as I was committed to the lane, and he was already in there.

“I was so fortunate with that spin to not get hit by another car, so that I was able to keep going,” Johnson continued. “After that, we just got going and soldiered on because there wasn’t any damage that would have affected us very badly.”

Johnson exhibited his championship poise in coming back through the field, even though his car lacked speed during the second and third stages of the race.

“It’s a good day for us, but it was highly frustrating by about the halfway point of the race, because we made some small adjustments and it took about a half second (of lap time) out of the car,” said Johnson. “We didn’t know where that time went. Through some heated conversation, we put it back and when the speed came back, I was able to drive it back into the top three and finish fifth.

“It’s not where we want to be, but it’s better than where we’ve been, for sure. The 4 car (Harvick) wasn’t out there to show us what he could do, and the 18 (Busch) looked pretty far out there, but we’ve definitely improved in comparison to the pack,” Johnson added. “I don’t know that we’re the fastest cars, but we’ll go home, work as hard as we can and try to go at it again.”

Though Hendrick Motorsports is not yet back to the level of performance that Johnson and the team know they should be at, he still left Charlotte pleased with their progress.

The biggest goal, he noted, is trying to expand the potential of their cars to give them a wider performance range to work in.

“Unfortunately, the sweet spot with the car is still a little too small, and even when we’re in it we’re not exactly where we want to be or need to be,” said Johnson. “We’re getting closer though. Tonight shows all the hard work that everyone at Hendrick Motorsports has been putting in to making us better.”

Johnson even cracked a smile before walking away from his car for the night.

“I’m getting more optimistic … definitely getting there,” he smiled. “I had a car tonight that I could race with, pass with and make some stuff happen in, and that felt good. It’s the first time I’ve had that in a long time.”