It was a race in which tire issues were at the forefront, the Chase standings were jumbled by a series of crashes and Jimmie Johnson somehow turned certain disaster into a surprising finish.

No, it wasn't last week's race at Talladega Superspeedway. Proving that NASCAR history does have a tendency to repeat itself, a similar situation unfolded in the 2005 UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

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In an effort to make the racing better and remove some of the bumps, track president Humpy Wheeler had the 1.5-mile surface ground down, or levigated, between the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Instead, it produced a record 22 cautions in the 600-miler, so Wheeler repeated the process before NASCAR's premier series returned in October.

But tire testing prior to the fall race -- producing record speeds and multiple crashes -- hinted at the disturbing possibility of an event that would be unusual in its scope. There was just no time available for Goodyear's engineers to come up with a tire compound that would hold up to the new surface.

It become evident early on that tires were going to be an issue. No fewer than 16 incidents, including blown tires by points leader Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler and Kasey Kahne -- all while leading -- forced NASCAR officials to take the unusual step of throwing a mid-race competition caution and mandating maximum tire air pressures, with the threat of points reduction to any team that failed to follow the rules.

"As we got deeper in the event tonight, it was obvious this was an abnormal evening," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "No one will be docked points because the teams responded.

"I think everybody that was part of the evening would like to figure out how not to have another evening like this one. It was extremely undesirable. ... I think there will be a lot of digestion of this one when we get the opportunity."

Ryan Newman set the tone for the night when he had a tire problem even before a scheduled competition caution at the 30-lap mark. And then Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a right-front tire explode just as he crossed the start-finish line on Lap 62.

"It just went, 'Bam!' and I hit the wall," Junior said.

That was followed by incidents involving Bobby Hamilton Jr., Sterling Marlin, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, prompting NASCAR officials to throw the yellow on Lap 200 and require all cars to pit in an effort to force teams to run a more conservative air pressure setting, thinking that might solve the problem.

It helped some, but drivers were still under constant fear that they might be the next unwitting victim. Stewart, who led by 75 points coming into the race, seemed to have things well in hand when disaster struck in Turn 4 on Lap 216. His right-front tire suddenly went down, sending the No. 20 Chevrolet hard into the outside wall.

He finished eight laps down in 25th.

"It was just one of those screwed-up nights that's probably going to dictate the way the Chase comes out," Stewart said. "It doesn't matter what happened. It's over with. We're stuck with it the way it is.

"It just sucks when you're the fastest car and something that's out your control happens like that that really shouldn't happen."

Sadler then inherited the lead but suffered a similar fate on Lap 253. Then it seemed the race win might go to Michael Waltrip, who had been one of the dominant cars to that point, but after pitting to meet NASCAR's tire pressure mandate, he was involved in a four-car accident two laps after the next restart.

Then Kahne took over, but it was a case of déjà vu; a blown tire ruined his chance to win -- just it had the previous year.

Enter Jimmie Johnson.

Forced to start at the back of the field because of an engine change, after qualifying third-quickest, Johnson immediately struggled with electrical issues. First, the alternator failed. Then the team changed the battery on the No. 48 Chevrolet in an effort to keep the car running. Then Johnson cut a tire.

But somehow, after all the carnage, he passed Joe Nemechek for the lead on Lap 325 and survived a green-white-checkered finish to continue his dominance at Lowe's, having won five of the last six points races.

"I don't have a clue what took place tonight," Johnson said. "We had problem after problem. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

"I can't believe that we always end up somehow toward the front at the end of a race ... this one in the closing laps after a long night of adversity," Johnson said. "We changed batteries, the alternator had some troubles, flat tire, all kinds of crazy things."

The victory moved Johnson into a tie with Stewart at the top of the standings, but several other Chase contenders never recovered. Matt Kenseth's tire problems left him 26th and Rusty Wallace wrecked in the closing laps and wound up 24th.

Stewart's concerns about having Charlotte determine the championship were somewhat unfounded, as he rallied the next weekend with a second-place effort at Martinsville, which kicked off a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes for the No. 20. That allowed him to carry a 52-point cushion over Johnson into the season finale at Homestead.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.