CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson rarely makes mistakes on the race track, and he's typically flawless at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

So when the five-time Lowe's winner led 95 laps on Saturday night, everyone thought he had another dominating win locked down.

But the defending Nextel Cup champion inexplicably spun his Chevrolet midway through the race, knocking him out of contention for the victory while opening the door for teammate Jeff Gordon to win his second consecutive race.

"I was really disappointed that I spun out,'' Johnson said. "Just a stupid mistake on my part. It's not so much frustrating as its just a real high level of disappointment. I was just doing my thing, I felt like I was being conservative and not putting myself in a risky situation, and I just lost it.

"I can't stress enough how disappointing it was.''

Johnson started on the pole and led more laps than any other driver, but the win began to slip away from him when he took four tires during a pit stop while most of the competition took just two tires or fuel only.

It dropped him back to 10th and in traffic on the restart, and just as he began his march back to the front, he lost control of his car in Turn 2 and went into a frantic spin. He miraculously avoided hitting anything, which drew wide-eyed awe from teammate Kyle Busch.

"He kept it off everything!'' Busch yelled over his radio. "I saw it! Saw the whole thing. Unbelievable.''

Johnson was just as amazed by the save.

"I was very proud of myself that I didn't hit anything,'' he said. "I was doing a lot with the brake pedal, working hard to keep it off the wall, and when I did, I was pretty pumped. But at the same time, I knew then that (Gordon) was probably going to win the race.

"So I just put my head down and tried getting back to the front.''

And he did, working his way all the back to seventh when the race was stopped for 12 minutes to clean oil off the track. Johnson had his sights set on a top-five finish, but he and the other Hendrick Motorsports drivers all had a pickup problem on the final start that prevented their cars from taking off.

It dropped him back into the field, where he had to settle for 14th.

"The drama on that lost restart hurt us more than the spin did,'' Johnson said. "I was going to get a top-five for sure, if not for a stupid vapor lock or something. I was just frustrated by the entire night.''

Johnson remained in second place in the standings, but dropped 68 points behind Gordon with just five races remaining in the Chase.