NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson hits the proverbial wall at Brickyard 400

Reporting from Indianapolis — For those who believe NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson makes winning look so effortless that he’s helped drain excitement from the sport, consider this year’s Brickyard 400.

Having won the last four Sprint Cup Series titles, Johnson appeared poised to win his third consecutive Brickyard 400 (and fourth in five years) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

His No. 48 Chevrolet was quick in practice and Johnson narrowly missed winning the pole at the famed 2.5-mile track, but he still started on the front row Sunday alongside pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya.

Then the race started and soon everyone was asking, “Where’s the 48?”

The answer: Stuck in midfield with a car that wouldn’t steer precisely through the corners and with a Hendrick Motorsports team, led by his brainy crew chief Chad Knaus, that couldn’t figure out why despite making a flurry of changes to the car during the race.

“We were really confused as to why,” Johnson said after he finished 22nd. “Maybe something went on with a shock or something in the front . . . we changed both shocks thinking that might be it. And that really didn’t correct the problem.”

It was a rare mediocre day for the powerhouse Hendrick team overall, with none of its four drivers finishing in the top 10. Mark Martin was 11th, four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon was 23rd and Dale Earnhardt Jr. limped home 27th after a late-race collision with Montoya.

For Johnson, it was the third consecutive finish of 22nd or worse, and he slipped one spot to fourth in the Cup points standings.

But as current points leader Kevin Harvick keeps reminding everyone, Johnson remains the driver to beat for the title. Johnson remains a virtual lock to qualify for NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup, its 10-race playoff among the top 12 drivers in points after the first 26 races.

In addition, Chase drivers are seeded based on bonus points they receive for each race they’ve won earlier in the season, and Johnson is tied with Denny Hamlin for the most wins so far this year with five.

Jamie McMurray won Sunday’s Brickyard 400, becoming one of only three drivers to win that race and the Daytona 500 in the same year. But if the Chase started today, McMurray wouldn’t be in the playoff because he’s 16th in points, 151 points behind the 12th and final Chase spot.

Consistency during the first 26 races is one requirement to make the Chase and, despite winning NASCAR’s two marquee races, McMurray has only seven top-10 finishes through the first 20 races for his team, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

Before Sunday’s race, NASCAR Chairman Brian France reiterated to reporters that NASCAR has been mulling changes to the Chase to boost the format’s excitement. He didn’t provide details and it isn’t clear whether the changes would involve Chase eligibility, or the 10-race playoff itself, or both.

But France did say that “regarding the options we have on the table, there’s no question that the only ones we would consider are ones that make winning at a given moment more important than they are today.”

Johnson’s long day at the Brickyard 400 — which followed finishes of 31st and 25th at Daytona and Chicagoland, respectively — showed how he can run into the same problems that plague the Cup series’ other drivers.

“We didn’t expect it to be” a tough race, Johnson said. “We had a good practice session. I had high expectations for [Sunday’s race].

“Good thing this race isn’t in the Chase,” he said. “We made some attempts [to fix the car] during caution flags and made some big changes on pit road, but nothing really woke the car up.

“But we’ll move on and we’ll be stronger,” Johnson said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

james.peltz@latimes.com