FONTANA, Calif. -- Jimmie Johnson laughed when he got some bad news prior to the race a couple of weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Because his team had trouble getting through prerace tech, NASCAR sent him to the rear of the field to start the race.

The seven-time Cup champion tried to take it in stride.

"I just laughed," he said. "What else? Want me to start backwards, too? Whatever."

That NASCAR ruling came two weeks after Johnson had wrecked three cars during the Daytona 500 week, then spun out at Atlanta.

So laughter could sometimes be the best medicine.

"It's the way it's been going," Johnson said after that March 4 Vegas race. "Oh, well. I am tired of stressing about it and drove my ass off."

The ultracompetitive Johnson, who found out Wednesday that his sponsor Lowe's will not return after this season, sits 26th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. His finishes of 12th at Vegas and 14th at Phoenix have helped him climb nine spots as he tries to rally from a slow start. He will start 33rd Sunday at Auto Club (California) Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox), as his team failed to get its car (or any Hendrick Motorsports cars) through prequalifying tech.

The Hendrick team as a whole has tried to grasp what works with its new Chevrolet Camaro body style. As for Johnson, 42, he's finding similar issues he had a year ago with the Chevrolet SS. NASCAR changed rules regarding the splitter this year; teams are now being issued a splitter, potentially creating more parity.

"We are still sorting out a new car and some new rules, so I think we will continue to evolve that side of it from an aero[dynamic] standpoint, but I feel there is a little more to it than just that," Johnson said.

"We're working hard. ... I don't have the flexibility just yet to drift back in the field or have a bad starting spot and work my way as far forward as I want."

Johnson will have that bad starting spot Sunday because of the tech issues as the team tries to find areas to make speed and catch the competition.

"It's tough to draw any direct conclusions because the rules have changed and we have less downforce on the car to start with," Johnson said. "I feel like my car is driving similar to what it did last year, so, I think that's a perk. That's a benefit.

Jimmie Johnson is coming off a pair of top-14 finishes but still sits 26th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Josh Hedges/Getty Images

"When you look at the splitter change and the body changes that have gone on, I've heard the number 300 pounds [of] downforce have been taken away from all the cars out there. Mine feels very similar. So I think that is a sign that we do have a better product with the Camaro body. We just haven't maximized it yet."

NASCAR has reduced practice time this year, and that hasn't helped Johnson and his team. Teams have had 50 minutes of practice before qualifying in recent weeks instead of around 80.

"Every time we get on track we try something new and we learn something more," Johnson said. "More practice would help us at this point, but that's just not what we're going to have."

And there's something else he needs: more laughter and more patience.

"You just go," Johnson said. "There is nothing you can do. At the end of last year, and even in Atlanta, I was trying too hard.

"[I am] just giving 100 percent and driving the car where it's at, and bringing it home is what I need to start doing. I have been trying to carry it and I've crashed more cars in the last six months than I have really in any six-month stretch or whole-year stretch. I'm just trying to drive it 100 percent and not step over that line."