Jimmie Johnson crashes early at Kansas (GIF)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Jimmie Johnson’s poor qualifying session on Friday put him in a treacherous spot on Sunday.
Johnson spun during qualifying on Friday and ended up 32nd. The spot back in the pack meant that Johnson was in the wrong spot on lap 85 when he got clipped and slid across the backstretch and into the inside wall.
“I just got tagged in the left rear,” Johnson said after exiting the infield care center. “I heard on the radio that it was [Greg Biffle], haven’t seen the video or anything yet. Cruising along on top and everything was fine and found myself sideways down the back straightaway.”
Johnson said he had a top 10 or top five car, but the problem with his day was track position. Teams not near the front of the field were simply stalled out.
“Top 10 was definitely within reach, I think a top five would have been,” Johnson said. “Our car, just listening to lap times and watching myself catch the big group of cars in front of me I felt we would have been top 10 top five”
It goes without saying, but in the three-race round format of the Chase, Johnson is now in a big points hole because of the first race of the second round. While a win at Charlotte or Talladega would automatically advance him to the next round, Johnson hasn’t won since at Michigan in June. You never count the No. 48 team out, but counting on a win in the next two races is iffy.
However, Johnson said that if a crash could happen to him at Kansas, it could happen to someone else. And not long after Johnson’s car was in the garage, the car of his Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s was as well after Junior hit the wall because of a tire issue. Junior finished 39th while Johnson was 40th. Brad Keselowski also had a tire problem and was 36th.
“It just means we’ve got be on our game at Charlotte and Talladega,” Johnson said. “And there’s still a lot of racing left, other stuff can happen, so we’ll kind of see how the other Chasers fare. If I can get taken out today someone else can later on in this event or at Charlotte. We’ll do our best to get on track and certainly need Ws I would assume, moving forward”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
