Daytona Ends in Disappointment
What looked to be promising night for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team ended with a 31st-place finish after the Kobalt Tools Chevrolet became a victim of a 19-car accident with 12 laps remaining in the race.
Friday’s qualifying session was washed out by rain, allowing Johnson to start the 160-lap event from the second spot.
The Kobalt Tools Chevrolet led the race early and ran in the top 10 throughout the night.
Johnson was racing for the lead late in the event but was shuffled back to 13th in draft just before a chain-reaction collision took place on Lap 148.
“You can’t see much from the cars,” said Johnson. “I saw the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) down on the flat. Then I was hit from behind and everybody was trying to slow down and just got caught up in things. We came close, I mean, 380-something miles (of 400) of not having a big one and then we always seem to have that big one at the end.”
Johnson’s Kobalt Tools machine was towed back to the garage while he was seen and released from the infield care center.
“I couldn’t really tell from where I was (if people were too aggressive),” continued Johnson. “I would just be speculating, but the energy inside the draft changes as the laps wind down. We all know that every move you make could be worth five or 10 points on the track in position. You could sense it. We knew it was coming and you could feel it building and sure enough it happened.”
Johnson’s finish resulted in him falling one spot in the driver point standings. He’s now 3rd, 225 points behind leader and race winner Kevin Harvick and 13 points behind second-place Jeff Gordon.
Johnson, Team Lowe’s, Relegated to 35th-Place Finish in Daytona
It was a roller coaster day at Daytona International Speedway for Jimmie Johnson and the Team Lowe’s Racing crew. After overcoming a flat tire on Lap 117 of the scheduled 200, the team waited out two red-flag periods before a final 39-lap run to the finish. But with fewer than 12 laps remaining Johnson reported a problem in the rear end of his Lowe’s Impala SS, which ultimately forced him to the garage and relegated him to a 35th-place finish.
Johnson started the season-opening event third and maintained a top-ten position for most of the race. But when a yellow flag waved just past the halfway mark, Johnson indicated he had a flat tire and brought his machine down pit road for new Goodyears. When he arrived in the 48 pit stall, the team discovered fender damage where the shredded tire had made contact. The crew used the caution period wisely and remained on the led lap while making several trips down pit road for repairs.
But before the race was restarted, NASCAR determined that a pothole between Turns 1 and 2 needed attention and brought the field down pit road under a red flag. NASCAR and track officials spent the next hour and 45 minutes repairing the problem.
“They are doing their best to get the show in,” said Johnson during the red-flag break. “The thing keeps coming out (patch to fill the hole) whatever they’re putting in isn’t getting hard enough to stay. But we were all dodging it. Now we know where it’s at. Everybody is dodging it.”
The event was eventually restarted and when the green flag waved the Team Lowe’s Chevy quickly moved from 34th to 18th, where it was running when a second red flag period began in order to continue working on track repairs.
The drivers once again brought their machines down pit road where they remained for 45 minutes before returning to the track for the final 39 laps. Johnson made a charge through the field when the green flag waved and was running in the top 10 when he reported on Lap 188 of 200 that there was a problem in the back end of his 48 Chevrolet.
“It was something with the drive, either the axel or the rocker broke in the rear end or something with the hub on the left side,” explained Johnson. “We only (had) drive in the right rear tires, so something broke coming through Turns 3 and 4 and I just had the one wheel driving.”
He maneuvered his machine down the pit lane and to the garage before it was deemed unfixable.
“It’s definitely not the finish we wanted,” said Johnson. “It was a really long day and we had a great car so to go home with a 35th-place result is disappointing. Luckily it’s just the first race – we’ll head to California next week and hope for better luck.”
The next stop on the Sprint Cup Series schedule is Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.). The Feb. 21 race will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
Team Lowe’s Survives Wild Night at Daytona; Finishes 2nd
Jimmie Johnson survived a wild Sprint Cup event at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, crossing the finish line 2nd in the third restrictor plate race of the season.
For the second week in a row, Johnson started third after rain forced NASCAR to set the lineup by points.
Despite fighting a tight Lowe’s Chevrolet early in the race, Johnson ran in the top five throughout the event, falling back only once after a pit stop where the No. 48 Chevy had to backup and maneuver around the No. 78 car to leave the pit stall.
“It was a great run for us,” said Johnson, who earned his first top-five result at the 2.5-mile track since his victory there in the spring of 2006. “I feel bad for sliding through the pits maybe two or three stops from the end. My mistake kept us from hopefully being in the lead, second, somewhere in there, on the restart. We had to avoid a couple of accidents since we were so far back in the pack, but we recovered. The car was strong.”
Johnson drove back to the front of the field and the top four cars broke away from the rest. Johnson was in position to contend for his second victory at Daytona as the closing laps neared and was sitting third with a front-row seat when first and second-place running Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart wrecked coming to the checkered flag.
“I had a feeling something would take place coming to the finish and I might be able to improve my position,” explained Johnson. “Everybody was content to stay in line, and you’re just waiting for the second place car to make a move on the leader, and those guys started racing and passing each other and an opportunity came along and I was in the right lane, and off I went.”
Johnson was able to avoid a spinning Busch and followed Stewart to the finish line, earning his 12th top-10 finish of the season. Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.
“It was just a strong performance,” added Johnson. “We have really struggled with the COT at Daytona. My teammates have done well at times. But I’m very proud of the hard work Chad (Knaus) put into some setups. We started practice a couple days ago and were terrible, and he had two or three different packages to try, and finally the last package we put under it really worked well for us and got me a good driving car, so we’re happy.”
Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 194 behind leader Stewart. Gordon remains second with Kurt Busch and Edwards rounding out the top five.
Team Lowes Finishes 31st In Rain-shortened Daytona 500
Team Lowe’s Racing had high expectations for the season-opening Daytona 500. But three-time Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson encountered bad luck and bad weather on his way to a 31st-place finish at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was definitely a frustrating day,” said Johnson, who qualified seventh for the 51st-annual event. “We battled for a lot of the day to get the car where we wanted it. It was pretty good early but toward the halfway mark we were a little off.”
While running in the low 20s, Johnson brought his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet down pit road for a routine green-flag pit stop on Lap 115. Just five laps later, the tire on David Stremme’s machine exploded, bringing out a caution for debris and trapping Johnson one lap down.
The race restarted on Lap 123 and Johnson hoped to get his lap back. But before he could get in position to do so, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers made contact in front of him, causing a 10-car wreck in Turn 2.
While he did a 360-degree spin on the track, Johnson escaped the accident without making contact. He brought his car down pit road as a precautionary measure and when the green flag waved again, the Lowe’s Chevrolet was lined up 32nd, still one lap down.
Seven laps later, Johnson was finally poised to make a charge to the front when he got his lap back as a result of two cars making contact and bringing out the yellow flag.
But before the 2006 Daytona 500 Champion could make a move, Aric Almirola spun through the backstretch grass, bringing out what would be the final caution of the day.
Before NASCAR was able to get the track cleaned up and send the field back to green, a persistent rain set in.
Drivers made several circuits around the track and then were brought down pit road for a 16-minute red-flag stint before NASCAR called the race.
“We definitely didn’t have much go our way,” offered Johnson. “It’s not the way we wanted to start the season, but it’s the first race so it is what it is.
“You never know what to expect in these restrictor-plate races or what the weather will do. Now we’ll look ahead to California and see what we can get done there.”
Team Lowes Finishes 14th in Bud Shootout
The fans got their money worth at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, where Team Lowe’s Racing driver Jimmie Johnson finished 14th in the season-opening Bud Shootout.
Johnson started the 75-lap race 21st and escaped seven of eight accidents with minimal damage. But when three cars wrecked with fewer than three laps remaining, it set the stage for a green-white-checker restart at the 2.5-mile track.
When Johnson took the green flag for the final dash to the finish, he was lined up in the third spot, directly behind leader Jamie McMurray.
But as the field exited Turns 3 and 4 on the closing lap, Johnson’s Lowe’s Chevrolet was tapped in the left rear, shooting him into the No. 11 machine of Denny Hamlin, and sending out the final caution flag of the night.
“I need to look at the video to see what happened there, I’m not exactly sure,” said Johnson. “Coming down the back straightaway, the No. 14 (Tony Stewart) was to my bumper and gave me a great shot; and the two cars in front of me were kind of stalled out and there was a lane in the middle.
“I thought I could take the run the No. 14 gave me and shoot through the middle of them. I’m not sure if somebody on the outside lane was trying to come down or if I came across somebody’s nose or what, but that’s when we made contact and started the wreck.”
Kyle Busch and Casey Mears were also involved in the incident.
“Tonight felt like a dash for the cash for sure, it was pretty dicey out there,” offered Johnson. “I think you can expect some single file racing at the beginning on Sunday (in the Daytona 500), but once things close up at night, it’s going to be a lot like tonight’s race was.”
Kevin Harvick, who had taken the lead just before the accident occurred and the yellow flag waved, took home the victory.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon crossed the finish line fourth, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a Lap 65 wreck and recorded an 18th-place result. Mark Martin was not part of the event.
The Sprint Cup series will hold its Daytona 500 qualifying session tomorrow. There will be 57 cars attempting to make the field. Positions one and two will be set by tomorrow’s speeds; the rest will be determined by the twin 150-mile qualifying races Thursday, Feb. 12.
