BRISTOL, Tenn.—- It hasn’t been a good week for five-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
On Tuesday, Hendrick Motorsports lost its appeal of penalties incurred by the No. 48 team at Daytona. On Friday, Johnson qualified a lackluster 22nd for Sunday’s race at Bristol.
On Saturday, during the first Cup practice session for the Food City 500, Johnson spun on the high-banked concrete track. Unable to avoid Johnson’s spinning car, Paul Menard clipped the No. 48 slightly with his No. 27 Chevy.
Neither car sustained more than cosmetic damage, however, and both were able to continue.
Second-place starter AJ Allmendinger posted the fastest lap in Saturday’s first practice (122.638 mph). Ryan Newman paced Happy Hour at 121.883 mph. Johnson ran 102 laps in the hour-long final practice, second only to Jeff Burton’s 108.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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