Bank of America 500: Jimmie Johnson scrapes wall in final practice

Jimmie Johnson’s uneven Chase for the Sprint Cup continued when he hit the wall during final practice Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson, who won at Charlotte in May, was running the high line in the waning minutes when his car pushed towards the Turn 3 wall. The No. 48 Chevrolet sustained right-side damage, but Johnson will not have to go to a backup car for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

“Ran out of race track,” he said. “Just got in there too hot and slipped up and scratched the right side of the car. The good news is it doesn’t look like there is any big damage. It didn’t feel like I hit hard, it just kind of scratched the paint.

“We are very optimistic, especially now that things look okay with the car and there isn’t any suspension or chassis damage it looks like it’s just cosmetic.”

It’s been an uncharacteristic Chase for Johnson, who entered the weekend 12th in the standings following an accident last Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

With two races left in the Contender Round, the defending Sprint Cup champion likely needs to win Charlotte or next week at Talladega Superspeedway to avoid elimination. (A victory automatically transfers a driver to the subsequent round.) Johnson is 27 behind the cutoff to advance via points.

After qualifying 21st, Johnson was showing speed in final practice. He posted the eighth-fastest lap in the session prior just to the accident and had the fifth-fastest average speed over 10 consecutive laps. Johnson explained he was running in the high groove so he could better overcome his mid-pack starting position Saturday.

“That is why I’m hanging on the wall -- got to find a different lane,” Johnson said. “If I sit there and try to run the bottom with everybody, I’m going to junk and just kind of trapped. I have been working bottom, middle, top just making sure that my car has got a nice balance between all three lanes and have been able to produce lap times doing so.

“Trying to cover all my bases; I’ve got to go forward tomorrow night.”

Current points leader Joey Logano, who has two Chase victories, was quickest in final practice with a best lap of 190.597 miles per hour. Non-Chaser Kurt Busch was second. Chasers Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin were third through sixth, respectively.