Jimmie Johnson uninjured in hard crash caused by brake failure

Neither Jimmie Johnson nor Jamie McMurray was injured in separate accidents that occurred almost instantaneously during Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, which saw Johnson’s car slam into the wall and McMurray’s car catch fire.

Johnson was entering Turn 1, the fastest portion of the 2.5-mile track where drivers routinely exceed 200 mph, when a brake failure occurred on the No. 48 car. Sensing a problem, Johnson attempted to scrub speed by cutting through the grass to the inside of the turn, causing his Chevrolet to skid wildly and have heavy contact with the outside wall.

“When I went in the corner and hit the pedal, it travelled immediately to the floor and I could see a little puff of smoke and I knew I was in big trouble,” Johnson said. “I quickly stuffed it into third gear and tried to slow the car down and got into the grass. Fortunately I had a decent angle when I hit the wall in Turn 1. Outside of scaring myself pretty good, all is well.”

Johnson, the defending series champion, got out of the badly damaged car without assistance, but after doing so placed his hands on his knees before sitting against the wall for a minutes to gather himself. He was then transported to the infield care center where he was evaluated and released.

“I just needed a minute,” Johnson said. “I thought it was going to be a lot worse than that. And to have it turn out where I basically just scared myself and got out of the car and walked away, I just needed a second to sit down and catch my breath. But, honestly, I have no sore spots or aches. I feel fine.”

McMurray was trailing Johnson when he too experienced a brake problem entering Turn 1, and when McMurray hit fluid off Johnson’s car, that caused him to lose control and crash into the outside wall.

As McMurray’s Chevrolet continued rolling, a fire erupted underneath it. Once he was able to get the car stopped, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver scrambled out before the car was consumed by flames.

“I didn’t really even see the No. 48 car wrecking until I just went down and I got on the brake pedal and my pedal started to go to the floor,” McMurray said. “I had a little bit that I could kind of pump it and I thought I was going to be OK.

“And then, I don’t know if I got into some oil or what happened, but I just started spinning and didn’t have any brakes. So, it was really weird that we kind of both had the same thing happen at the same point on the racetrack, but fortunately, we are both okay and yeah, move on.”

NASCAR stopped the Pocono 400 for 23 minutes to remove the cars and clear the track/remove debris.