Jimmie Johnson spun and damaged the front end of the No. 48 Chevrolet during morning practice Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, necessitating a switch to a backup car for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race.
Jimmie Johnson spins and damages primary car in practice, switches to backup for Cup Series race at Michigan
The defending series champion forfeits his 13th starting position and drops to the rear of the field for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400.
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Johnson got loose exiting Turn 4 and slid through the frontstretch infield grass, which caught the splitter and caused considerable damage to the left front. He drove the car back to the garage. On the lap before he spun, the defending series champion had posted the second-fastest speed in the session with a lap of 197.341 mph.
After initially trying to fix the damage, the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team elected to pull out its backup car about 30 minutes prior to the start of final practice. Johnson will have to forfeit his 13th starting position and drop to the rear of the 37-car field for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400.
“I got loose into Turn 3 and fought it for a long time and unfortunately came around,” Johnson said. “Did a nice job of keeping it off the outside wall, but came back down the hill and into the grass and the front end dug in pretty good.”
Martin Truex Jr.’s single lap of 198.385 mph topped morning practice, with Kyle Busch second (197.938 mph). Johnson was third overall.
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