Search
Close this search box.

Partner

Jimmie Johnson Snaps Out of Funk, Scores Pole for Sunday’s Race at Texas

Jimmie Johnson crusies down the front stretch during practice for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Caleb Pifer @CSPiferPhoto/ TobyChristie.com

For Jimmie Johnson, the last couple of seasons have been ones to forget. 2019 was beginning to look that way, until the No. 48 team unloaded a car with incredible speed. Johnson capitalized by pacing Friday’s practice session and then followed it up with his 36th-career pole position.

RELATED: Starting lineup for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas

Johnson was relieved with his first pole since July of 2016, but he realizes he has to put together a full 501 miles on Sunday. However, his team has done a better job this week of thinking outside the box on their car setup.

“It’s been a long couple of years, and we still have a ways to go,” said Johnson. “And, certainly race day is much more important than Friday, but we’ve been working so hard, and I think we are a bit guilty of trying too hard and maybe stepping outside of our comfort zone at times, and putting setups on the car at times that just aren’t proven yet. With all that said, we were very aggressive coming here and changing a lot of stuff on our mile-and-a-half program. Top of the chart all day long, and a great start for this Ally team. I’m really proud of everybody for keeping the faith and working hard.”

Obviously the entire Hendrick Motorsports team found something this week, as Johnson led a 1-2-3 sweep for HMS on the starting grid. The team’s fourth car, the No. 88 of Alex Bowman, was also fast but crashed in the opening round of qualifying.

William Byron will roll off from the outside of row one, and he said the results in qualifying were a result of impeccable teamwork.

“That is just a credit to the guys really, just giving us a fast car. Teamwork man! Just keeping the communication down to get that hole that we did. Just teamwork,” Byron said. “So its all good; its awesome!”

If the Hendrick guys can continue to work together on Sunday, perhaps the organization can record their first win of 2019.

Overall, Ford and Toyota have been the talk of the town so far in 2019, but Friday at Texas Chevrolet secured seven of the top-10 starting positions. Can they hang in for a great race on Sunday? Time will tell for sure, but they have a lot more hope than any race in the past year.

share it
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Post

Kyle Weatherman JJ Yeley Jason Miller shove post race fight video 2024 Atlanta NASCAR Xfinity Series
Video: "Next Time You Touch My Racecar" Kyle Weatherman Takes Post-Race Shove After on-Track Incident with Yeley
Kyle Busch car chief ejected COTA inspection Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Richard Childress Racing JTG Daugherty Racing
Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Car Chiefs Ejected After Multiple Failed Inspection Attempts
Screen Shot 2024-03-08 at 9.15
Stewart-Haas Hauler Involved in Multi-Vehicle Accident in Texas; Headed Back to North Carolina
NASCAR TV schedule Saturday March 16 Bristol Truck Series Weather Guard Truck Race NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR TV Schedule: Saturday, March 16 at Bristol
2024 NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer point standings
2024 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Point Standings
Hopkins Butcher
Video: Late-Race Battle Ends in Crash, Retaliation at Hickory

Join Our Newsletter

Ready to have NASCAR news hand-delivered to your email daily?

Related Article