With under five minutes left in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Texas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson found trouble.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who is making his second start of the 2024 season in the No. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camry XSE, kicked loose in the middle of Turns 1 and 2, and on the exit of the turn, Johnson collided with the outside wall with the right rear corner of his car.
.@JimmieJohnson gets loose and hits the wall! pic.twitter.com/LWOOEXYGxg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 13, 2024
The collision caused a significant amount of damage to the right rear, decklid, and spoiler to the car. While Johnson will not turn a lap in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, the legendary driver says that his team is still assessing whether a backup car will be necessary.
“The guys are looking at the car in the garage area. There’s no doubt that the AdventHealth Toyota won’t make qualifying, but it’s unclear yet if it’s a backup car or just fixing the body and the right rear corner,” Johnson said.
Johnson had turned the 34th-fastest lap of the practice session for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Hall of Famer felt like he was prepared enough for this weekend’s action, but when the car snapped loose on the treacherous end of Texas Motor Speedway, he just couldn’t do much to stop it.
“I felt we did a nice job of trying to get me ready in the simulator. Unfortunately, I just got loose going into Turn 1. I caught it, but it’s such a narrow lane that once I caught the car, I was in the marbles and kind of along for the ride then.”
A long-time Hendrick Motorsports star, Johnson has seven career wins at the 1.5-mile speedway in Fort Worth, TX, which is the most of anyone in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series at the facility.
