WATKINS GLEN – In his 529th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start, Jimmie Johnson had a finish he’d certainly like to forget about.
On Lap 53 in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, Johnson found himself in the direct path of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who spun in Turn 5 leaving Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet with nowhere to go but into Stenhouse’s stopped race car.
The impact also left the six-time Sprint Cup champion stopped in Turn 5 with too much damage to continue, leaving the El Cajon, California native finishing 40th, the first time he’s ever finished last in a Sprint Cup event.
Previously, Johnson finished 42nd next-to-late pre Charter four times at Daytona-twice (2012 and 2014), Pocono Raceway (2007) and most recently New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July 2014.
“Yeah, we had a rough first pit stop and then we were just kind of biding our time and trying to get on a fuel strategy that could benefit us,” said Johnson. “The cars started checking up in front of me and they all moved out of the way and the No. 17 (Ricky Stenhouse) was sitting there, stopped. I remember seeing a door number and I was so thankful it was the passenger-side door and not the driver-side door because I plowed him.
“I really hit the car hard. I was afraid that I might have injured him. But, thankfully he’s okay and everybody is all right. It’s unfortunate for this Jimmie Johnson Foundation car and a big thank you once again, to Lowe’s for letting us run that paint scheme on the car. I guess we got them some on-camera exposure today, but not the kind we wanted.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
