Johnson, Pastrana seeking new thrills in Daytona run

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Travis Pastrana has jumped out of a plane without a parachute but never driven NASCAR’s top Cup Series car over 40 mph. He never took the car for so much as a single spin on the highbanked, high-speed track at Daytona International Speedway. And despite a previous dalliance with NASCAR, Pastrana had never before tried to qualify for the Daytona 500.

So as the action sports star found himself standing on the grid, just a car apart from good friend and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, it might have been a great time for Pastrana to ask for some last-minute pointers from the two-time Daytona 500 winner.

Johnson has just returned to NASCAR after a two-year stint in the IndyCar Series and, like Pastrana, the aging superstars were not guaranteed a spot in Sunday’s season-opening spectacle.

But the duo skipped the small talk about entry or exit or throttle or speed. Johnson’s two daughters were at a nearby horse competition; Pastrana’s at a cheerleading camp. And that’s what a couple of dads chatted about before one of the most pressure-packed moments in both their NASCAR lives.

Pastrana watched Johnson, making select starts this season, attempt his lap on the videoboard. It was a rough and bumpy ride with his new Legacy Motor Club team that alarmed Johnson, who after two years away has no idea what the Next Gen car is supposed to feel like.

“You are a professional man!” Pastrana gushed to Johnson after the session.

When it was Pastrana’s turn to qualify in a Toyota from 23XI Racing, his ride was much smoother and, like Johnson, fast enough for the duo to claim two of the four open spots in the 40-driver Daytona 500 field.

Just like that, a Daytona 500 champ and an X Games champ will be racing for one of the biggest prizes in NASCAR.

There were six drivers vying for the spots, with Johnson and Pastrana earning the two awarded through time trials. The other four were set for a pair of Thursday night qualifying races that finalize the field.

“Sure, I want to win. I get in a car, that’s the standard thing, that’s what I want to do,” Johnson said. “But this is more about the long game. This is more about being a part of a growing race team than it is really about that fierce competitive side that I’ve always operated by.”

Pastrana, who at nearly 40 had turned his attention to landing a Dayonta 500 slot, erupted in celebration after his qualifying lap. He was approached by Kurt Busch, the former Cup champion, Daytona 500 winner and current 23XI/Toyota coach who was forced to retire last season after suffering a concussion in July that is still not healed.

Busch offered a dose of reality for Pastrana: “Kurt Busch came right up to me at the end and said, ‘OK, now we get to work.’”

Pastrana’s definition of work might not fit the usual vernacular inside NASCAR.