The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Seven-time champion Johnson officially back
Seven-time is officially back.
Jimmie Johnson, making his return to stock car racing after a two-year dalliance in Indycar, topped the first practice session for the Daytona 500 on Friday.
The two-time Daytona 500 winner and seventime Cup Series champion reached a top speed of 194.25 mph around the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway. He edged fellow Chevrolet drivers Chase Elliott — his former teammate at Hendrick Motorsports — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and pole-sitter Alex Bowman, the driver who replaced Johnson when he left NASCAR after the 2020 season, to create a feel-good moment for the bowtie.
It was Johnson’s first extended stint behind the wheel in the Next Gen car at Daytona International Speedway. He did take part in a one-day practice session at Phoenix last month.
“I honestly think it’s too early to read far into this. It is plate racing, and that was just a practice session,” Johnson said. “We didn’t make any mistakes and did some things right to end up where we did . ...
“Anything can still happen. But I’m glad to be in here, I’m glad we’re at the top of the board and not the bottom. I’m sure the headlines would read a little differently if we were on the other end of it.”
Johnson returned to NASCAR in November as part-owner of what is now called Legacy Motor Club, an organization that began as Petty Enterprises nearly 75 years ago. He has so far as a driver entered the Daytona 500 — Johnson will start 39th on Sunday — the street course race in Chicago in July and the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of NASCAR’S Garage 56 project.
How’d the new car feel? “It drives like a stock car,” he quipped. “It doesn’t drive like an Indycar, thank God. We know how that went.”
Johnson drove the No. 48 for his entire career but will be behind the wheel of the No. 84 when he competes in NASCAR this year.
Aric Almirola and Joey Logano, both winners in Thursday night’s qualifying races, led a train of Ford drivers behind the Chevy leaders. Almirola and Logano were fifth and sixth and followed by Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kevin Harvick, Zane Smith, Chris Buescher and Harrison Burton.
Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest Toyota driver in 17th.
The fast lap capped a big day for Johnson, who earlier flew with the Air Force Thunderbirds before turning 34 laps in the one-hour practice session. He blacked out in the jet but didn’t get sick.
“Never felt anything like that, the adrenaline, the acceleration,” he said.
Thirty-seven of 40 drivers turned at least one lap in Friday night practice. Kaulig Racing teammates AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley sat out along with Riley Herbst of Rick Ware Racing.
Daly in Daytona 500 for Mayweather team
Indycar driver Conor Daly raced Floyd Mayweather into the Daytona 500 for a second consecutive year by bobbing and weaving his way through myriad issues for the illprepared team.
Daly’s attempt to make his first Daytona 500 was only announced last week as part of a deal with his Indycar sponsor, Bitnile, and The Money Team Racing, a fledgling NASCAR team owned by the retired boxer.
Daly will become the 62nd driver in history to race in both the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. In May, he can become the 29th driver to compete in both races in the same year.
The No. 50 Chevrolet raced its way into the Daytona 500 last year and ultimately entered four total Cup races, including Daly’s Cup debut on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway last October. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves had the first talks with Mayweather’s team about entering Sunday’s Daytona 500 but passed because he didn’t think the entry had time to be properly prepared.
Daly jumped at the opportunity, as did his sponsor, which wants him to run a handful of NASCAR races this year to market the company and motorsports as a whole.
But Daly’s chances seemed on the ropes from the moment Daytona International Speedway opened.
An electrical issue burned a hole in the oil line and prevented him from making a qualifying attempt in Wednesday time trials. It meant the Indiana native had to race his way into the Daytona 500 in one of Thursday night’s qualifying races.
Even that seemed as if Daly couldn’t go the distance: TMT was thrashing just to get his car ready to start the race, his radio wasn’t working, and Daly complained in the garage that “it’s not supposed to be this hard.”