Without a fast enough qualifying speed in Wednesday night’s time trials and driving a non-chartered third entry for the Legacy Motor Club team he co-owns, Jimmie Johnson needed to race his way into Sunday’s 500 field.
While there were nearly two dozen cars in Johnson’s qualifying race, his battle to make the 500 was in essence a one-on-one tug-of-war between himself and veteran J.J. Yeley.
Whoever finished higher would make the “Great American Race,” the other could only watch.
A late-race spin from a multi-car accident left Johnson behind Yeley on the last lap of his 60-lap Duel race.
As the race came to a close, Johnson came to realization that he may not make the field. "I’m like, I’m not going to make it, not going to make the Daytona 500. I’m going to have to call all our partners. I’m going to have to stand in the suite during the 500 and shake hands, not drive a car. This is running through my mind as I’m catching him. I have to figure out a way."
However, a check-up ahead created an opportunity for Johnson, who sent it up the middle and got up to 12th, which in this case was a win.
“To go through that just now, literally have it come down to the last hundred yards of the Duel, that wasn’t in my playbook,” an exasperated Johnson said after his race.
“Coming through (Turns) 3 and 4, there was almost a wreck again. J.J. chose one lane, I chose the middle lane. The middle lane prevailed by the time we got to the start/finish.
“Just as simple as that.”
Simple but certainly not a common experience for the seven-time Cup champion.
The last time Johnson, now 48, failed to qualify for a race was in 2000 for the Daytona season opener in what is now called the Xfinity Series.
Now a Cup team co-owner, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and 83 Cup race wins later – including a pair of Daytona 500 wins – facing the same scenario for Johnson seemed a bit surreal.
“The Herzogs helped me move from off-road racing into ASA stockcars, into Busch (Series). It was our first race together,” he said. “Building a team for the future, a lot of similarities with the vision then as I'm experiencing right now (with LMC). I went home.
“I very much remember missing that race.”
Just as he will very much remember making this one.
“I’ve never been through anything like this. In my first year down here (in Cup), we fortunately won the pole. I had exposure to racing my way in. It was pretty stress-free after qualifying,” he said.
“To fight like we did in those closing laps, I mean, I’ve only done that for a race win here. Never had that level of anxiety and fight for a Duel or anything else except for a proper win.”
That scenario is still to come.
With Johnson safely in the field along with his team’s two full-time drivers John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones, he can turn his attention to competing for a win instead of a chance to race.
The pressure, however, in doing the latter was a new experience for Johnson.
“It’s heavier,” he explained. “I feel the weight of the partnerships, from corporate partners to my partner Maury Gallagher action everybody at Legacy Motor Club.
“I’ve always had a sense of team and have felt that I’m out there representing a team. This just had a much different feeling of representing a lot more people on a lot deeper level.”
