CONCORD, N.C. – An engine issue Sunday night at Darlington Raceway left Jimmie Johnson with a 39th-place result and a little extra stress heading into the regular-season finale next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is far from concerned about the engine issue showing up again in the Brickyard 400.
“Our engine shop is so rock solid,” he said. “These guys are the best in the business. We will be fine next week.”
As the Darlington race weekend got underway, Johnson advanced to the second round of qualifying on the strength of a top-five time in round one. But he wasn’t able to advance into the final round, and unapproved adjustments following damage from contact with the wall during qualifying put Johnson at the rear of the field for the start of the race.
That didn’t deter him once the green flag dropped, and he moved all the way into the top 15 before a loose wheel forced him to pit road – but he was hit with a commitment line violation that came with a pass-through penalty, which put him two laps behind the leader.
He had moved back to the verge of the top 25 when the engine issue ended his day.
“It’s just about cleaning things up,” Johnson said. “I didn’t have a great lap in that second round of qualifying – that put us back. Unfortunately, we had a loose wheel and then I missed the commitment line coming in. We’ve just got to clean those things up. Our cars are much better. I just have to thank everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for working so hard. We just have to minimize mistakes and I think we can run a top five pretty easily.”
Entering the final race before the 16-driver playoff field is set, Johnson is currently 15th in the standings, 19 points ahead of the 16th-place driver – teammate Alex Bowman. He’s 87 points ahead of the 17th-place competitor, which would be the first one not to make the postseason.
“I don’t want to be in this position,” Johnson said. “We have been around this spot for a while. We have seen it coming. We just need to transfer, and, honestly, I think our cars are capable of running in the top five. If we can just start minimizing mistakes, my own included, we will be much better off and have a shot.”
Johnson has yet to officially clinch his spot in the postseason, but he made it clear that the No. 48 team will keep grinding.
“There is no need to flip out now,” he said. “We have had a pretty rough year to this point. We have been working hard, unfortunately just haven’t had the results. We will keep working hard. There is no quit in myself or this team.”