Jimmie Johnson said things went ‘horribly wrong’ in NASCAR race-ending crash

Seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson crashed out of NASCAR’s first race back.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was less a lap away from winning his first race stage of the season Sunday when he wrecked on the final lap of the segment.

In NASCAR’s first race back following a 10-week season suspension because of the coronavirus outbreak, Johnson took the lead at Darlington Raceway from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, on Lap 81. With the first stage ending on Lap 90, the No. 48 Chevrolet driver looked like he’d cruise to win the stage, which also would have earned him a playoff point for the postseason and would have been only the third stage victory of his career since the stages were implemented ahead of the 2017 season.

But on that last lap of the opening stage, Johnson — who is retiring from full-time Cup Series racing at the end of the 2020 season — was coming up behind Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford and was ready to lap him. It looked like Buescher had to lift, and Johnson wasn’t prepared for it and ran into the back of the No. 17 car.

The contact sent Johnson into the wall before he could complete Lap 90 of 293 and win the opening stage of Sunday’s Real Heroes 400. Instead, William Byron, another Hendrick Motorsports teammate, won the first of three stages.

The wreck ended Johnson’s day, marking the second race he has not finished this year after the season-opening Daytona 500. Now through NASCAR’s first five races of the 2020 season — it held four before suspending the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic — Johnson’s best finish is fifth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second race of the year.

After getting out of the car, the 44-year-old driver spoke with FOX Sports, saying:

“Gosh, what I would do to get that corner back to do it over again. Coming to the end of the stage and just trying to make sure I got a good run off of Turn 2 and I felt like I was going to be able to exit the corner side-by-side with him, and things just went horribly wrong there.

“What a great car. I feel terrible for my team, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, very thankful for Ally and all their support. We’ve got great race cars, and things are really coming in the right direction. Just unfortunate that things just really didn’t turn out there off of Turn 2.”

The wreck was particularly devastating for Johnson, who entered Sunday’s racing having only led 13 total laps this season: Three at the Daytona 500 and 10 at Auto Club Speedway, his “home” track in California, in March before finishing seventh.

More via NASCAR’s pool report:

“I don’t want one single person to get down,” Johnson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels said, pointing out that the team arrived with a strong car that led laps. “We’ve got a great race car, so don’t you get down.”

Johnson also spoke about the wreck in a Twitter video:

The good news for Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team is NASCAR is returning to Darlington on Wednesday night for its second race back during the coronavirus pandemic where they’ll get a second shot at the challenging 1.366-mile track nicknamed “Too Tough To Tame.”

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