DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Instead of leading the field to the green flag in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the back of the pack after wrecking his primary race car in practice.
Earnhardt still could win Sunday’s season-opening race — he’ll just have his work much harder to do so.
Earnhardt mangled his pole-winning car in practice Wednesday, colliding with five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and sliding into a wall.
“We’ve got plenty of race cars,” Earnhardt said. “I ain’t worried about how fast we’ll be or whether we’ll be as good. We’ll be fine. But it never feels good tearing them up.”
Earnhardt was pushing Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, in a two-car draft when Johnson had to back off the gas for slower-moving traffic in front of him. Earnhardt plowed into Johnson’s back bumper and nearly spun him out, but Johnson saved his car from skidding.
A second pack of cars led by Martin Truex Jr. closed quickly on Earnhardt’s bumper, causing the No. 88 Chevrolet to spin across the track and into the inside wall.
Earnhardt will have to forfeit the top starting spot in his qualifying race today and Sunday’s opener.
The track opened with NASCAR officials ordering a change to the restrictor plate designed to back speeds off the 206 mph mark reached earlier in Speedweeks. The move to a smaller plate is expected to slow cars by 2 to 3 mph when they are drafting.
Hendrick signs young Elliott.
Hendrick Motorsports signed Chase Elliott, the 15-year-old son of 1988 NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, to a driver development deal.
The Associated Press
