Johnson unhurt following accident in Rolex practice

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Four-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was unhurt Thursday in an accident in the opening practice for this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona sports-car race at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson was driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Riley fielded by defending Daytona Prototype champion Gainsco Racing down the infield straightaway that has a high-speed kink in the middle when a slower car moved over and forced Johnson into the infield, where he hit a barrier backwards.

Johnson

"I put myself in a position with a GT car that I shouldn't and paid the price," Johnson said. "I hate it that I tore up equipment and put the guys in this spot. It looks like we will get this fixed and hopefully everything will be good for [Friday]."

The car was badly damaged. Johnson visited the track's infield hospital and was released. He is hoping to get back behind the wheel for another practice on Friday.

"He's not injured in any way," team owner Bob Stallings said. "He may be sore, but there's no reason for him not to race this weekend. Jimmie feels ugly about what happened.

"He was doing about 185 [mph] and was flat [full throttle] going into the kink. A GT car closed off in front of him, and when Jimmie slowed, the [99] car turned and backed into the wall. When it did, it twisted the chassis.

"The 24-hour race is essentially 10 races in one race so we have to bring a lot of extra parts -- what we don't bring is a second chassis. I'm going to guess [Johnson] had 15 laps [Thursday]."

Stallings' team initially planned to bring a backup car from Texas. Johnson offered his private airplane to fly critical components from car manufacturer Riley Technologies' North Carolina base. But after assessing the damage, Stallings told Grand-Am Series officials the team would attempt to repair the car.

By Grand-Am regulations, once a car begins practice for an event, the chassis cannot be replaced. The team was going to withdraw the No. 99 and enter its backup, an older No. 98 Riley.

The team is planning to rush parts to Daytona and work through the night in hopes of getting the car back on the track by Friday, when a fourth round of practice and a second qualifying session are scheduled.

Nine NASCAR drivers are competing in the race.

A.J. Allmendinger was the top NASCAR qualifier, putting his Michael Shank Racing Ford third on the grid with a speed of 126.753 mph on the 3.56-mile road course. SunTrust Racing's Max Angelelli is on the pole.

The Chip Ganassi Racing team that includes Cup Series drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray qualified fourth. And the CGR team with Cup driver Max Papis will start fifth.

Camping World Truck Series driver Colin Braun, driving for Krohn Racing, will start ninth. Cup driver Paul Menard, who will drive for Spirit of Daytona Racing, watched his car qualify 10th.

Two other Cup drivers, Boris Said and Bobby Labonte, are in the 45-car field. Said is part of the Turner Motorsport team, which will start 22nd. TRG Motorsports' Bobby Labonte will co-drive a car that qualified 23rd.

There are 45 entries -- 15 Daytona Prototypes and 30 GT cars -- for the race that's scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

The Associated Press and Sporting news Wire Service contributed to this report.

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