Daytona practice session leads to backup cars

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On Wednesday morning, four-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson talked about the importance of staying out of harm's way until Sunday's Daytona 500.

"I don't think anyone wants to tear up their car, even though they might be locked in," Johnson said. "I think it'll be like you've seen in the past with the race on Thursday. You put so much work and effort into that primary car, you don't want to tear it up."

Less than four hours later, Johnson was standing in the garage area as his crew was unloading the backup car from the No. 48 Chevrolet hauler, the victim of a multi-car incident early in the second practice of the day. And he wasn't alone. A total of six drivers will find themselves in backup cars heading into Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races.

"That one's not good," Johnson said, pointing at his primary No. 48 Chevy, which had too much front end damage to continue. "It was good until the crash. We'll have to get another one yet."

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The two 150-mile qualifying races will determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500.

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The wreck, one of several incidents and near-incidents in a frenetic session, was set off when Mike Bliss lost control on the low side of the track in front of a pack of cars coming out of Turn 4 and slammed into Joey Logano's Toyota. As the rest of the field took evasive action, Johnson rear-ended Denny Hamlin.

"I couldn't really see what started the wreck but I quickly was in it and had some damage," Johnson said. "For me, it's a matter of getting a new car set up. We spent the all day today adjusting this one to get it just right, and now we've got to go into a car that hasn't been on the track. The car's fully ready to go. It just doesn't have any laps on it, so tomorrow's race will be a learning experience."

Johnson was unsure if the backup was the car he drove in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

"The Shootout car was way, way loose, so if it is, we need to make sure we tighten it up," he said. "We had kind of a different setup today that we kind of gravitated to, and I was pretty happy with it." (Continued)