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AVONDALE, Ariz. — Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was involved in a hard, single-car crash Friday at Phoenix International Raceway during qualifying for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Johnson, 40, was on his second qualifying lap during the third and final round of the session. He had posted the third fastest speed of the round before his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet shot up the track and into the wall in Turn 2. He later confirmed on Twitter that his steering wheel came off.
The area of his car’s impact was covered with the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier.
About qualifying, the steering wheel came off. I know my interview was vague, but wanted to tell the team first. I’m thankful for soft walls
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) March 12, 2016
“Don’t know for sure,” Johnson said initially after being evaluated and released from the infield medical center. “Certainly a lot of straight in an area of the track that I didn’t need to have straight. So we’ll have to get to the bottom of it and see what went on.
“Just a really hard impact to the outside wall. (I’m) thankful that we have SAFER Barriers and soft walls. We’re really disappointed because we had such a fast race car and the guys have been working so hard to get this thing tuned up.”
The team will have two practice sessions on Saturday to attempt to dial in the backup car. “But certainly not what we wanted right now,” he said.
“Until we can look at data and kind of understand what went on … certainly something happened and the car went straight; I just don’t know what caused it at this point.”
Johnson’s incident brought out the red flag, and only a brief amount of time remained in the session once it resumed.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin swept the top three starting spots. Johnson will officially be listed as starting fifth; however because he will go to a backup entry, he will start from the rear of the 39-car field.
It was a final surprisingly difficult turn of events for the four-team Hendrick organization on Friday. Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to advance out of the first round; Kasey Kahne managed to advance to Round No. 2, but brought out the red flag after his No. 5 Chevrolet developed a fatal engine issue, keeping him from making a second-round attempt. Kahne will be listed as 24th on the grid, but as with Johnson, he’ll drop to the rear for the start.
Rookie Chase Elliott advanced into the second round and will start 17th.
Johnson’s 76 career wins is tops among active drivers for NASCAR’s premier series, and four of those come from the Arizona-based track.