Eighth-place finisher at Richmond spent over an hour in infield care center
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RICHMOND, Va. — Six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson took five liters of intravenous fluid after a hot Saturday night of racing at Richmond International Raceway, spending more than an hour in the infield care center with a case of severe dehydration.
Johnson exited the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet under his own power after his eighth-place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 400, but slumped against the car before resting on his back on pit road. He stood again, complaining of cramping and dizziness, but leaned against the car until crew members assisted him to a medical cart.
Johnson arrived at the care center at 10:45 p.m. ET and was treated and released shortly after midnight. After his stay, he said the bout with illness came on as a surprise.
“Yeah, there is something that went wrong today,” Johnson said in his brief remarks. “It could have been my own nutrition plan. I felt like I came in plenty hydrated. We will have to make sure that all the fans and stuff were working in the car. I was warm at the midway point and didn’t feel like my helmet fan was working. That could definitely cause an issue.”
Fellow Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., parked behind him for post-race interviews, saw Johnson in poor health and went to assist him. After Johnson exited the medical facility, Earnhardt stopped by to jokingly offer his teammate some chocolate milk.
“He needs to go get some fluids,” Earnhardt said in an earlier post-race interview. “It was super-hot tonight. I thought I might have some trouble with it because I had a sinus cold all week. … He is the most fit guy in this series and he must have something going on — something that didn’t agree with him today that he ate or drank. He’s always really prepared and invests a lot into being hydrated properly and having all the right things in his body to go racing. I’m a little worried about that. I’m sure he’ll be fine in 20 or 30 minutes when they get some fluids in him.”
Johnson, a three-time winner this year and among the highest seeds in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, was scheduled to compete in the Lake Davidson Sprint Triathlon on Sunday morning in North Carolina for the last of four legs in the Jimmie Johnson Foundation’s Wellness Challenge. While he said he plans to attend, he has ruled out participating.
The next task at hand will be resting up for the first round of the Chase, which comes Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, the first of 10 battles in Johnson’s quest for a record-tying seventh title in NASCAR’s premier series. But first, Johnson said he’ll investigate what went wrong in the regular-season finale.
“I haven’t been sick,” Johnson said. “I had a light week of training as well because I had planned on competing in my triathlon tomorrow morning. Well-rested, nutrition and all that was there. It is really bizarre that I got hit as hard as I did tonight with dehydration. I will have to dig in and see what happened.”
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