Does Johnson’s Clash DNF Spell Trouble For Hendrick?

Column By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Mr. Hendrick, we have a problem.

Twice during Sunday’s rain-delayed Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway, Johnson spun without provocation off Turn 4.

The first time, on Lap 17, he took out the No. 41 Ford of Kurt Busch. The second time, Johnson nosed into the inside wall near the entrance to pit road crashed out of the 75-lap exhibition race.

Forget that Johnson failed to finish the Clash for the sixth straight year. More important is the observation that the balance of the Hendrick Motorsports cars has been problematic at restrictor-plate tracks.

Watching from the TV booth as Alex Bowman drove his No. 88 Chevy to a third-place finish Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed apprehension when Johnson spun once, then twice. Remember, Earnhardt spun three times on plate tracks last year before a concussion sidelined him for the final 18 races of the season.

Unlike last year, Earnhardt plans to practice extensively for next Sunday’s Daytona 500. Sunday’s accidents left Johnson thinking in the same vein.

“It’s bizarre, because it drove really good everywhere else,” Johnson said after the second wreck. “Then off of (Turn) 4, the first time I had a handling problem was when it broke free and I got into the No. 41, and then after that it was really loose after that caution and the last long stretch before I crashed again.

“Just off of Turn 4. The sun certainly sits on that edge of the track a little bit harder than anywhere else. We will take some notes and learn from those mistakes and apply that to the (Daytona) 500 car.”

As to possible solutions, Johnson already was pondering potential fixes.

“I would have to assume that it’s relative to the height of the rear spoiler,” said the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. “When there is less air and the air is so turbulent back there, the spoiler is so small it’s real easy to get the pressure off of it, and then the back just rotates around.

“We can adjust rear shocks, rear ride height and try to get more pitch in the car in a sense to keep the spoiler up in the air longer.”

AN OPPORTUNITY LOST FOR BUSCH AND BOWMAN?

After beating Alex Bowman to the finish line for second-place in the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona, Kyle Busch took a minute to school his younger adversary.

Busch felt that he and Bowman could have worked together to track down race winner Joey Logano on the final lap, if they had hooked up nose-to-tail rather than racing each other side-by-side to the finish.

“Just that when the 22 (Logano) got so far out in front, he was a lone duck, and I feel like, if we both could have worked together, then we could have tracked them back down and then the three of us could have gone for the win instead of just automatically giving it to the 22. Just trying to see what his (Bowman’s) mind-set was with it all and figure out what got him to that decision.

“Overall, good day and I need to eliminate some mistakes here for myself on this M&M’s team – the guys did a great job. The guys executed really well. I have a really fast car, so I can’t say enough about my guys at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota – everybody’s done a really good job and we have some good stuff. It’s cool to be able to have the opportunity to race for a win like that, but it kind of snuck away from us there at the end.”

Bowman used his only scheduled race so far this season as a learning experience.

“Hindsight is 20/20, right?” Bowman said. “It’s hard to see. I was on the top with all that stuff happened getting into Turn 1 (contact between Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin in a last-lap battle for the lead), and I didn’t know the No. 22 was out there by himself.

“So he’s probably right. We probably could have caught the No. 22 and had a shot to win it, but at the same time, he didn’t work with me much all day, either. A lot of guys hung us out every chance they got. So, to come home third shows what a great race car Hendrick Motorsports brings to the track.”

FORDS FIND THE ANSWER TO TOYOTA DOMINANCE

Four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas settled into the first four positions after a restart on Lap 65 of 75 in Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona, but Ford drivers found a way to break the Camry chain in the closing laps.

When Brad Keselowski hooked up with Team Penske teammate and eventual race winner Joey Logano, as well as newly minted Ford driver Kevin Harvick, the Fords were able to side-draft the Toyotas, break their momentum and pick them off one by one.

Keselowski had a huge run through the first two corners on the final lap, and race leader Denny Hamlin was powerless to keep his JGR Camry out front. Ultimately, contact between Keselowski’s Ford and Hamlin’s Toyota opened the door for Logano.

A rueful Hamlin described the action in the closing laps.

“There’s really not much I can do differently at the end,” he said. “Perhaps staying in the middle lane there through (Turns) 1 and 2 and trying to side-draft. (Keselowski) had help from the 22 (Logano). I was in a bad spot there. He was just coming so much faster than what I was.

“There’s not much that I could have done to defend. We lined up so well as Toyota teammates throughout the race that once those guys started breaking that up and leap frogging, he (Keselowski) had commitment from the 22 and the 4 (Harvick) and when they were able to back up there that really put us at a speed differential.

“The 2 (Keselowski) was coming with a huge run, and I tried to do everything I could to block and cover the bottom before he got there, but he was coming at such a higher rate of speed, I probably didn’t get there in time.”