DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson says he’s not worried about spinning on his own in Sunday’s Clash, saying that the team had an aggressive setup.
Johnson’s spin brought back memories of last year’s Daytona 500 when Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott each spun on their own in Turn 4.
On Sunday, Johnson called his incident in Turn 4 “bizarre.’’ He noted he had not been loose anywhere else on the track.
Wednesday, Johnson expressed confidence that the issue would not be repeated the rest of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.
“We can’t sit still,’’ the seven-time series champion said. “We need faster cars. Everybody is working on it. We were very aggressive in the (Clash) trying to create speed for the car. I like a loose race car, so I was willing to roll the dice. We also thought we’d be racing at night, which would help the grip level. Raced during the day (after the event was postponed by rain) and it just didn’t turn out for us.
“We have notes to fall back on. We had a very good driving car in last year’s 500 (and) two teammates that didn’t spin out in the Clash, so we have plenty of notes to go to.’’