SPARTA, Ky. -- Jimmie Johnson is headed to a backup car at Kentucky Speedway after crashing early in the second practice Friday.
A storm immediately after the wreck cut interrupted the session after about 30 minutes. The practice was scheduled to run from 11 a.m.-12:25 p.m. on the 1.5-mile oval, which recently was repaved and reconfigured.
Johnson had turned the second-fastest lap (188.121 mph) and made 17 laps in his No. 48 Chevrolet before the incident. He had the fastest 10-lap average (186.517).
“I just got wide, and evidently the track is dirty wide,” said the six-time Sprint Cup champion, who is seeking his first victory at Kentucky in Saturday’s Quaker State 400. “I didn’t have anything go wrong. I just got wide and the car just started going straight and it wouldn’t turn. I was in the marbles. I couldn’t see the line where the track was clean and dirty, and it just kept going straight and straight and straight and hit the wall.”
The rain at stopped at 12:15 p.m., but NASCAR hasn’t announced a revised schedule based on track drying. A final Sprint Cup practice had been slated for 1:30 p.m., Xfinity Series qualifying at 4:45 p.m. and Sprint Cup qualifying at 6:45 p.m.
Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was the fastest in the shortened session at 188.285 mph, followed by Johnson, Kevin Harvick (188.088), Ty Dillon (188.042) and Kyle Larson (187.963).
Speeds from the shortened second practice: