Qualifying washed out at Bristol
‘I’ll take it any way I can get it,’ said Johnson, the two-time defending Sprint Cup champion who is off to an uncharacteristically horrendous start to the season.
He finished second in California, but was 27th, 29th and 13th in the three other races this season. He’s currently 13th in the points.
Clint Bowyer will start third Sunday on the concrete bullring.
‘We weren’t the best in practice today, so certainly starting up front will go a long way,’ Bowyer said. ‘This is a really cool track. It reminds me of the movie ‘Gladiator’ ‘ this is the one where the stud wins.’
Dale Jarrett, who will race in his final points race Sunday before retiring from competition, will start 37th with no regrets about how he’s ending his 24-year career at NASCAR’s top level.
‘I couldn’t ask for a better scenario,’ said Jarrett, a three-time Daytona 500 winner and former NASCAR champion. ‘If you gave me a chance to go back and do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.’
With qualifying washed out, all 10 Toyota cars entered in the race made the field.
Not making it were John Andretti, Patrick Carpentier and Jeff Green, who took over the wheel this week in the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford. Bill Elliott had been scheduled to drive the car this weekend.
Had Elliott stayed in the car, the No. 21 would have made the field based on Elliott’s status as a past champion. Green was ninth fastest in Friday’s practice session, but never got a chance to put the car in the field.
‘I call (Elliott) every week before finalizing our entry blank and ask him if he still wants to race for the coming week,’ team co-owner Eddie Wood said. ‘When I spoke to Bill on Monday, he showed an interest in swapping out Bristol for Martinsville, so that’s what we did. Jeff Green has a good record here, and we thought putting him in the car would give us our best shot at qualifying on speed.
‘I think what he’s done in practice shows that we made a good decision. Unfortunately, when I saw the weather forecast, I figured this was going to happen. I guess the most appropriate thing to say right now is that when it rains, it pours. This sort of typifies the way our season has gone so far.’
The famed No. 21 has made only one of five events this year.
Today’s lineup.
The lineup for today’s Sprint Cup Food City 500, with each driver’s position, car number, name, make and qualifying status:
1. 48. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
2. 24. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
3. 07. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
4. 17. Matt Kenseth, Ford, 2007 owner points
5. 5. Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
6. 20. Tony Stewart, Toyota, 2007 owner points
7. 77. Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 2007 owner points
8. 31. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
9. 99. Carl Edwards, Ford, 2007 owner points
10. 29. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
11. 1. Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
12. 11. Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 2007 owner points
13. 12. Ryan Newman, Dodge, 2007 owner points
14. 16. Greg Biffle, Ford, 2007 owner points
15. 88. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
16. 8. Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
17. 01. Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
18. 26. Jamie McMurray, Ford, 2007 owner points
19. 43. Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 2007 owner points
20. 9. Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 2007 owner points
21. 42. Juan Montoya, Dodge, 2007 owner points
22. 18. Kyle Busch, Toyota, 2007 owner points
23. 41. Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 2007 owner points
24. 6. David Ragan, Ford, 2007 owner points
25. 96. J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 2007 owner points
26. 40. Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 2007 owner points
27. 19. Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 2007 owner points
28. 7. Robby Gordon, Dodge, 2007 owner points
29. 15. Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
30. 28. Travis Kvapil, Ford, 2007 owner points
31. 66. Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
32. 38. David Gilliland, Ford, 2007 owner points
33. 70. Jeremy Mayfield, Chevrolet, 2007 owner points
34. 22. Dave Blaney, Toyota, 2007 owner points
35. 45. Kyle Petty, Dodge, 2007 driver winner
36. 2. Kurt Busch, Dodge, past champion
37. 44. Dale Jarrett, Toyota, 2008 owner points
38. 83. Brian Vickers, Toyota, 2008 owner points
39. 00. David Reutimann, Toyota, 2008 owner points
40. 55. Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 2008 owner points
41. 49. Ken Schrader, Dodge, 2008 owner points
42. 78. Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 2008 owner points
43. 84. Mike Skinner, Toyota, 2008 owner points
Failed to Qualify
34. John Andretti, Chevrolet
66. Jeff Green, Chevrolet
10. Patrick Carpentier, Dodge