Jimmie Johnson prepared for his NASCAR comeback at Daytona – Orange County Register

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – “New leader…84.”

Jimmie Johnson sent a shock through the track when he shot to the top of the leaderboard in practice for the Daytona 500. The seven-time Ol’ has returned to NASCAR after two humiliating years in IndyCar as a partner and sometimes driver at what’s been called the Legacy Motor Club.

Legacy is the Johnson-led rebranding of what began as Petty Enterprises in 1949 – a year after NASCAR’s launch. Sunday’s Daytona 500 kicks off NASCAR’s celebratory 75th season and all eyes are on Johnson, who made a U-turn just over three months ago, returned to NASCAR and energized Richard Petty’s struggling racing team.

Johnson doesn’t drive the number 48, the only number he’s ever used at NASCAR’s top level; that now belongs to Daytona 500 polesitter Alex Bowman, Johnson’s successor at Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson is in the #84 Chevrolet.

Everything is different at this new legacy organization, which Petty said on Saturday would be run entirely by Johnson within five years. But Johnson showed he still knows his stuff at Daytona International Speedway, even if FanDuel lists him as a 40-1 longshot for Sunday.

“Most of this is known. I remember little details as I do laps and get into the zone,” Johnson said. “It drives like a production car. It doesn’t drive like an IndyCar, thank goodness. We know how that went.”

Try not to get any podiums in two seasons.

As a team owner, Johnson is a stabilizing figure for the two-car organization of Erik Jones and Noah Gragson. The two-time Daytona 500 champion turns 48 this year and is a mentor to Gragson – who has the power to be a superstar but struggled with maturity issues during his rise to a Cup ride.

He signed last year with what he believed to be Petty GMS, a mediocre team with a legend in Petty on the team’s imprint. In reality, the 24-year-old has been given unrestricted access to one of the greatest athletes of his generation. Gragson soaks up every bit of wisdom Johnson has to offer, and the deal came about with spotter Earl Barban, who debuted with Johnson in that 2006 Daytona 500 win.

“New leader…48” was Barban’s trademark as Johnson led nearly 19,000 laps in his career.

Not wanting a new spotter, Johnson made a business decision to help his young, new driver.

“I’m wearing my team owner hat and I know Earl’s experience and what he has to share with Noah… I just felt like it was the right thing to do,” Johnson said.

Although Petty won the Daytona 500 seven times, the last car Petty owned to win the Daytona 500 was in 1979. Johnson has the organization in talks for Sunday.

“I’m glad we’re at the top of the board and not at the bottom,” Johnson said. “I’m sure the headlines would be a little different if we were on the other end.”

Other things to see on Sunday:

CAR SCOOTER

NASCAR is in the second year of its new next-gen car and is still looking for solutions to a bumper issue that caused multiple concussions last season.

The rear bumpers were due to be softened this year so the car would absorb more energy from routine contact, but drivers complained earlier this month that the hits in Feb. 5’s Busch Light Clash exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were just as hard were .

Racing at Daytona requires deliberate slipstreaming and is an aggressive race with more at stake than a typical Sunday.

“Daytona has its own rules that everyone plays by,” said Brad Keselowski, who was fastest in the last practice session on Saturday. “At the end of the race in Daytona you have to ask yourself: ‘What am I willing to do to win this race?’ Most of the time, especially in the last three years, to win the 500 you had to destroy the leader.”

HAMLIN’S STORY

Denny Hamlin is aiming for a fourth Daytona 500 win in a career he already finds unfulfilling.

The knock on Hamlin is that he has never won a Cup championship in 17 attempts. But when asked this week if he would trade a Daytona 500 trophy for just a title, Hamlin snapped, “No. I was asked that last year. No way. No chance.”

Hamlin finished ninth in his qualifying race and the entire Toyota fleet had to sit out Saturday’s practice session. Both the Ford and Chevy camp both seemed quick and organized – Hendrick Chevy’s Bowman and Kyle Larson start on the front row, Ford drivers Joey Logano and Aric Almirola start on the second – but Hamlin always values ​​his chances still.

“I LOVE my car,” he wrote on Twitter.

WHO TO SEE

IndyCar driver Conor Daly and action sports star Travis Pastrana make their Daytona 500 debuts in a twist of fate for good friends.

Pastrana has always wanted to compete in the Daytona 500 to add to his long and storied résumé. A decade after driving a full season in NASCAR’s second division, he gets his chance in a Toyota fielded by 23XI Racing.

“A lot of the guys that follow NASCAR, just the fans, know me as a TV personality or a stuntman,” Pastrana said. “In my heart, racer, motocross racer, built reputation as a racer too.”

He assumes that he will also attract new looks.

“When I announced I was coming here, the action sports community jumped on board 110%,” Pastrana said. “So many people say, ‘Man, I’m watching the 500.’ I haven’t looked forward to our industry seeing this since I was a kid.”