Jimmie Johnson finishes second in his IndyCar debut despite some “scary moments”

Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished 19th in his IndyCar Series debut at Barber Motorsports Park, admitting to two “scary moments” along the road.

Johnson, who departed from NASCAR last season following a successful career with Hendrick Motorsports, is driving for Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda in all non-oval races this year. He was nearly taken out in the opening lap chaos caused by spinning frontrunner Josef Newgarden, after qualifying 21st for his debut start in America’s premier open-wheel championship.

Johnson was on the lead lap when he spun and stalled, resulting in a full-course yellow and a lap loss. The leaders passed him again, but he was still ranked 19th.

“Very happy to have finished,” Johnson told NBC. “There were two pretty scary moments in the race. One heading going into Turn 5 at the original start, there was chaos and I bounced off a few cars but nothing really happened [to damage my car] evidently, so that was very fortunate.

“Then I spun in traffic following someone up over the hill into Turn 13, and unfortunately I lost a lap at that point. Just a ton of learning experience throughout the day and just very thankful for this opportunity that Chip’s given me.”

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Johnson responded to a question about the physical difficulties of the recently resurfaced track: “I’m not bad, my left hand is about to blister. All in all, I could have gone a few more laps, I wasn’t totally taxed, the training worked out well, so I’ll heal up and be ready for St Pete.”

After the race, team owner Chip Ganassi paid tribute to Johnson, saying: “What a great leader he is. What a great guy. It really makes me mad to know what I was up against in NASCAR for all of those years.

“Now I understand why he won seven championships, the guy’s the hardest worker I know, he never stops and he’s having a great time. He’s got a hill to climb, but he’s going to do it.”

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Alex Palou, a second-year IndyCar racer for Ganassi, won the race in his debut start for the team.

Johnson added: “Huge congrats to Alex, the kid is on it. He showed he can get it done today. He’s an amazing guy and to be his age, with so much talent, and so much wisdom, and speaking to him is always very impressive for me. We did have a good laugh the other day, when he informed me that I’m older than his father, so after that laugh I’ve been picking on him a bit!

“Just an amazing job today.”

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