Saturday Phoenix Notebook

Saturday Phoenix Notebook

Notebook Items:

·        Jimmie Johnson takes blame for loose steering wheel, qualifying wreck

·        Keselowski has his eye on his opponents, too

·        Ryan Blaney has sights set on Victory Lane

Mar. 12, 2016

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

Jimmie Johnson takes blame for loose steering wheel, qualifying wreck

AVONDALE, Ariz. – The loose wheel picked a fine time to leave Jimmie Johnson’s steering column.

But Johnson was definitive in placing the blame where it belonged—right on his own shoulders.

In Friday’s time trials at Phoenix International Raceway, Johnson completed one lap in the third and final round of knockout qualifying for Sunday’s Good Sam 500, but on his second circuit, the steering wheel dislodged from the column, and his No. 48 Chevrolet drove straight into the outside wall, slamming into the SAFER barrier with a hard impact.

Initially, Johnson was circumspect about the accident, but on Friday evening he posted on Twitter that the steering wheel had come off. On Saturday morning, he took questions from reporters in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.

“I came into Turn 1, just working my way through the center of the corner and jumped in the gas, and as I jumped in the gas, I guess I pull on the wheel when I do that,” Johnson said. “As I pulled on the wheel, it just came off in my hands. 

“So I was just sitting there with no steering and holding the steering wheel staring at the blue wall, and I was along for the ride at that point.”

Johnson took full responsibility for the wreck, indicating he failed to lock the steering wheel on the column before starting his laps in the third round. But he didn’t want to say anything specific before consulting with his crew about the cause of the problem.

“I didn’t want to falsely blame something or someone or whatever the situation may be,” said Johnson, who will start from the rear of the field in a backup car on Sunday (on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET). “Honestly, it’s such a delicate topic I just wanted to be able to talk to my crew guys and look through everything first before it became national news. 

“Even last night it was very difficult to find out what the cause was because of the tight time frame trying to get the back-up car out. This morning the picture is crystal clear what happened. I just didn’t get the wheel locked on.”

KESELOWSKI HAS HIS EYE ON HIS OPPONENTS, TOO

Brad Keselowski, winner of last Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, certainly does have blinders on.

Though it’s politically correct for a driver to say he’s concentrating solely on his own team’s program, it’s also impossible not to notice what the competition is doing.

Accordingly, Joe Gibbs Racing’s sweep of the top three spots in Friday’s qualifying session wasn’t lost on the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

“There’s a balance between watching other teams and focusing on your own,” Keselowski acknowledged after qualifying 19th for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. “A lot of people would tell you to just do your own thing the best you can, and you’ll be all right, but that’s not really how sports work. You line up against other teams all the time.

“So I think you have to keep your focus on yourself and the other teams at the same time, and I guess in one way it can make you kind of cross-eyed. There’s a reason the Gibbs cars are 1-2-3 right now. They have a lot of speed and are doing things at a very high level. They had a shot at winning the first three races and have been very close to doing that.

“I don’t know if anyone else can say the same. It’s our goal to go out there and find some speed to be able to put up the numbers they are putting up like in qualifying today. Hopefully, we can do that. They have a lot to be proud of with the things they have done to their cars to make them so fast. Of course we want to do the same and get ahead.”

RYAN BLANEY HAS SIGHTS SET ON VICTORY LANE

Wood Brothers Racing driver Ryan Blaney may be locked in a heated battle against Chase Elliott for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, but that’s not Blaney’s primary focus.

In point of fact, he’d much rather win a race.

“The main goal is to win,” asserted Blaney, fresh from a strong sixth-place finish in last Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We’re not really here to points race. I want to win races. That’s every team’s goal, and we’re so early in the season I don’t even look at points. I don’t care about that. I care about running like we did at Las Vegas. That run last week, there was a point in the race where I felt if we worked a little harder and things went our way that we might have a shot to win a race if we keep having runs like that.

“I think if you consistently run in the top 10, then I feel like you are very close to trying to get a win. I don’t want to say it’s out of the question. It’s never out of the question for any team, especially with restrictor-plate stuff. I didn’t come into this year expecting to win. Of course you want to, but you don’t say you will definitely win a race. I think we have a strong team, though, and it’s definitely not out of the question.”