Friday Kentucky Notebook

Friday Kentucky Notebook

July 8, 2016

Notebook Items:

·         Crash in practice sends Jimmie Johnson to backup car

·         Dale Earnhardt Jr. looking for Kentucky turnaround

·         Blaney: High marks for lower-downforce package

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

Crash in practice sends Jimmie Johnson to backup car

SPARTA, Ky. – So far, this has been a summer Jimmie Johnson would love to forget.

His last eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races have produced an average finish of 20.75, with the lone highlight a third-place run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

That, by the way, was the only top 10 in the last eight races for the six-time series champion. Most recently, his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was gobbled up in a 22-car accident last Saturday at Daytona, where Johnson was credited with his second 35th-place finish in the last four races.

Sure, Johnson collected two victories in the first five races of the season and locked himself into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the 13th straight season, but as of Daytona, Johnson had fallen to ninth in the series standings.

On Friday at Kentucky Speedway, his hopes for a reversal of the recent trend in Saturday's Quaker State 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) suffered a setback. Early in a morning practice shortened by rain, Johnson slid into the outside wall in Turn 4, evidence that the repaved, reconfigured 1.5-mile track is as tricky as advertised.

“I just got wide and evidently the track is dirty wide,” Johnson said. “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.”

Johnson later posted the following on his Twitter timeline:

“Unfortunately I killed the primary car. I was a bit wide in turn 4 and found the marbles… #SheWouldn’tTurn”

Johnson’s team rolled out a backup car, which ran eighth fastest in Friday afternoon’s practice session. Even though qualifying for the Quaker State 400 was canceled because of the wet weather, Johnson will start ninth in the Sprint Cup race, with the field ordered according to owner points.

DALE EARNHARDT JR. LOOKING FOR KENTUCKY TURNAROUND

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s recent numbers look remarkably like those of teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Over the last nine races, Earnhardt has recorded an average finish of 20.78, with his only top 10 coming at Pocono, where he ran second to Kurt Busch. At Talladega in May, Earnhardt crashed out after 63 laps and finished dead last (40th). At Michigan in mid-June, he was 39th.

The only race winner from 2015 who has not yet been to Victory Lane this season, Earnhardt has fallen to 13th in the series standings, with little margin for error if he hopes to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on points.

The recent struggles have prompted fans and pundits alike to question the chemistry and communication between Earnhardt and crew chief Greg Ives. Outwardly, though, Earnhardt has reasserted the solidarity of his team.

“It’s been a bit frustrating every now and then,” Earnhardt said. “But I’m still enjoying it. I’m still having fun. And I still believe in the group we’ve got and love being part of the crew I’m with, and I know that we can do it because we’ve done it before.

“So I’m anxious to get back to running how we should, and I know, I think, we’ll do that before the end of this season.”

RYAN BLANEY: HIGH MARKS FOR LOWER-DOWNFORCE PACKAGE

Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Ryan Blaney doesn’t have a lot of experience in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars.

That doesn’t mean Blaney doesn’t know what he likes — and he likes the lower-downforce aerodynamic package in use this weekend at Kentucky Speedway, which has changed dramatically with a recent repaving and reconfiguration of the corners.

“I would say that I’ve been on track with the Sprint Cup cars and with the new aero package and all those things, and it’s been a bit of a joy to drive,” Blaney said during a rain delay on Friday afternoon. “The cars are challenging to drive like we thought they would be and like we hoped they would be.

“The mid-corner speed is way down. The straightaway speed is way up, so that’s a bit of a handful, but the good kind of handful that I think really challenges drivers to push it to the limits.”

With time trials canceled because of a rain-tightened schedule on Friday, Blaney will start 15th on owner points in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400. He was 17th fastest in Friday afternoon’s practice session.

“It’s had decent speed so far, but maybe not exactly where we want to be,” Blaney said of his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. “We’ve got a little more time to work on it, so we’re going to go and do just that. I’m happy, of course, to be starting up front. 

“You always want to earn it on the track during that weekend, but there is some sense of having earned it over the course of the season with points and so forth, and the success you’ve had on track, so either way it feels good to be starting up front. Hopefully, we can keep it up there all weekend long.”

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