Subscibe to our feedJohnson Can't Catch a Break at Richmond
RICHMOND, VA – Saturday evening started out promising for Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 at Richmond International Raceway. Johnson moved up quickly from his 15th-place starting spot but several incidents throughout the race relegated him to a 36th-place finish.
(See a complete photo gallery from the Crown Royal 400 here)
Johnson first experienced a problem just under the midway point of the event when he radioed that he was having brake issues. The team worked to identify the possible source of the problem and when a caution came out the group examined the front brakes, determining they weren’t functioning correctly. The over-the-wall crew worked on fixing the problem over the course of the next few laps and saved Johnson a trip to the garage with its fast and efficient work.
Johnson wouldn’t be so lucky with less than 75 laps to go. An on-track incident involving several cars forced Johnson’s Lowe’s Chevrolet to the garage for extensive work. Once again, the team made many repairs, including installing a new radiator, and were able to get him back out to finish the race.
"We were losing fluid in the left-front brake line, the front master cylinder,” said Johnson. “Once I started losing brake pressure and the pedal was going to the floor, it worked for a few laps until I pushed all the fluid out of it and then I went into Turn 1 and all I had was rear brakes and I spun. At that time, we had to pinch off the left front line and pour fluid back into it, which just gave me the right front tire. And we ran there and unfortunately got caught up in some other stuff and tore up our car."
“We had a very fast race car, we just had a brake problem."
The Sprint Cup Series will move to Darlington Raceway next weekend for a second consecutive race under the lights. The Saturday-night event will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 7 p.m. ET.