“Nervous” Jimmie Johnson Reveals His Displeasure With “Awful” NASCAR Change in Talk With Dale Earnhardt Jr

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champ had an eventful comeback to the racing league after leaving the sport in 2020. Johnson managed to qualify in the 39th position for Sunday’s Daytona 500, with his eyes set on a top-ten finish.

Despite making it to seventh place at the end of the first stage and surviving a crash on lap 182, the Legacy Motor Club driver was taken out during the second overtime with merely nine laps left in the race.

In a recent interview, Jimmie Johnson did not seem too happy with a major NASCAR rule change while discussing his “nervous” qualifying stint with Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

READ MORE: Why Jimmie Johnson Picked the Number ‘48’ for His Car When He Joined Hendrick Motorsports

Johnson recently appeared on “The Dale Jr. Download” podcast alongside co-host Mike Davis and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chad Knaus. During the conversations, Jimmie Johnson gave an insight into his return to NASCAR after a two-gear gap and the jitters he felt during his first qualifying of the season. Moreover, the four-time All-Star Race winner also expressed his displeasure on one change that bugged him during the qualifying.

Jimmie Johnson lays concerns about Next Gen cars

In the recent episode of “The Dale Jr. Download” podcast, co-host Mike Davis asked Jimmie Johnson if he was nervous during the Daytona 500 qualifying. Johnson replied, “I was extremely nervous.” Moreover, the 47-year-old shared that he could not stay in touch with the pit crew during his lap due to some radio communication issues. In addition, Johnson ended up complaining about the substantial reduction in the RPM limits of the Next Gen cars.

He stated, “So I go up through the gears and hit my marks and I pull it into fifth gear and the RPM is so low because of the drag on the Next Gen car. I thought a spark plug wire fell off. So I had no clue how it was going and it felt really slow.” 

Moreover, the #84 Chevy driver admitted to feeling “freaked out” as he could not see his lap time due to a commercial on the pile on screen. However, he was eventually relieved after seeing a smile on the crew members’ faces.

Meanwhile, Dale Jr pointed out that sometimes the pit crew members get so busy that they forget to tell the drivers about their lap performance. An animated Earnhardt Jr added, “Somebody tell me where we are. Are we on the pole? last? What’s going on? The driver he doesn’t know.”

Further, Johnson once again expressed his frustrations about the Next Gen cars. Jimmie Johnson said, “That’s where I was so thrown off because of the RPM change. I felt like it was awful. Like I had no clue that it was a good lap.”