Elbows out.
Jimmie Johnson says he and JJ Yeley were short track racing on a high-speed superspeedway for the final two laps to make the Daytona 500.
Johnson, who will become the first driver to start a Cup Series race after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, was only in this position because he was involved in a crash with 11 laps to go in the first Daytona 500 qualifying race on Thursday.
Prior to that, he was securely ahead of Yeley and it didn’t seem like the NY Racing No. 44, that barely even made it to the track in the first place, had enough speed or help to mount a comeback.
The crash changed everything.
Johnson’s No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry, a car he co-owns with Maurice Gallagher, was undamaged but he would restart the Duel behind Yeley with six laps to go … and no one to help push him forward.
He got beside Yeley but neither veteran had anywhere to go. Yeley tossed a block but that didn’t work. He side-drafted but that didn’t work either. Ultimately, the race to make the race was decided by a stalled-out Ross Chastain falling through the field.
Yeley took his momentum high and Johnson remained in the middle and it paid off in the favor of the seven-time champion.
Johnson, one of NASCAR’s Mount Rushmore figures, was about to be defeated for a spot in the biggest race of the year by a team that literally only had a driver signed on Wednesday morning after its expected driver bowed out over unpaid bills.
The entire time Johnson was stuck side-by-side with Yeley, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he was going to have to call all of his sponsors and apologize for not making the race. He thought about how he was going to have to spend all race in a hospitality suite shaking hands instead of participating in the biggest race of the year.
Yeley stalled out and Johnson got a push from a fellow Toyota driver in Martin Truex Jr.
“I have such a deeper appreciation and respect for everyone before me that’s had to race in like this,” said Johnson, who was always protected by championship points or a charter over a full-time career than ran from 2002 to 2020.
The only race that Johnson ever missed was ironically the 2000 Busch Series opener at Daytona before he signed his first Cup Series deal with Hendrick Motorsports.
And now he was in a dogfight with Yeley.
“I’m literally going down the backstretch thinking, knowing it’s the white flag and I can see (Yeley) in front of me and he’s like four or five ahead,” Johnson said. “(Truex) has pulled out to help me but he’s so far back that he’s not going to get there in time.
“I’m like, I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make the Daytona 500.”
That’s when he thinks about the consequences and what his Sunday would be like.
“I’m like, I have to find a way,” he continued. “I pushed it to the floor, went the other direction as JJ and it worked out.”
On one hand, Yeley was disappointed to not make the race, but he’s also aware of how it was probably a better chance than he probably could have hoped for.
That caution not only gave him a chance to defend ahead of Johnson but it also kept him attached to the pack, something his underfunded car struggled to do without help.
“I was worried about keeping up with the draft, let alone being in position coming to the checkered to lock in,” Yeley said. “This one hurts as much as the one two years ago.”
Johnson came over to Yeley to high five and offer a handshake, which was appreciated.
“I was blocking him the best I could,” he said. “He got me a little sideways along the frontstretch. I’m racing for my life and he’s racing just for another Daytona 500. To me, it’s David versus Goliath and he just had more friends coming to the checkered.”
Johnson said he just wanted to show sportsmanship to Yeley.
“That was a duel,” Johnson said. “That was elbows up. I’m not sure if it was picked up, but we had some pretty good contact down the front straightaway. Just elbows out. It was like being on a short track, but we’re here at Daytona.
“He raced as hard as he could. I respect the effort he put out and everything they did to try to make the race. We just cycled ahead there at the end.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.