CUP: Jimmie Johnson’s landmark 700th Cup start ends early after a crash off Turn 4
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Legacy Motor Club, @LEGACYMotorClub
Jimmie Johnson picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #84 Carvana Toyota was involved in a multi-car crash after 111 of 400 laps.
The finish, which came in Johnson’s 700th Cup start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since May 5, 2024 at Kansas, 37 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 14th for the #84, the 196th for Toyota, and the 685th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 29th for the #84, 424th for Toyota, and the 1,418th from a crash.
As his bright blue paint scheme for the race indicated, Sunday would mark a historic day in Johnson’s career – his 700th career Cup start. Driving for Hendrick Motorsports, the Charlotte track had been the site of Johnson’s series debut in October 2001, and in 39 previous Cup starts had also seen him win eight times – half of them Coca-Cola 600s, and three of those in consecutive seasons in 2003, 2004, and 2005. And on a weekend where current Hendrick superstar Kyle Larson made his second bid at “The Double,” Johnson would also make appearances at both Indianapolis and Charlotte on Sunday. He’d run IndyCar’s double-seater for some ceremonial laps with NFL legend Tom Brady, then return to Charlotte for the 600.
Despite the landmark start total, Johnson indicated at Charlotte that this wouldn’t be his last in a Cup Series car. Indeed, his 699th start came in this year’s Daytona 500, where he finished a stunning 3rd after he escaped a last-lap pileup triggered by the leaders. After struggling near the tail end of the field in many of his recent Cup starts, Johnson began the weekend 27th of the 40 entrants in practice with a best lap of 30.557 seconds (176.719mph), then qualified a solid 17th with a lap of 29.926 seconds (180.445mph). It was his best qualifying run since October 18, 2020 at Kansas, near the end of his last full-time season, when he started 14th in Kansas.
As part of NASCAR’s “600 Miles of Remembrance” for the Memorial Day holiday, Johnson’s car carried the name of fallen serviceman Matthew Robert Davis, First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. According to his profile, Lieutenant Davis was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. He was just 30 years old on November 7, 2014 when, while patrolling his regimental headquarters at Camp Pendleton in California, he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. The Legacy Motor Club also unveiled a special show car depicting both Lieutenant Davis and the other two servicemen commemorated by his teammates on Sunday: USMC Private First Class Walter Ray Thetford (#42) and U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Justin R. Whiting (#43).
Starting the 40th and final spot was Ross Chastain, who was sent to a backup car after his #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet cut a tire and spun in Practice Group 2. The flat tire sent Chastain spinning into the outside wall, which he struck with the driver’s side. Chastain was uninjured, and the team prepared their second car. Starting alongside him in 39th was Carson Hocevar, who was fastest in practice, but spoiled his qualifying lap after he spun off Turn 4 in his #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet. Hocevar didn’t incur a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, but 24th-place Kyle Busch did in the #8 zone Chevrolet along with 27th-place Erik Jones in the #43 Advent Health Toyota.
Prior to the start on Sunday, the penalized Chastain started to the outside of Jones, but did so in Row 19. Dropping behind each were the drivers who first qualified in Row 19 – 37th-place Derek Kraus in the NY Racing Team’s #44 Western States Flooring Chevrolet, and 38th-place Josh Bilicki in the #66 AstraZeneca Ford. Based on intervals, Chastain actually crossed the line in 37th, 2.651 seconds back of the lead, ahead of 38th-place Jones (2.751), 39th-place Bilicki (2.934) and 40th and last-place Kraus (3.027).
When the green flag dropped, Bilicki got a good run off Turn 2 to pull ahead of Kraus, who was last across the stripe at the end of Lap 1, 3.747 seconds back of the lead to 39th-place Bilicki’s 3.299. By Lap 6, Kraus closed to within three-tenths of Bilicki, who he passed on Lap 8, putting Bilicki in last, 10.815 back of the lead. A tight battle ensued where Bilicki now worked the middle and high lane while Kraus raced down low, Kraus inching ahead off Turn 4. By Lap 11, this hard racing caused both to drop two seconds back of 38th-place Cody Ware in the #51 Jacob Construction / Evel Knievel Ford, Bilicki 14.311 back of the lead to Kraus’ 13.558.
On Lap 17, Bilicki reported he was tight off Turns 3 and 4, so Garage 66 team owner Carl Long called for an air pressure adjustment on their next stop. Bilicki then reeled in Kraus by Lap 22, and on Lap 26 was within two car lengths of Kraus when the leaders whistled past in the high lane off Turns 1 and 2, dropping both a lap down. Bilicki dropped Kraus back to last on Lap 29, but on Lap 33, the gap closed again as faster traffic weaved between them on the backstretch, Kraus again running low with Bilicki further ahead running high into Turn 3. On Lap 39, Kraus radioed he was “sideways – 5 out of 5 loose everywhere,” and both were now two laps down on Lap 42.
Moments later, the first caution fell for race leader Kyle Larson’s spin off Turn 4 in the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. This occurred just as Riley Herbst took last after an ill-timed green-flag stop in his #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota, dropping his own car two laps down. Herbst held the spot until Lap 47, when Kraus retook the spot as drivers took the wave-around. By then, Herbst was now one lap down while Kraus and Bilicki remained two down. The field was about to take the restart on Lap 49 when it was called off in Turn 4. NASCAR first radioed this was due to possible fluid on the track, but it was a loose wheel on the apron of Turn 4. The wheel was the right-rear off Bilicki’s car, forcing him onto pit road for a four-tire stop and a two-lap penalty. Bilicki, now last again on Lap 51, returned to the track on the Lap 52 restart, showing four laps down.
But Bilicki’s struggles continued. As Carl Long would later reveal over the radio, during the Larson caution, the team had changed to 15-lap scuffs from practice. The right-rear tire was even older, run by Cody Ware for 23 laps. This meant Bilicki had to hang on until the end of Stage 1 on Lap 100. On Lap 63, Bilicki lost a fifth lap as then-leader William Byron moved to the high lane in Turn 4. On Lap 70, Bilicki radioed he was loose from the center off, but the team said he was still running laps faster than the still 39th-place Kraus. Kraus lost a fourth lap on Lap 81, dropping him to within two laps of Bilicki, now six down, and Bilicki went a seventh lap down on Lap 89. In the final laps of Stage 1, Long called for an air pressure adjustment, taking a pound out of the right-rear on the #66. The caution came early when on Lap 97, Alex Bowman bounced his #48 Ally Chevrolet off the Turn 4 wall, bending a toe link. He incident cost Bowman two laps, dropping him behind Herbst into 38th.
Under this caution, which concluded Stage 1, Bilicki came down pit road for sticker tires – tires which Long’s team had trouble obtaining during the previous laps. Bilicki also had the team look under the rear of the car, where they verified there was “minimal wear” to the diffuser strakes. He restarted the race on Lap 108 still seven laps down, two laps back of 39th-place Kraus. The two remained at the back of the field when the next caution fell on Lap 112 – and this was the incident that brought Johnson into the last-place battle. A lap earlier, Johnson snapped loose in the quad-oval, but managed to save it. The next time by, Johnson slid sideways in the high lane off Turn 4 and slapped the outside wall. This trapped a fast-closing Connor Zilisch in the #87 Red Bull Toyota, who crossed the nose of Cole Custer’s #41 Texas A&M Ford to his inside.
As both Zilisch and Custer spun to the inside and continued to pit road, Johnson limped around the oval, ultimately running diagonally onto pit road with broken toe links on the right side. Johnson went behind the wall on Lap 114 and pulled into Garage Stall 4 for repairs. “Just get loose there?” Johnson's team asked. “Yeah, I was in traffic. When I turned off Turn 3, I knew I was slick off the right-rear,” said Johnson, who was surprised the car kept sliding into the turn. By Lap 117, the #84 team was done for the night. “Just get it to where we can load it,” they said. On Lap 119, just as Johnson took last from Bilicki, NASCAR confirmed Johnson as the first car out of the race.
Interestingly, Johson had also spun and wrecked in Charlotte’s Turn 4 during his Cup debut in 2001.
Johnson’s damaged Toyota makes the left-hand turn into the garage. (SCREENSHOT: HBO Max)
Crashes also completed the Bottom Five on Sunday. Taking 39th was Zane Smith, whose #38 Benebone Ford broke loose racing ahead of Shane van Gisbergen off Turn 2 and smashed head-on into the inside wall down the backstretch. Next came another multi-car pileup on Lap 244, where Chase Briscoe’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota came up the track off Turn 4, putting Ryan Blaney’s #12 BodyArmor Chill Ford into the outside wall, then hooking Daniel Suarez’ #99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet across his nose into Blaney. Also collected was Larson’s #5, which suffered damage to the right-rear wheel and suspension. Briscoe escaped unscathed while Blaney, Suarez, and Larson completed the Bottom Five.
Chastain wins from last; Nemechek, Jones, and Hocevar challenge the frontrunners
Ross Chastain, the last-place starter (who moved up to 38th just before the start) went on to win Sunday’s race. According to NASCAR Insights on Twitter, it marked the first time a Cup driver classified in the last starting spot went on to win that same points-paying race since September 7, 1969, when Bobby Allison started 25th and last at Richmond, then led 298 of 462 laps on his way to victory.
Not far behind, A.J. Allmendinger, who just took the lead in the 2025 LASTCAR Cup Series standings last week, finished a strong 4th in his #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. This marked Allmendinger’s first top-five finish since October 22, 2023, when he finished 5th in Homestead.
While Johnson finished last on Sunday, both his teammates at Legacy Motor Club turned heads during the race. John Hunter Nemechek qualified a strong 6th in the #42 Dollar Tree Toyota. Nemechek remained in the 6th spot on Lap 29 and engaged in a tight battle with Christopher Bell, at one point hanging on when his car broke loose. He went on to finish 4th in Stage 1, then 5th in Stage 2, where he ran as high as 2nd around Lap 165. He then slipped to around 18th spot in the final stage, where on Lap 338 he slapped the outside wall on the backstretch. This forced him to pit road, where he fell off the lead lap and finished 27th, two laps down. Erik Jones, Nemechek’s teammate, climbed to 8th in Stage 2 and spent several laps in the Top Ten before he slipped to 13th at the checkered flag, still on the lead lap.
Equally impressive was Carson Hocevar, who again found himself in position to score his first Cup Series win. Hocevar’s #77 showed the same speed from practice, and soon battled among the leaders. From his distant 39th on the grid, he led under green from Laps 154 and 155 before a 4th-place finish in Stage 2, then reached 3rd at the end of Stage 3. On Lap 308, when the race restarted to begin the final stage, Hocevar was battling for the lead when his engine blew off Turn 2, sending him careening off Chris Buescher’s Ford as he spun to a stop on the apron. The incident left him 35th at the checkered flag.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #84 in a Cup Series race at Charlotte since May 29, 2023, when Johnson also finished last after a crash 115 laps into the Coca-Cola 600. Combined with his disqualification in 2020, Johnson has now been classified last in three of the last six Coca-Cola 600s.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #84-Jimmie Johnson / 111 laps / crash
39) #38-Zane Smith / 236 laps / crash
38) #12-Ryan Blaney / 245 laps / crash
37) #5-Kyle Larson / 245 laps / crash
36) #99-Daniel Suarez / 245 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club (2)
2nd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Joe Gibbs Racing, NY Racing Team, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (5)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
