Jimmie Johnson on Bristol: “I just want to survive this place”

By Mar 14, 2014, 9:17 PM EDT
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Six-time and defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson says he’s fine when it comes to racing at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s just the matter of getting to the race itself that can be a grind on him.

“I just want to survive this place,” Johnson said this morning before qualifying 11th later in the day for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won at Bristol in the past (2010) but admits that it takes him a few extra laps around the high-banked half-mile to get himself sharp.

“This track really is difficult on me and [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] and the team through practice and qualifying,” he said. “Then in the race we seem to find our way.

“A lot of that falls on my shoulders. I feel like this track, for me, it just takes the repetition of laps to find a rhythm and to find the half a tenth or so that I need to really be in the game.”

Johnson was just 27th-fastest in the single practice before qualifying. However, Johnson was able to pick it up and make his way into the second round of quals to ensure himself a decent starting spot for Sunday.

“We leaned on our teammates and got some speed and made it to the second round,” he said post-quals. “We wished we could have been a little faster there. Still, starting 11th isn’t too bad for us here.”

And it’s not too much to convert into his first win of the young season. Wins definitely mean more now than they used to thanks to NASCAR’s Chase overhaul, but Johnson said this morning that he feels no pressure to make himself a virtual lock for the post-season.

While Johnson has not yet won, he has been competitive with finishes of fifth at Daytona, and a pair of sixths at Phoenix and Las Vegas.

That’s put him third in the standings and understandably confident that he’ll be alright, one way or another.

“I’m happy that we are third in points,” he said. “I feel like Vegas we had a shot to win. Midway through the race, the balance of the car changed and we found something wrong with the car that was pretty rare and unique for us, so we know where our speed went.

“And I feel like the [Daytona] 500 – we had a shot to win so we have had two chances to win and have had a bunch of Top-6 finishes. There is nothing to be concerned about yet, one because the year is early and two, I feel like at least one or two positions will go in via points.”

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports