FORT WORTH, Texas _ Heralded veteran Jimmie Johnson, finishing out a difficult season in the Monster Energy Cup series, paid a heavy price for an error by NASCAR on Sunday.
Shortly before the start of the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR ordered Johnson to the back of the field for having failed technical inspection three times.
One problem. Johnson had failed only twice.
"It's unacceptable on our part," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer.
Johnson said there is no ways for team to communicate with NASCAR officials in the command tower to dispute mistaken decisions.
"I don't think it's a perfect environment for them to get it right all the time," Johnson said. "Stuff happens."
Tony Stewart, a three-time Cup champion and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, offered a suggestion for fixing the process. Give a team only one chance to get a car through inspection.
"It's the only series in the world where you get to go through tech three times," Stewart said. "If you start rolling cars through one time and if they don't pass put them in the back, I'd bet there would be a lot less cars fail next week."
Johnson said the NASCAR error was part of "a frustrating day." He led a lap for the first time in 11 races but had handling problems throughout and finished 15th. That extended Johnson's winless streak to a career-high 57 races.
