RICHMOND, Va. -- Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered the Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday at Richmond International Raceway on a wave of good feelings. That came unraveled during the race, and it came with a dustup between them, which ended with bewilderment more than hard feelings.
Earnhardt was feeling lifted in spirit by his announcement Tuesday that he would retire at the end of the season -- something he seems to be completely at peace with -- followed by a visit Thursday to a hospital, where he always draws strength and inspiration from the patients he visits.
Johnson, who is active in his own charitable work most weeks, was coming off consecutive victories at Texas and Bristol.
During driver introductions, Junior got the usual ovation as the conquering hero. Johnson got easily the second-loudest ovation -- he is a seven-time series champion -- and the usual strong smattering of boos to go with it. He might get more boos next week at Talladega.
Just past the middle of the race, Johnson on fresh tires went up the track and simply slammed Earnhardt against the wall. ESPN's Ricky Craven called it "clearly a mistake," on SportsCenter.
Oh my!
Did the spotter not warn Johnson that his teammate was riding up near the wall? Did Johnson just lose focus? Was he on his radio with crew chief Chad Knaus or his crew and thus blocking out communication from his spotter, who was telling him Earnhardt was above him?
We don't know yet.
"I just have to try to figure out if I just didn't hear it being told to me or if it wasn't told to me," Johnson said. "I just feel terrible, obviously.
"Man, I'm surprised our cars even kept rolling after that, because I just body slammed him into the wall, and I could have easily not heard the clear or something else happened. I don't know, but that's the last thing you want to have happen with a teammate.
As for teammate Earnhardt, who went on to finish 30th while Johnson finished 11th?
"He said he didn't see us," Earnhardt said. "He had pitted and got tires, and we were out there running around the top and weren't ready to pit yet. ... He was coming to pass me. I was running the top right against the fence and really wasn't watching the mirror, so I didn't know he was there or anybody was coming.
"TJ [Majors, Earnhardt's spotter] was giving me pretty good warning about guys getting on my inside, but otherwise, when you are running the top, you don't have to worry about it, everybody kind of takes care of you. ... It was an explosion, but the car held up pretty well. It knocked the sway bar arm off of it, so we ran the last bit of the race without a sway bar hooked up."
As bad as it was, the drivers seemed to take it in stride when it was over.
Now that's funny. I hit you so damn hard it might skip for awhile. https://t.co/LvP8dutzLI
- Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) May 1, 2017
Xfinity Series: Almost for Justin Allgaier and Daniel Hemric
As Cup Series regular Kyle Larson celebrated in Victory Lane, Xfinity regulars Justin Allgaier and pole-sitter Daniel Hemric had to lament that they didn't get the break they needed in Saturday's overtime finish of the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Larson hit the final restart of the race taking the inside lane, with Allgaier to his outside on Row 1. But Allgaier couldn't get past Larson when the final caution flag flew during the first lap after the green flag, just after Larson had crossed the "overtime line," meaning the race was finished and would end under caution.
Allgaier won the Dash 4 Cash check for $100,000 as the top-finishing Xfinity driver, his second this year, but it was still disappointing.
"For what these guys did to bring a great race car, I mean, we had a lights-out race car today," said Allgaier of his JR Motorsports team. "In hindsight, maybe we would've been better off if it would've gone green to the end, but at the end of the day, this happens.
"We're dejected, but I can promise you that next week, we'll be ready to go -- fire in our bellies and ready to go win one that we should've gotten this weekend."
Hemric finished third, the best of his career for the rookie at Richard Childress Racing.
Elliott Sadler remains the series leader, now 41 points ahead of Allgaier. William Byron is third, with Hemric moving up to fourth but 67 points behind. Darrell Wallace Jr. rounds out the top five, down 84 points.