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Dale Earnhardt Jr Trolls Jimmie Johnson After He Sets the Fastest Lap of His Career; 2 Years After His Last NASCAR Race

Published 04/23/2022, 6:33 AM EDT

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Jimmie Johnson is currently practising for his first-ever Indianapolis 500. Suffice to say, preparations are going swimmingly well for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. During the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test, Johnson turned in one of the fastest ever laps in his entire life. While many fans were happy to see shades of the old Jimmie Johnson, former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr poked a bit of fun at him.

Along the way, he also racked up an impressive lap count of 138 laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. To be perfectly honest, the test session was rather hectic, as the four-hour test session started four hours late. Owing to the massive delay, drivers were only given two hours to complete the test.

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It is worth mentioning that the track looked so busy, that one could mistake it for a regular race. The dream lap occurred on lap 129, when the #48 Chip Ganassi Racing car clocked 227.900 mph. He confessed, “Man, that’s really boogieing. This is the reason why wanted to become an IndyCar driver. I wanted to experience driving a really fast race car really fast.”

How did the test play out for Jimmie Johnson?

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Suffice to say, the 7-time Cup Series champion finally had his wish granted. The best part was that, at some stage in the test, he topped the timesheets ahead of the 106th Indy 500 on May 29. He hovered around the top three for a long time before eventually finishing the day eighth-fastest.

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Speaking about the lap, he said, “You notice it. It’s a very cool sensation. Now I understand why when I’ve asked any of these guys, any of my friends that are drivers here, what it’s like to go fast around here, they have a smile that I’ve always wondered what it’s like. I haven’t really been on the full boost, full power, qualifying trim setting yet. I’m starting to get that grin. I look forward to having that big smile that all these guys have experienced.”

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Of course, Johnson still has to compete in a couple of other races before the Indy 500. Unfortunately for him, these are road courses, and he has struggled at those tracks. Nevertheless, he will not give up and will try his hardest to finish as high as possible.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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Edited by:

Pritam Priyedarshi