Jimmie Johnson earns first Top-5 since 2020 in Daytona 500
Jimmie Johnson picked up his highest finish in a NASCAR Cup Series race with his third-place showing in the Daytona 500 Sunday.
Avoiding the last-lap crash, Johnson earned his first Top-5 finish since the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix in November 2020.
“This feels incredible, I have emotions that I didn’t expect to have,” Johnson said. “I’ve never been in this position as an owner, and it’s really opened up a different set of emotions. And the pride that I have in this result and the pride that I have in this company, now that we’re trying to achieve and the journey we’re on, I am so satisfied, so happy right now.”
Johnson was 15th at the Start/Finish Line on the white flag lap and climbed to 13th before a multi-car crash took out race leaders Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer, Austin Cindric.
Johnson raced through the carnage and emerged third behind race-winner and former Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Tyler Reddick.
Johnson won the Daytona 500 twice — in 2006 and 2013 — but had not finished inside the Top-5 since his fifth-place finish in 2015.
Johnson matched his best finish in the series since a third-place result at Dover in August 2020 during his final full-time season.
Additionally, John Hunter Nemecheck, who races for his Legacy Motor Club operation, scored a fifth-place finish — the 27-year-old driver’s first career Top-5 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“Excited that we have two cars in the Top-5,” Johnson said. “I hope Shaq is watching. Thank you, buddy. We got your car in the top 3. A big thanks to Carvana and their continued support, Mobil 1, AdventHealth, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree.
“It’s been an interesting couple of years and to have our cars come out and be this strong, this Toyota was rocketship fast. I’m just smiling inside and out.”
The 2025 Daytona 500 was Johnson’s third consecutive Daytona 500 as a part-time competitor and for his own race team.
Prior to Sunday, Johnson’s highest finish with his team in 12 prior starts was 26th last November at Phoenix. Johnson, 49, earned his 233rd career Top-5 finish with his Daytona finish.
Johnson, the seven-time champion and 83-time winner, last won in NASCAR’s elite series at Dover in May 2017.
Johnson’s next expected start is expected to be the Coca-Cola 600 in May, which will mark his 700th career start.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.