IndyCar: Johnson breaks hand after stuffing car into barriers (3rd Update)

Jimmy Johnson tweeted out a photo of a screw the doctors inserted in his broken finger.

Ouch.

I’m not screwing around. Road to recovery starts now. pic.twitter.com/e8nwIEbibq

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 13, 2022

Johnson has undergone surgery to repair the fracture to his right hand that he sustained in a crash during practice for last weekend’s Long Beach Grand Prix when he forgot to let go of the steering wheel before plowing into a stack of tires.

Johnson crashed several times over the weekend, eventually crashing out of the race when he lost control of his Ganassi Honda in Turn 8

The procedure was carried out on Monday evening by Dr. Glenn Gaston, Hand and Upper Extremity Fellowship Director at OrthoCarolina.

Johnson is expected to make a complete recovery and be back in the car for the upcoming test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

From Long Beach to the operating room. Good news is I plan to be ready for the @IMS test in 9 days and Barber on May 1st. Thank you to all the medical staff involved. pic.twitter.com/Xt4Pm1Piz6

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 12, 2022

Jimmie Johnson will see a specialist tomorrow in order to determine how to deal with the hand fracture noted below.

“I feel like, [with] what I went through this weekend, I can carry on like this for the next couple of weeks, until I’ll be healed up,” he said on the NBC broadcast.

“But, I’m going to see a hand specialist tomorrow in North Carolina and determine if we need to put a screw in it or not.

“I’m not sure what is the best pathway forward, the shortest recovery time, so I’ll know more tomorrow afternoon.”

“I lost it so early; I’m not sure if there was some contact from behind or not, but I was under the impression that I kind of lost it in that rubber that’s stacking up on corner entry,” said Johnson in reference to the extent of the marbles which had built up during the afternoon.

“My crew maybe thought otherwise, but either way, the rubber is unlike anything I had ever seen before.

“There was inches of rubber stacked up around the race track, especially before that last Caution, and just very interesting to figure out where to place the car and how to drive on that rubber.

“I think I was just wide on corner entry, potentially had my left-rear in that rubber, and it just spun on the way in.”

In talking about his crash filled weekend, “I’ve had them [eventful weekends] before,” he noted.

“My NASCAR Crew Chief Chad Knaus would remember, we had to go to a couple of back-ups before we got to a race we had in Darlington one year, but it comes with it.

“I certainly feel bad that I put the team in this position, but I’m thankful for their support, the support from Carvana, my fanbase…

“This deal isn’t easy, and you’ve got to live on the razor’s edge on these street courses, and there’s no margin for error.

“Trying to be faster, trying to be more competitive, I made some mistakes this weekend, [but] I’ll learn from them, and I’ll come back even stronger.”

Jimmie Johnson is a question mark for the remainder of the Long Beach IndyCar event after a practice crash left him with a sore wrist.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver ran out of talent and crashed into the tire barrier at Turn 5 in the opening session of the weekend, having missed his apex and hit the curbs on the right, sending him into the tire barrier on turn exit.

“As you can see, I’m a little banged up and have a splint on,” said the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

“First and foremost, apologies to the fans at the autograph session that I wasn’t able to attend. I’d already got something else going on here [pointing to sore arm].

“I’m on my way to be further evaluated, just to get a good honest look and understand what my options are.

“We really don’t have any clarity at this point, and I look forward to updating you all very soon.”