Notes: Darlington claims its victims in Friday practice

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The recently repaved Darlington Raceway proved to be just as tough on machinery as its former incarnation. No fewer than four drivers were forced to backup cars after incidents in Friday's two practice sessions, including defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson had just turned his quickest laps of the early session when he lost control of his No. 48 Chevrolet and hit the wall (watch video).

Fast facts

What	Dodge Challenger 500
When	Green, 7:20 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	FOX 7 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 7 p.m. ET

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"I hit the wall in Turn 1," Johnson said. "We worked hard over the night to make some gains and we ran two of the fastest laps and unfortunately I crashed on my third.

"I'm still trying to understand why we lost it. I lost it early on the straightaway before the corner, so something happened up on the straightaway."

Johnson spun the backup car in the second session, damaging the left-front fender and splitter, but it appeared the team would be able to repair the damage in time for qualifying. Johnson said he couldn't remember crashing two cars in one day.

"Hey, we don't race until 7 p.m. [Saturday night]," Johnson said. "They can get another backup here. Maybe I can make it three."

Other teams that pulled out backups from Friday incidents included Reed Sorenson and Paul Menard. David Ragan and Robby Gordon also suffered damage during final practice crashes.

In the rear-view

When it comes to the fallout from last weekend's incident at Richmond International Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is just "too busy to hate," while Kyle Busch has said everything he wanted to say about the subject.

When asked why he seems so cool, calm and collected despite losing a golden opportunity to snap his winless streak, Junior said getting mad is wasted effort.

"There are things that I've got to do during the week and my schedule is so busy that I just ain't got time for it," he said during preparations for Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway. "I'm in a bad enough mood just with the grind of the season that I just don't let those kinds of things get to me and get under my skin.

"I don't want to make an issue worse for me. I don't want to give anybody ammunition for me. We've got a lot of critics out there and a lot of supporters too, and I know they would have rather me have been a little more vocal and a little more angry about it."

On Friday, when asked about the backlash Busch has received as a result of the incident, he said, "I really don't know and I really don't care." (Continued)