DOVER, Del. - Jimmie Johnson said he made a bad mistake last Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
He said he felt bad about his mistake in the final chicane, where his back wheels hopped as he hit the brakes, causing him to spin into leader Martin Truex Jr. and costing both of them a shot at the win.
But apparently it's now time for some laughs.
Truex crew chief Cole Pearn said Sunday morning at Dover International Speedway that he was texting with Johnson earlier in the week and told him, "Twelve road bikes and we'll call it even." Then Friday morning, the team saw Johnson coming into the garage following a bicycle ride and one of Pearn's crew members told Johnson: "Sweet bike; is that what we're getting?"
Johnson came through. Sort of. The Truex team had a gift waiting for them Sunday morning: 12 children's bikes sitting on the team's car hauler lift gate.
Johnson tweeted:
Well... @colepearn suggested I could buy some road bikes to ease the team's pain from last weekend. After some careful thought and consideration, I went shopping. 😜 pic.twitter.com/663ryIqxMf
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) October 7, 2018
"I saw some of his crew guys when I came back from a bike ride on Friday and one of them grabbed my bike and said, 'Oh, is this my nice new bike that Cole was talking about?'" Johnson said. "As I shared that story with my team, the ideas started flowing and we landed on that one. ... It is fun to have fun at the track not take it serious all the time."
Pearn laughed about it and put up a note underneath the bicycles that said: "Free bikes (tend to wheel hop)"
The Furniture Row Racing team donated the bicycles to kids in the garage Sunday.
"We don't have room for them on the truck, so some kids are going to walk away pretty happy," Pearn said Sunday morning.
Johnson laughed at Pearn's note.
"I thought it was great," Johnson said. "They were in great spirits about the bikes being placed up there and I was expecting something to come back as well. It is just good fun."