Jimmie Johnson was forced to miss a race for the first time in his career following a positive coronavirus test. Johnson expressed his confusion with the whole situation, as he never had any symptoms and tested negative just three days later.
"There's a lot of speculation there," Johnson said. "I'm the most frustrated person out there, especially living in a world of facts that we do. To not have the facts drives me bananas."
Heading into last Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Johnson had 663 consecutive starts, the longest-running streak in NASCAR. However, after his wife Chandra tested positive, Johnson was forced to take a test as well, which was also positive. However, he tested negative just a few days later, leaving him to wonder if it was a false-negative.
"My first response was just anger. I started cussing and used every cuss word that I knew of and I think invented a few new ones," Johnson said Friday. "It was just so weird — the anger — because I've been asymptomatic. Anger hits. And then speculation in my mind. And then it's, 'Wait a second, there is nothing good that can come of this. No one knows. I don't know. It's just time to move on.' Then I got very excited and starting looking at the facts that I've only missed one race. I feel like I am more on the optimistic side of things and out of the dark head space that I was in and moving in the right direction."
Thankfully, the whole thing is now behind him, as he's been cleared to begin racing again.
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