Three-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson required repair of a tendon and nerve after cutting his left middle finger with a kitchen knife Sunday afternoon in Daytona Beach, Fla., while preparing to compete in the final segment of the Rolex 24 sports-car series race.
The injury occurred above the knuckle and happened while Johnson was attempting to cut a small hole in his firesuit in order to feed a tube from a cooling shirt through the pocket of his suit.
“It got me pretty good,” Johnson said. “Cut right through the fabric to where my finger was on the other side.”
Johnson, whose Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley finished seventh in the race, flew to Charlotte for further evaluation and outpatient treatment with a hand specialist at Carolinas Medical Center.
“That certainly wasn’t the way I wanted to end the Rolex race,” Johnson said.
The injury will not keep Johnson from driving in the season’s first Sprint Cup event, the Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 7 at Daytona.
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