[h=2]Sports car racer Billy Johnson tapped as Sonoma ringer for RPM[/h] Monday, 19 June 2017


By Kelly Crandall

Fresh off competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, Billy Johnson will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut at Sonoma Raceway this Sunday.

Richard Petty Motorsports will put the road course expert in the No. 43 Ford to fill in for the injured Aric Almirola, who has been out of action since suffering a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra in a crash at Kansas Speedway on May 13. Per the team release, Johnson and Almirola know each other as the two worked on road course racing at the Ford Performance racing school.

Johnson is also no stranger to NASCAR, having made five starts in the Xfinity Series between 2010 and 2013. He scored a career-best eighth-place finish with Roush Fenway Racing on the road course in Montreal.
"It is going to be awesome," Johnson said of making his Cup debut. "It will be my first NASCAR Cup race and to debut in the 43 car, one of the most iconic numbers to ever race in NASCAR, is a huge honor. Richard Petty Motorsports is a great organization. To have the chance to make my Cup debut for the King is surreal, and I appreciate them putting me in the car.
"I have run a lot of Xfinity races, but this will be my first Cup race. It is awesome that RPM and everyone at Ford Performance has the confidence in me to take on Sonoma. I have run pretty well in the Xfinity road course races I have done, so I hope that translates into a good showing this weekend."
After Regan Smith had driven the car at both Charlotte races and Dover, Darrell Wallace Jr. was named the team's interim driver until Almirola returns. Wallace drove the car the past two weeks, finishing 26th in his debut at Pocono Raceway and 19th in Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

"It was a lot better than last week for sure," Wallace said Sunday of his performance. "I just didn't get all of it on restarts and what I thought was aggressive, going back to the Xfinity side I'm one of the aggressive ones, but you have to be 10 times more aggressive here at least. It's a learning curve. It was a solid run all day.
"I knew we would run a lot better than where we started – it was just a matter of getting around those guys, getting track position and clean air. The restarts were wild at the end. We should have ended top 15 but I didn't have my guard up enough. Top 20 is good. I'm pumped up about that. I didn't speed on pit road and I'm proud of that. It was all good."
Richard Petty Motorsports says Wallace will return to the seat at Daytona International Speedway on July 1.
"It's been important for us to put ourselves in the most competitive spot while Aric is recovering," said CEO Brett Moffitt. "We've worked with Ford and (sponsor) Smithfield to put the best driver available in the car each week. Both Regan (Smith) and Bubba (Wallace) have done a great job for us the last five weeks. We feel that Billy's experience on the road course will help us be competitive this weekend."