DAYTONA BEACH, Fla – Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard made contact with one another on the backstretch on Lap 55 of Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona. Both were running 1-2 at the time.

Menard, spun in front of the field while Johnson skated by. The 17 car pileup took most of the 20 car field out. While under caution for clean up, it started raining. A red flag was displayed for the third and final time three laps later as Johnson was declared the winner.

Kurt Busch would bring his No. 1 Chevrolet home runner-up as it was his second straight top three finish in the annual season opening race. He crashed out five times in his previous six starts prior to the 2018 race.

But, after Busch saw the replay, he felt that Johnson should be penalized for his maneuver around Menard and that he should have been declared the winner instead.

“I didn’t quite see him (Johnson) until I saw the first replay after the race,” said Busch who earned his fourth top five in the event. “It clearly shows that he’s below the double yellow.

“Can the rule be interpreted that he (Johnson) went to go pass below the yellow? Yes. Can it be interpreted that (Paul) Menard forced him below the double yellow? Yes.

“Right now, (Chip) Ganassi is over there at the hauler checking in on what the call could be. We see it in the NFL, NBA, baseball, etc, it’s all an umpire call.”

Busch though isn’t expecting any change in the running order and will gladly take a second place run in his first effort with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“We almost won our first race together and we finished second. We’ll take it.”