Johnson joins Rolex 24 grid

The protégé of multiple Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, Johnson joins fellow NASCAR stars Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart and Kyle Petty on the Daytona 24 starting grid. Johnson turned his first laps on Saturday morning in his Howard-Boss Motorsports Crawford DP03, and quickly found out how different the Daytona Prototype is from a stock car.

"I spun out on my second lap," Johnson said. "I didn't hit anything. I got it out of the way! It's a totally different vehicle to be in. I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. I'm really looking forward to it. It's the first time meeting a lot of the drivers I'm teamed up with. It's going to be a great experience."

The NASCAR ace will team up with Butch Leitzinger, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and car owner Dave Brule. Johnson, who took pole position for the 2002 Daytona 500, says he is doing the 24 hours purely for his own entertainment.

"It's just for fun," Johnson said. "It's obviously a serious effort. For me, it's a great way to work out all the rust out of my head and get all my hand and eye coordination working proper. It's a great way to knock off the rust and have some fun."