Freedom Car 15th in Texas
Jerick Johnson, driver of The American Legion/David Law Firm 76 Freedom Car, stops in the pits for tires and fuel. Johnson briefly led the Rattlesnake 150 at Texas Motor Speedway Friday. James V. Carroll

Freedom Car 15th in Texas

Jerick Johnson, driver of The American Legion/David Law Firm 76 Freedom Car, drove to a top-15 finish in the ARCA Rattlesnake 150 at Texas Motor Speedway Friday. Johnson also captured the Hard Charger award for his move through the field from a 34th place in the starting grid. He also was the top rookie finisher.

Johnson led briefly in the race when the team decided to forego a pit stop for new tires, but was quickly shuffled back through the field to 15th place.

The 100-lap race on the 1.5-mile tri-oval near Fort Worth was slowed by several accidents and was ultimately completed under a green-white -checker finish. Johnson had worked his way up to 12th place after a late caution, but fell back to 15th during the final two laps.

"It was pretty rough going on old tires, but it worked out pretty well for us," Johnson said. "We had the car to keep up with the field. It was a pretty good points night for us."

Johnson was 24th-fastest during practice on Thursday, but qualifications were scrubbed after a rain shower passed over the track. In such a case, position on the starting grid during the first five races is determined by points earned the previous season. As a rookie in the ARCA series, Johnson had no points from the 2009 season and was relegated to a start in the 17th row.

The 15th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway follows on the heels of a 22nd-place finish earlier in the week at Salem Speedway near Indianapolis.

Alabama is the next stop for the 76 Freedom car team. Qualifications for the Talladega ARCA 250 are Thursday at 5:05 p.m., and the green flag will wave at 4 p.m. Friday for the 94-lap, 250-mile race. The race will be televised live on the SPEED Network.