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NASCAR News | March 21, 2010
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History is Johnson’s biggest challenger
By Jay Hart
March 21, 2010
In 14 words, Kurt Busch summed up the prevailing sentiment of the entire NASCAR nation: “I’d rather lose to any other 41 cars out there than this 48 car.”
Until Sunday, whenever NASCAR visited Bristol Motor Speedway, the field had been given a reprieve from that “48 car” winning races. Going into the Food City 500, Jimmie Johnson was 0-for-16 at the tiny bullring in Nowhere, Tenn. As it stood, Bristol was one of the last great frontiers left unconquered by the four-time defending champ.
And now it’s not.
Despite trailing Busch for almost the entire afternoon, Johnson managed to squeak by him on a final restart with just 10 laps to go, then worked his way by Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart in the waning laps to claim his first Bristol win and the 50th of his legend-in-the-making career.
“We did it boys,” he screamed over his radio. “Finally!”
For Johnson, it was the lifting of a monkey off his back, as he’ll no longer have to explain why he hasn’t been able to win at Bristol – a line of questioning posed only because he’d won everywhere else. The only thing left to add to his resumé is a win on a road course which, if he does, will presumably be followed by the raising of 42 white flags.
At least, that would be the kneejerk reaction, and why not?
Johnson wins when he has the fastest car and even when he doesn’t. He’s already been to victory lane three times in just five races in 2010; he’s had no better than the second-best car in any of them, including Sunday when Busch led 278 of 500 laps. This was the reason for Busch’s postrace frustration despite finishing third and moving up three spots in the standings.
“I hope it frustrates ‘em,” Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus said. “In situations like that, whatever it is, I think it falls back on preparation, it really does. You know, Jimmie ran [500] laps, got out of the racecar, looked like he ran 20. Some of these other guys are falling over, whipped, and could hardly drive.
“I think preparation on his part, preparation on our part of having an idea of what it is we need to do at each and every racetrack to make the racecars better … Whatever it is, if you need that killer pit stop, if you need that spectacular chassis adjustment, if Jimmie needs to be fresh at the end of the race, if it’s a real hot day, whatever situation it is, we try to prepare on all fronts.”
After Sunday’s race it’s clear – Johnson’s stiffest competition is no longer on the track; it’s history. How many championships in a row will he claim? Will he win more titles than Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt? And how many wins will he end up with?
At 34, Johnson figures to have at least 10 more years of racing in him. Conservatively, five of those will be at a championship level.
He’s unquestionably the favorite to win this year’s title, which would give him an unprecedented five in a row. That would rank him third in terms of championships behind the seven of Petty and Earnhardt.
While he still has a lot of work to do between now and No. 7, consider this: If Johnson wins No. 5, he’ll undoubtedly be favored to win again in 2011.
As for wins, if he continues his current pace – he wins 16 percent of the time – Johnson would be at 85 victories before he turns 41. That would put him third on the all-time list, behind only Petty (200) and David Pearson (105). For a point of reference, Petty won 16 races after turning 40, Pearson 21 (though Pearson essentially stopped racing regularly at 43). Earnhardt won 27 after he turned 40.
“I don’t have any hard numbers,” Johnson said Sunday of his goals. “I just want to win races.”
In some ways, Johnson is playing with house money – a perk he’s gotten not by luck, but by his and his team’s own determination. By winning a lot of races, they don’t have the urgency to win on a weekly basis; by winning four titles in a row, there’s not as much pressure on them to win a championship. This isn’t to say they are stress-free, but rather to point out that they can go about their jobs more relaxed than everyone else.
This is how dynasties emerge. How they persevere is by doing exactly what Johnson did Sunday – crushing the spirit of your opponent.
Busch knows he had one taken away from him, which was tough to swallow. Having Johnson take it away made it exponentially worse, and no one knows this more than Johnson. In fact, as he revealed Sunday, that’s all part of his master plan.
“I get caught up in that mind game of stuff and find a lot of satisfaction in it,” he continued. “I told Chad before the year was over, I don’t have a number of wins, but I wanted to win a lot to frustrate the competitors. I think over the last few years, we’ve been able to get in some guys’ heads, and I think it’s been helpful. I don’t want to lose that advantage if we can prevent it.”
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