Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/OnPItRoad.com
The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, has performed exceptionally well his entire NASCAR career. Since his first full-time season in 2002, Johnson has never failed to win a race. In fact, the lowest number of wins he had in a season was two in 2011.
Because of this consistent, unparalleled performance, the expectations for his No. 48 team are set very high. It seems if Johnson goes mores than just a few races without a win, it seems everyone begins asking “What’s wrong with Johnson?”
On Friday during media availability at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson once again answered this question. Johnson indicated his performance issues were not only related to the “new body woes” that have plagued the Chevy teams.
“I don’t know. I mean the first mark as you mentioned is to be the top Chevy and then at that point, I think my opinion would shift or could shift or be allowed to shift, but until then, I feel that it’s something we’re not doing right. We’re not working in the right areas to yield a big chunk of speed that we want to be in that dominant space.”
Coming off his seventh championship on 2016, Johnson had one of his worst seasons statistically. He did visit victory lane three times, but only managed four top-fives and just 11 top-tens. While these are stats most Cup teams would love to have, for Johnson, it was sub-par.
Now, in 2018, Johnson’s struggles seem to be trending downward. With seven races in the books, Johnson has only one top-ten and currently sits 21st in the series standings.
Johnson, however, remains his usual steady, confident and upbeat self. “We are improving. We’re making it better each and every week. And, I’ve used this phrase many times before but we’re just stacking pennies; and when you start stacking some quarters… (laughs). But, the effort is there. We are such a united team and working as close together as ever. And, I know in time we’ll get there. I want to be there right now and we certainly hope this weekend we can turn the corner. But I think we’re seeing some good steps and some good strides. Friday and Saturday, especially Saturday, went really well for us in Texas, which I think is a good sign. Unfortunately we didn’t have a clean race day on Sunday and had a bunch of different problems that set us back and got us in a wreck. But we’re getting there. And until I’m that lead Chevy, I just need to keep my blinders on and stay within the No. 48 team and make sure we can be the best car that we can.”
Time will tell if Johnson and crew chief, Chad Knauss, can work their magic once again and silence the questions and concerns.
