Wins keep coming but Johnson remains focused on the task at hand
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Jimmie Johnson continually says that there’s still plenty for him to accomplish in NASCAR.
After five-straight championships, two Daytona 500s, four Brickyard wins and a slew of other victories along the way, it’s often hard to believe Johnson. Yet, the California kid still believes there’s something out, there’s always room for more.
Saturday night at the Daytona International Speedway Johnson added another victory to his 2013 campaign, his fourth in 18 races. He became the first driver in 31 years to sweep both races at DIS since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison did so in 1982.
And the victory was the 64th of Johnson’s career. He remains seventh on the all-time wins list, only second to teammate and mentor Jeff Gordon of active drivers. The rest of the drivers on list are all in the NASCAR HOF, a place Johnson will certainly be when he hangs up his helmet.
But for now, he’s climbing closer to more milestones. For years the talk surrounded Gordon to surpass the greats of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt in perhaps both wins and championships. Or at least catch David Pearson, 105, in the wins column. Gordon’s pace slowed a few years ago as he’s came across different struggles.
Johnson’s paced picked up. He began collecting his own championships and quietly racking up the wins. Now though, it might be time to start waving the number out there, perhaps he, not Gordon [currently with 87 career wins], will be the driver who gets to and maybe surpass 100 NSCS wins.
“Yeah, I’d love to reach it. I just haven’t put any number out there in my head,” Johnson said late Saturday night, when asked if he was starting to think of what lies ahead.
“That’s just not how I’ve been raised as a driver or a racer, regardless of with bikes or trucks and now where I am today. Very proud of the number. Can’t believe I’m there.”
As the seasons progressed, the wins mounted and championships became what seemed like, easily collected. Yet Johnson never let himself think ahead. Always avoiding the questions about his place in the sport, where he would rank when all was said and done.
After all these years he continues to do so, keeping his head down with tunnel vision on the immediate future for himself, crew chief Chad Knaus and a team that have shattered records and broken what were once thought to be unreachable statistics.
With another victory in his back packet Saturday, eight races remaining before the Chase, Johnson isn’t even thinking about the run at a sixth championship. He’s led the point standings for the majority of the year; he’s tied season high victories. Even worse for the competition, Johnson hasn’t just won races he’s dominated them, even the ones that slipped through his fingers.
Saturday, he was in total control from start to finish. Next comes New Hampshire. That’s what Johnson wants to think about after finishing his victory celebration in Daytona. Not what will come the week after that, next month, in a year or at the end of his career.
“I feel like I have a lot of years ahead of myself inside the racecar, and I know I’ll be in great equipment. Those opportunities [to win races] will be there,” Johnson said.
“I certainly hope to get there, but I just – I usually don’t look that far ahead. It’s kind of on to next week, and I hope to win again, and we’ll see where everything tallies up. But I’ve been given an amazing opportunity at Hendrick Motorsports, and I want to take full advantage of that.
“Of course I want to [reach 100 wins]. Will it happen? I have no clue, but I’m certainly going to try hard for it.”
Qualifying in NASCAR Needs To Change
At Daytona, I sat and watched Cup qualifying for a couple hours. I watched each car get up to speed, run their two laps and then pull to the apron while the next car exited pit road. It’s a procedure repeated 43 times every weekend and it is, for lack of a better term, boring. Qualifying has stayed the same in NASCAR forever so I can understand the reluctance to alter it but a change needs to happen. NASCAR is going in the right direction with the elimination of the top 35 rule and group qualifying at road courses but they need to take it further than that.
When I watch Formula 1, V8 Supercars and even Indycar qualifying; I am on the edge of my seat the whole time and refuse to move until the session is over. Qualifying in NASCAR usually lacks drama, excitement and fails to keep most fans interested the whole time but it doesn’t have to be that way. The three formats used by the series’ I listed above are always wild and produce unexpected moments with the occasional controversy. NASCAR has plenty of options to make qualifying better; they just need to pick one or create their own, unique version. The complete abatement of the current format should be the course of action taken by NASCAR and here are a few ideas that would be good replacements…
Heat races. If NASCAR wants to keep to their roots, then heat races would be the way to go and I’m sure a large contingent of fans would be in favor of this. It’s used by almost every regional racing series around the country and is also used to set the starting lineup for stock car racing’s biggest event; the Daytona 500. If we already use it for our biggest race, then why not implement it in the other 35? It would be a sensational addition the weekend and would help the teams get better prepared for the big show. Indycar has begun using it a bit this year and from what I saw, fans really enjoyed watching them. I’m sure you’d have a lot of people tuning in to see it and regional racing series already have proof that it would be successful. I’m fairly confident that a qualifying format that has been used for over half a century and draws crowds close to that of the ones that show up for the race itself works.
My second idea would be to copy Formula 1 to an extent. They have a knockout style of qualifying where there are three sessions with cars eliminated along the way until just 10 remain. Those 10 fight it out for the pole in a thrilling 10 minute session where the top spot isn’t decided until the final seconds. NASCAR could have 31st on back eliminated in Q1, 11th to 30th eliminated in Q2 and have the 10 fastest cars battle for the pole in Q3. That would definitely create some much needed excitement! Imagine Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson swapping the top spot as the clocks gets closer to zero. Each driver pushes harder and harder every lap as they try to outdo each other while their water temp rises and their tires wear out. They push the car to the absolute edge just trying to gain a couple more hundredths. That is until a mistake is made and someone ends up going to a backup car or a slower car gets in the way causing some controversy and hurt feelings before the big race even starts!
My third idea is a simple one…10 minutes. Every car on the track at the same time. Best time wins pole. Go. You want to talk about a crazy qualifying session; imagine something like that at Bristol or Talladega! This volatile format would have drivers taking risks and making imprudent decisions resulting in 10 minutes of utter chaos and pure drama. There would be one more rule regarding all three of these ideas which would make them even more breathtaking to watch. There would be points on the line. Not a lot of points but just enough to make everybody from Jimmie Johnson to David Ragan want them. Something like five points for pole, three for 2nd and one for 3rd. Just throw some points in front of these drivers and watch the intensity level rise instantly.
NASCAR could only gain from intensifying qualifying. They and the track would make more money, fans would have something to get excited about other than the race itself and it would create stories throughout the weekend that would help to hype up the event. An exciting qualifying format would help to bolster TV ratings as well. Next weekend, we will all patiently watch one car at a time go out for a couple laps, listen to the media ask the drivers the same questions as always regarding how it felt out there and if they left anything on the table while I sit here anxiously waiting for the next drama filled qualifying session in F1, Indycar and V8 Supercars. NASCAR is usually the first to do something in the racing world while the rest see it work and follow suit. In this situation, it’s time that NASCAR did the following.
The Final Word – Jimmie Johnson, the Queen of Daytona
When you see Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, I swear a Queen song can be heard in the background. “We Are The Champions”, they seem to be once again serenading the rest of the field during recent events. Johnson has been so dominant this season, he even has tossed away a few races he should have claimed while he proved selfish enough to grab his 4th victory of the season Saturday night in Daytona. He owned that race, and maybe he is about to reclaim that title he had owned for five straight years before loaning it out to Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski.
Stewart, who might lean toward pudginess from time to time, yet has never reached Meat Loaf proportions, might be thinking that “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,” The 2011 king (and in 2002 and 2005) was second at Daytona and moved back into the top ten in the standings. Keselowski, on the other hand, continues his big chill, falling just out of the top ten. After a 21st place finish on Saturday, he may be only 11 points back of Stewart, but since leaving Kansas the defending champ’s average finish has been 22.4. That includes six outcomes where he wound up outside even the top twenty. When Foreigner sang “Cold As Ice”, they were singing about Brad.
It was a CCR end of the day for Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne. They all started in the sunshine but in the end all saw a “Bad Moon Rising,” At least they all lasted longer than Paul Menard, who went up in smoke on just lap 23.
Rating Daytona – 10/10 – It was Daytona. It was a visual spectacle. We do not watch to see them wreck. We watch due to the lap by lap promise that all hell just might break loose, and while often it does we are amazed when it does not. I am not even talking about the last lap where, as Dirks Bentley mentioned, things more often than not go a little bit “Sideways.”
Will things get tamer in New Hampshire on Sunday? Last year’s summer and fall victors, Kahne and Hamlin, sure hope so. Jeff Burton has the most wins there, with four, while Stewart. Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kurt Busch, who has newly arrived in the top ten this season, all have three. So does Mr. Johnson. The good news for the rest of the field is that he has been blanked there in his past five attempts. All he did last year was finish 7th in July, 2nd in September, and last year sucked for the team. I mean, they only finished third in the standings. Last night I dreamed of Chad wearing a Freddie Mercury jumpsuit atop the war wagon singing “We Will Rock You.” I woke up screaming. Enjoy the week.
