The odds that Jimmie Johnson’s nickname will change to Mister Six-time next season are decreasing each and every week.
Johnson had an uncharacteristic season filled with struggles and only one victory. But as he has shown in the last five years, the Chase is where he comes alive, an expert, the driver to beat.
This year it’s different. So far in the first two Chase races, Johnson has finished 10th at Chicago and Sunday all he could manage is a 19th. The frustration was evident Sunday between Johnson and crew chief and close friend Chad Knaus. As he tried to give encouragement to his driver, who was running back in the pack, Johnson snapped back at Knaus after the crew chief told Johnson to prove he was the best driver in the field by saying “I’m going to drive my ass off, don’t sweat it.”
Knaus kept trying to cheer Johnson up to which Johnson finally replied.” I’m getting annoyed now”…Then adding, “Just let me go out here and do my thing man.”
“I’m going 100 percent regardless of what’s being said on the radio,” a clearly dejected Johnson said after the race. “That’s all we had all day long. I think he was just being optimistic there about what was left in my back pocket; but my suit doesn’t have any back pockets.”
Johnson ran inside the top ten most of the afternoon, but a four tire stop on lap 178 of the 300 lap race left him deep in the field. He was never able to recover. It was another week without a good finish for Johnson who lost another spot in the standings and leaves New Hampshire 9th.
Last year Johnson finished 25th at New Hampshire and left sixth in points; he was able to recover and win his fifth title but this season the magic seems to be gone and the frustration shown Sunday towards his crew chief may just show that Johnson is well aware of that. Johnson however frustrated he may be isn’t giving up on getting a new nickname.
“My optimism is still high,” Johnson said Sunday. “We didn’t get the result today, but if you look at Chicago where we were last week, we didn’t get the finish that we should have had, but we had a ton of speed and there are a lot of 1.5-mile tracks on the circuit. These first two races did not start as we had hoped that they would, but eight to go, there’s still a lot that can happen.”
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