| | | | | | LAUGH IT OFF | Johnson rallying, finds humor in reaction to his struggles | |
| | By Jared Turner / SceneDaily.com As the defending two-time Nextel Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson knew there would be high expectations for he and his Hendrick Motorsports team in 2008.
What Johnson couldn’t predict was the impact that failure to meet those expectations early in the season would have on his demand.
“It is pretty funny,” the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet said. “Heck, they don't ever talk about me on TV, no more interviews, the crowds are smaller at the back of the truck. It is hilarious. It is all part of it. I think it is a great example to show how tough this sport is.”
By all accounts, it has been a tough start to the year for Johnson. In six races, he has just two top-10 finishes – well below the standard he has set over the past few years.
But Johnson isn’t overly worried. He and his team recently tested at several tracks to try to cure their cars’ handling woes at the intermediate venues. And Johnson is coming off his second-best outing of the season, a fourth-place finish in last Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway where he led 135 laps.
The outcome not only boosted Johnson from 13th to 10th in the Sprint Cup points standings, it also made the driver hungry for more.
“Martinsville was really strong for us if we didn't get turned around late in the race and have to come back from deep in the field,” he said, referring to a late-race spin that led to a caution period. “I feel I would have been a factor in the finish, or in the victory. We are just kind of plugging along and taking it as it comes. We might be in a position we don't want to be in now, but … it could be a [heck] of a lot worse.”
Johnson hopes to build on that effort in this Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He has one win, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in nine Cup starts at the 1.5-mile track.
Johnson’s win there came last fall during the 10-race championship chase.
But Johnson is cautious going into this weekend’s event, the first at Texas in NASCAR’s new car.
"Anything we did last year doesn't apply with this car, especially on these big tracks,” he said. “We learned through last year's experience the [car of tomorrow] on short tracks compared to the old car, and it is the same way now on these big tracks. Some of the same philosophies apply as far as aero and mechanical, the things that we look for.
“But the way that you get there is different with the design of this car and the areas we have to work with that NASCAR has, as we all know, tightened that box and the areas we can work. It is just a different environment and here in the next short period of time we will have stuff where we need it and be back where we all think we should be."
One factor in Johnson’s success on Sunday at Texas could be Goodyear. The tire manufacturer was widely chastised after last month’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for bringing a tire that failed to adequately grip the track surface, forcing drivers to slide through the corners. Johnson, who placed 13th at Atlanta, doesn’t know what to expect on Sunday.
"I don't have a clue and we typically don't know what tire we are going to be on too far in advance or what the changes are going to do to the car,” he said. “We just show up, bolt them on and go.”
| | Posted April 06, 2008 , 10:06 pm EST
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