Johnson adjusts to new crew chief

7-time Cup champ getting up to speed with Meendering

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Jimmie Johnson is fighting a cold.

It’s the kind of debilitating, in-your-throat cold that makes it painful to swallow, much less go for a run. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion tried on a cool morning in the desert but quickly bailed, putting off the resumption of his Boston Marathon training for another day.

As if Johnson doesn’t have enough to deal with right now.

The cold hit him hard last weekend at Las Vegas, when he was in the midst of another ho-hum run in another shaky start to the season for Hendrick Motorsports. But it really whipped Johnson early this week, when the team was turning its attention to Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

He has four wins at the track, second only to Kevin Harvick, and that’s a good omen as he tries to end a winless drought stretching 62 points races to his victory at Dover in June 2017.

“The last couple of years we’ve just been off a bit,” Johnson said, “and you can point fingers in a lot of different directions, and believe me we have.

“And we’ve tried to address everything we think is necessary to get back on top and we’re trending the right way, but not at the pace we want.”

Johnson’s winless season a year ago was his first in 17 full-time seasons with Hendrick, and he later acknowledged it “put a strain” on his relationship with crew chief Chad Knaus. So after working together since his rookie season in 2002, the two split heading into this season.

Johnson’s new crew chief, Kevin Meendering, had worked his way up through the organization, and earned the opportunity to take charge of the No. 48 team. It was no small change: The quirky, sometimes volatile but nevertheless brilliant Knaus had formed a sort of ESP with Johnson where they could often communicate without words, while the more reserved Meendering is temperamentally opposite.

It was an adjustment — a big one — but one that Johnson found rather refreshing.

“They’re definitely different,” Johnson said. “Kevin is a quiet guy. He really likes to absorb everything. He doesn’t say a lot but when he does, he’s ready to talk. So there’s maybe less conversation, less being told, but I can see the wheels turning in his brain.”

Johnson just missed the cutoff for the final round of qualifying and will start 15th for Sunday’s race.

And while it still represents a long way to go, it left Johnson feeling as he’s already come a long way.

“We’re all heavily involved in trying to offer up what we can,” he said. “What helps me to be patient is I look around and see my teammates digging so deep to get our cars back to where they need to be.

“I wish we had an ‘easy’ button to push, but we don’t.”