Johnson in gear for career milestone
NASCAR
LONG POND, Pa. — Jimmie Johnson had been plucked from NASCAR’s farm system to drive for owner Rick Hendrick with a résumé so ordinary the team wondered if it made the right call on the California kid.
Until Johnson could join Hendrick Motorsports in late 2001, he plodded along for a second-tier team on the brink of closing and had flashed just the occasional spark of future stardom.
His early 2001 results hardly seemed worthy of a teammate about to be paired with NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon.
“The real concern was, had we made a good decision?” Hendrick mainstay Ken Howes said.
Howes, who has spent more than three decades at Hendrick Motorsports, had worked as a crew chief and was assigned to help the rookie driver with his learning curve at the elite Cup level. Johnson went out for a test session in one of Gordon’s Chevrolets and found the power in a car that suited his driving style and humbled the doubters in his camp.
“I came home and reported back and said, ‘Guys, stop worrying. It’s going to be OK,’” Howes said.
Just a few months later, Johnson was set for his Cup debut — making his first career Cup start on Oct. 7, 2001 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Today he’ll earn one more slice of NASCAR history when he becomes the 30th driver to make 600 career starts.
Over the first 599, he has blazed through a career that stamps him on the short list of all-time greats — with a record-tying seven championships, 83 wins, 35 poles, 224 top-five finishes and 348 top-10s. Who knew this was possible in 2001?
“If anybody stood up at that time stood up and said, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to win seven championships,’ they’d probably send you to a drug test,” Howes said. “Your hope was that he had talent, he would gain experience and go on to become a good competitive driver. Win some races each year and kind of start there. Perhaps challenge for a championship.”
Through a confluence of events that included a bold meeting with Gordon and splendid timing once Hendrick decided to expand to four cars, Johnson was the chosen one at HMS despite one win in 72 career starts with Herzog Motorsports.
With Howes as crew chief, Johnson got a test run for three races in 2001. While Gordon won his fourth and final title in 2001. Johnson finished 39th, 25th and 29th in his brief stint under Howes.
“He told me, ‘We’re just running three races. When you have your real team, your full team around you, I promise everything is going to be just fine,’” Johnson said.
Promise fulfilled. Johnson was paired with crew chief Chad Knaus in 2002 and they won the pole for the Daytona 500. The 48 team won for the first time nine races later at Fontana.
“Winning that first race, I could finally take a deep breath and be like, ‘OK, I’m going to be here for a little while,’” Johnson said.
The 42-year-old Johnson has slogged through the worst season of his 17-year career. He’s yet to win a race and has only two top-five finishes in 20 starts. A chunk of the blame lands at the wheels of Chevrolet, which unveiled a Camaro clearly not ready to race with the big boys at Toyota. Chevy has just one victory this season.
Johnson, married and with two young daughters, has remained encouraged that the 48 team can turn the season around.
“I still love to compete, I still love the process,” Johnson said. “That’s how I keep showing up each week optimistic and excited and bring everything I can to the team. But age has brought perspective. I look back on those young years and realize, wow that was just a really special place and time and I hope I can recreate it once again.”