Indy 500 hype begins after Johnson’s big finish in Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — Oh, JJ, if only you had run IndyCar’s ovals from the start.
That was the sentiment following Jimmie Johnson’s sixth-place finish Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, where he ran his first career open-wheel race on an oval track. He had barely crossed the finish line before race engineer Eric Cowdin was already in his ear with the newest goal: “Now let’s go win the Indy 500.”
Hyperbole? Johnson certainly thought so as soaked in the forgotten feeling of a successful race.
“I feel like that’s an aggressive statement, for sure,” said Johnson, who then paused to consider his odds. “But why not? Why can’t we? The 500 is a special race. We’ve seen favorites win. We’ve seen the race won by strategy, firsttime winners, a variety of different things.“
And just like that, Jimmie Johnson is now considered a contender for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” It seems absurd considering he went to Texas last weekend with a pair of back-to-back 17thplace finishes to close his rookie season as the highlights of his move to IndyCar after a NASCAR career spanning two decades.
The transition has been hard, even for a seven-time NASCAR champion and future Hall of Famer with 83 career Cup Series victories. Everything in IndyCar has been brand new to Johnson, from the car, the street and road circuits, the rules, even where to find the bathrooms at the tracks.
Johnson was the new kid in class at 45 years old, and trying to catching up on all the material was often overwhelming. Johnson had been deeply shaken in 2011 by the death of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a crash at Las Vegas, and to him and his wife, skipping the oval races was a comfortable decision.
He changed his mind ahead of this second season with Chip Ganassi Racing, and even though his seven NASCAR wins at Texas are the most in track history, expectations were measured. He was disappointed to qualify 18th and really only hoped to finish inside the top 10.
But at a track where passing is extremely difficult in an Indy car, Johnson passed 21 cars — 17 for position. Of those, seven passes were inside the top 10 and two were in the top five, including his brief move past teammate and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.
Afterward, he dismissed the obvious question: Did he regret skipping the ovals last
year?
“I hadn’t thought about that until now,” he said. “No. I really don’t have any regrets. It’s been a great journey. No regrets at all.”
When race-winner Josef Newgarden was asked later about his Johnson’s performance, the two-time IndyCar champion’s mouth dropped wide open when told Johnson had finished sixth.
“Did Jimmie finish sixth? That’s legit. Hard to finish sixth at Texas. It’s hard. Like, that’s really good,” Newgarden said. “It has been a steep learning curve. He’s had to unlearn an entire career of operating procedures. The Indy car is so removed from what a stock car is. For him to be able to get on top of that so quickly, it makes sense it’s going better here at Texas, it’s closer to what he’s used to procedurally.
“I don’t want to act too surprised because he is a seven-time champ, incredible worker and teammate. I need to watch this race back, see how he got there. I’m sure he’ll be a huge threat at Indy.”