Johnson gears up for his 600th career start
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JOHNSON,
“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.”
7KURXJK D FRQÀXHQFH RI HYHQWV IRU Johnson that included a bold meeting with Gordon and splendid timing once Hendrick decided to expand four cars, he was the chosen one at HMS despite one win in 72 career starts with Herzog Motorsports.
“I was in my own weird mental space of wondering if I was ready for Cup or not,” Johnson said.
With Howes as crew chief, Johnson got a test run for three races in 2001.
He raced with a heavy heart in his debut in the wake of the death of his best friend, fellow racer Blaise Alexander. Alexander was killed that weekend in an ARCA race. What should have been a complete celebration, instead turned into a period of mourning. Johnson has honored his friend with a decal of Alexander’s initials on the back of his Chevy.
As Johnson pulled off pit road, the “this is it” moment hit him as he was surrounded by NASCAR greats that included Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.
Johnson had one mild concern — not to wreck Gordon
“One thing I was instructed to do was not interfere with Jeff Gordon or get in his way at all,” Johnson said, chuckling. “We’re in the race. They’re coming to lap me and I spun out directly in front of Jeff. All I could see ZDV WKDW ÀDPLQJ RUDQJH KRRG WKDW KH had on his car missing me by a couple of inches. I damn near took him out.”
Gordon would win his fourth and
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“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 MXVW ¿QH ¶´ -RKQVRQ VDLG 3URPLVH IXO¿OOHG
Johnson was paired with crew chief Chad Knaus in 2002 and they won WKH SROH IRU WKH 'D\WRQD 7KH
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³:LQQLQJ WKDW ¿UVW UDFH , FRXOG ¿QDOO\ WDNH D GHHS EUHDWK DQG EH OLNH OK, I’m going to be here for a little while,” Johnson said.
The relationship has thrived at a Hall of Fame level to this day — even through some precarious times — and Knaus recently signed a two-year contract extension.
“I started this with him and it would EH DPD]LQJ WR ¿QLVK WKLV ZLWK KLP ´ Johnson said.
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