The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Jimmie Johnson’s decline remains very mysterious
NASCAR’S brass wanted to notch up the tension level for its Cup Series regular-season finale by moving Race 26 to Daytona International Speedway.
It worked.
Because “plate racing” is so unpredictable and creates an equal playing field for all drivers, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 was an edge-of-your-seat event from start to finish.
The playoff field was not determined until the last few grinding laps of competition.
Now it’s time to buckle up for the 10-race playoffs …
FIRST GEAR: It is unknown why the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, wheeled by Jimmie Johnson, fell off the rails then plunged off a cliff after the 2017 season.
Johnson is winless the last three years. Johnson won his seventh Cup championship in 2016 then started going into decline. The last handful of laps at Daytona knocked him out of this year’s playoffs by six points. He will leave the No. 48 team at season’s end.
“Definitely disappointed to not be in the playoffs — that was the No. 1 goal to start the year,” he said. “But when I look back at the disqualification at Charlotte and then missing the Brickyard 400 due to my COVID-19 positive test and only miss it by six points — we did all we could this year. I’m so thankful for Hendrick Motorsports and the career that I’ve had there.”
SECOND GEAR: Crew chief Chad Knaus and Johnson won seven championships together at Hendrick Motorsports. Ironically, it was Knaus’ current driver William Byron who helped knock Johnson from the playoffs. “I hate it for Jimmie,” Knaus said. “He’s one of my best friends.
He was the first guy that came by pit road and looked up at me, revved up the engine, gave me thumbs up.
“He means the world to me. He’s a great man and brother of mine. It hurts me, but it is what we do, we compete. We’ve got to go do what we need to do.”
THIRD GEAR: The 16-driver playoff field was set when the checkered flag fell at Daytona. Round 1 includes races at Darlington, Richmond and Bristol, then four drivers will be eliminated.
And this is where that racing for playoff points comes into play. Kevin Harvick enters the postseason with a 57-point advantage on 16th-place Matt Dibenedetto, which means Harvick can have one bad outing in the next three knockout rounds and still make the Championship Round.
Last year, Kyle Busch used his points cushion to point his way into the seasonfinale and won the championship. This time around he only scored four playoff points and has no wins.
“We put ourselves in a great spot again and had a fast race car, a good driving race car and was just hoping we could maintain that position for the rest of the day and get a win, that’s what we’re trying to look for,” Busch said of Daytona. “Thought we had a shot to do that.”
FOURTH GEAR: At Daytona, Tyler Reddick caused the first Big One in Turn 4 on Lap 153. Ryan Newman was caught in the mess and knocked out of the race.
“He obviously just ran out of talent,” Newman said of Reddick. “It seems like you can win a couple of Xfinity championships and still stick your head where the sun don’t shine when the time comes right.”