Johnson can make turn
Chase has given 6-time champion chance to rebound
Everybody loves a fresh start, a do-over to make things right.
Isn’t that right, Jimmie Johnson?
Mr. Six-Time faded into Mr. Irrelevant as the NASCAR Sprint Cup season rolled along. Despite early-season victories in Atlanta and Fontana, Johnson has merely chugged along.
But lately, there’s been a little bit of life, if not mojo.
His 12th-place finish at Chicagoland on Sunday follows an 11th-place finish at Richmond. While it is still outside Top 10 territory, at least he’s headed in the right direction.
But what could have been will bother Johnson for a while. Hewas popped for speeding as he left pit road after his final greenflag stop at Chicagoland, costing him a chance at a victory.
“We are digging,” he said after the race. “I just can’t believe I got in trouble down there leaving the pits. I feel terrible for these guys. It should have been a top-five day, but I will back down pit road even more and try not to make that mistake. … I just screwed up.”
Johnson had the dominant car of the day, leading four times for a race-high 118 laps. It’s easy to scream that Johnson screwed this up. There’s also the disconcerting fact he had a speeding penalty at Richmond the previous week. Is he on course or going off the rails?
“It’s stuff that’s uncharacteristic of them,” said Fox Sports NASCAR analyst Larry McReynolds.
But it’s better to catch your breath, gather perspective and see a glimmer of hope for Johnson moving forward as he chases his seventh Cup title.
He’s eighth among the 16 Chase qualifiers, right in the middle and a comfortable spot for the moment unless his car’s post race inspection failure costs him points. The schedule takes everyone to New Hampshire thisweekend, where Johnson haswon three times, tying him for most victories among qualifiers, including Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.
Then it’s on to Dover, one of Johnson’s best tracks. Johnson has 10— not a typo, 10— victories at the Monster Mile, which is a record. It also happens to be the first Chase cutoff point when the field will be whittled from 16 to 12.
“Hell, I’d rather be dominating and be on top and be the top pick,” Johnson said during Chase media day lastweek. “I don’t like where we’re at. We’re working hard. There’s a lot of optimism and a lot of great things happening. We just need to deliver consistently and execute at the track.
“Theway that the Chase works, ifwe can run in the top five and stay alive and make it to Homestead, you know, we do have some time to sort things out and get back to where we need to be.”
Mr. Six-Time isn’t out of the woods yet. But he seems to have found a compass, and it’s pointing in the right direction.