{"id":15727,"date":"2018-04-02T17:13:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T22:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=15727"},"modified":"2018-04-02T17:13:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T22:13:09","slug":"amid-winless-streak-jimmie-johnson-has-reason-to-be-optimistic-about-texas-and-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/02\/amid-winless-streak-jimmie-johnson-has-reason-to-be-optimistic-about-texas-and-bristol\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid winless streak, Jimmie Johnson has reason to be optimistic about Texas and Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crew members push the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, driven by Jimmie Johnson (not pictured), prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 5, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When you\u2019re a seven-time champion in NASCAR\u2019s elite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a>, an 83-race winner, and perpetually on the verge of hoisting that unprecedented eighth championship trophy, people are watching, dissecting and diagnosing your every move.<\/p>\n

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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, goes through inspection prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jimmie Johnson<\/strong> is especially experiencing that right now thanks to a 29-race winless streak. A mark that would seem luxurious and enviable to the vast majority of his competition, but it\u2019s the longest of his first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Fame career and Johnson couldn\u2019t be more ready to talk about something else.<\/p>\n

Like another win at Texas Motor Speedway in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 this weekend (Sunday, April 8 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM), or maybe a victory next week at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. That would do it.<\/p>\n

He is the defending winner of both races \u2013 giving his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team some source of optimism about hitching horsepower to opportunity at these tracks.<\/p>\n

Johnson isn\u2019t just good at Texas. He\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n

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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 4, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway)<\/p><\/div>\n

With a record seven Cup wins, 15 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes in 29 starts on the mile-and-a-half Fort Worth high banks, Johnson has reason to change the conversation. He\u2019s the all-time leader in laps led (1,041) and has a rare top-10 career average in both finish (8.8) and starting position (9.4).<\/p>\n

In recognition of Johnson\u2019s outstanding resume at the track and the fact he is the defending winner, Texas Motor Speedway is giving away Jimmie Johnson bobble head dolls to 30,000 among the anticipated sold-out crowd. That\u2019s an additional 30,000 \u201cnods\u201d of support for a driver and team just working its way out of a rut.<\/p>\n

And should it take another week for Johnson\u2019s team to rally, Bristol certainly proved to be a motivating cause in 2017. For exactly the opposite reasons.<\/p>\n

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The crew of Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, work on the car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 13, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

While Johnson is fully expected to win in Texas, Bristol is one of the rare venues that Johnson has not completely dominated. In fact his win in the spring race last year was only his second at the famous half-mile bullring \u2013 and first since the Spring of 2010, the year Johnson won an unprecedented fifth consecutive Cup title.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s finished 11th or better in six of the last seven Bristol races and has a pair of runner-up finishes in the Spring 500-lapper, the last time in 2015.<\/p>\n

Either venue \u2013 Texas or Bristol — certainly has the potential of redirecting Johnson\u2019s 2018 course. And he\u2019s counting on it.<\/p>\n

Johnson is ranked 17th in the standings \u2013 a steady upward climb since a wreck early in the Daytona 500 put him in a points deficit to start the season. Although he has uncharacteristically not led a lap this season \u2013 yet – he has four top-15 finishes in the last four races and a season best of ninth place at California\u2019s Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, straps on his helmet during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 16, 2018 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Josh Hedges\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

His absence from Victory Lane is certainly not lost on Johnson, who has celebrated there more than any other driver he\u2019s competing with this season. And there\u2019s a reason he and his team know how to win. Perseverance has always been a part of his mindset \u2013 from the earliest days trying to make a name for himself on NASCAR\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

Last week, he offered up a quote from Babe Ruth \u2013 choosing to share it on social media and to remind his supporters \u2013 and any doubters \u2013 of his mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to beat a person who never gives up,” Johnson wrote, crediting the baseball great.<\/p>\n

And, Johnson added, \u201cI couldn\u2019t agree more and can\u2019t wait to get back to the track.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When you\u2019re a seven-time champion in NASCAR\u2019s elite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, an 83-race winner, and perpetually on the verge of hoisting that unprecedented eighth championship trophy, people are watching, dissecting and diagnosing your every move. Jimmie Johnson is especially experiencing that right now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[63,16,413,21],"class_list":["post-15727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-nascar","tag-oreilly-auto-parts-500","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-45F","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/TMS-MENCS-JimmieJohnson-110417.jpg?fit=5184%2C3456&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15735,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15727\/revisions\/15735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}