{"id":16333,"date":"2018-04-13T16:05:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T21:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=16333"},"modified":"2018-04-13T19:32:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-14T00:32:42","slug":"jimmie-johnson-affirms-team-is-moving-in-the-right-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/13\/jimmie-johnson-affirms-team-is-moving-in-the-right-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmie Johnson affirms team is moving in the right direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson<\/strong> showed up for his news conference Friday morning at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway dressed nicely in a \u201cLowe\u2019s\u201d emblazoned polo shirt and \u201cLowe\u2019s\u2019\u2019 cap. The defending champion of Sunday’s Food City 500 [2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR<\/a> Radio] greeted reporters, laughed a little and fully confronted the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 13, 2018 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

He is on the longest winless streak of his seven-time NASCAR Cup championship career \u2013 30 races \u2013 and yet simultaneously remains a race trophy away from tying NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip with 84 career victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely the story,\u201d the always affable Johnson said. \u201cWe have high expectations for ourselves, first and foremost; and we think that we should be in the position to win races every year and compete for race wins each weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think within that there\u2019s a lot of fair questions being asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I think there is overreaction by fans and media on that upper percentile of it, especially all the kind and wonderful people on social media and the things they have to say,\u201d Johnson added tongue-and-cheek.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/BMS_MENCS_Johnson_041318.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Johnson doesn\u2019t have to confirm the notion on Twitter, he knows he\u2019s due to win. And in many ways the fact that he hasn\u2019t won in 30 races \u2013 a fraction of a single season \u2013 says much more about his overall success than any recent frustrations.<\/p>\n

All three of NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series manufacturers have posted wins this season, but Chevrolet hasn\u2019t since Austin Dillon\u2019s thrilling last lap-victory in the season-opening Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

Much of the season has been a duel between three-time race winner, Kevin Harvick in a Ford and three-time runner-up Kyle Busch who drove his Toyota into victory lane last week for the first time in 2018.<\/p>\n

But the expectations for Johnson and his Chevy brethren remain undaunted. Each week Johnson said he sees improvement and while the winless streak gets attention because of the precedent he\u2019s set, he remains optimistic and calculated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are improving,\u201d he allowed. \u201cWe\u2019re making it better each and every week.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d he said smiling, \u201cI\u2019ve used this phrase many times before, but we\u2019re just stacking pennies when we need to start stacking some quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effort is there. We are such a united team and working as close together as ever. I know in time we\u2019ll get there. I want to be there right now and we certainly hope this weekend, we can turn the corner. But I think we\u2019re seeing some good steps and some good strides.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not only an adjustment for the whole Chevrolet family \u2013 learning the new Camaro which debuted in the Cup ranks this season – but it\u2019s been a new situation for Johnson\u2019s smaller, Hendrick Motorsports family as well.<\/p>\n

Two of the four fulltime Hendrick Motorsports Cup drivers are new to their positions in 2018 \u2013 William Byron, who drives the No. 24 Chevy and Alex Bowman, who drives the No. 88 Chevy. And two of his three teammates \u2013 20-year old rookie William Byron and 22-year old Chase Elliott – are about half Johnson\u2019s age (42).  Bowman is only 25.<\/p>\n

Last year Johnson posted what turned into a popular and hilarious video on social media showing him driving the other three around like a parent with his kids.<\/p>\n

And while Johnson concedes the team vibe is different with three up-and-comers versus the veteran slate that has characterized the championship team for so long. – it remains a very positive situation. With seven championships and 83 Cup victories, Johnson would be the respected statesman on ANY Cup team. And at Hendrick, he is revered, appreciated and well-liked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly miss the camaraderie and friendships and history I\u2019ve had with the other veteran teammates,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou also learn set-up styles. When Jeff Gordon thought his car was perfect, I knew I needed two or three changes to get my car to where I loved it. Same thing with Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and Kasey (Kahne) and so on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat part I\u2019m developing and trying to get my arms around and it\u2019s going well. But I\u2019ve just been really amazed with the sense of feel that my three teammates have with their race cars and [how they] can describe that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do miss my friends and do miss aspects of the work process like I mentioned, but these guys are doing a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson arrived in Bristol ranked 20th in the points standings and still looking to lead his first lap of 2018. An accident in the Daytona 500 and an accident Sunday in Texas have bookended a year of hard work and hard lessons.<\/p>\n

But Johnson arrived at Bristol Motor Speedway this week ready as always to put in the work necessary to hoist the hardware. Perhaps the fittest driver in the sport, he did a 100-mile bike ride on Thursday as part of his physical preparation. And historically speaking, no one current driver is more on top of their game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s small increments from good to great,\u2019\u2019 Johnson reminded the room Friday morning. \u201cAnd right now, we\u2019ve just been in that good category. We need to be great. We want to be great.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Or perhaps, more accurately for Johnson: even great-er.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson showed up for his news conference Friday morning at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway dressed nicely in a \u201cLowe\u2019s\u201d emblazoned polo shirt and \u201cLowe\u2019s\u2019\u2019 cap. The defending champion of Sunday’s Food City 500 [2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio] greeted reporters, laughed a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[177,579,63,16],"class_list":["post-16333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-bristol-motor-speedway","tag-food-city-500","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/355048.jpg?fit=3834%2C2683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4fr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16333","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=16333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16337,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16333\/revisions\/16337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}