{"id":18809,"date":"2018-06-08T15:35:42","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T20:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=18809"},"modified":"2018-06-08T15:35:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T20:35:42","slug":"a-reflective-jimmie-johnson-embraces-the-challenges-of-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/08\/a-reflective-jimmie-johnson-embraces-the-challenges-of-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"A reflective Jimmie Johnson embraces the challenges of 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

BROOKLYN, Mich. \u2013 Fresh off a long morning bike ride through the serene hills and vast farmland surrounding Michigan International Speedway<\/strong>, Jimmie Johnson<\/strong> spent the hour before opening practice for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) doing a couple media one-on-one interviews by his motorhome in the infield parking lot.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Dressed in jeans, a polo shirt and a baseball cap, the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup<\/a> champion freely discussed his quest and full expectation to return to Victory Lane for the first time in a full season\u2019s length of races. He was optimistic and confident about the quest to find a new sponsor for his No. 48 Chevrolet for the first time in his career and he was open and reflective about the changing circumstances of competition and expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on, I can\u2019t help myself,\u201d Johnson said smiling at the notion of ever turning his mind off or even away from the huge expectations of himself and of his many fans.<\/p>\n

Even when you reel off a historic record-tying seven championships \u2013 including an unprecedented five consecutively from 2006-2010 \u2013 and even when you win 83 races; one shy of tying NASCAR Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison \u2013 the competitive focus is on what will you do next, not, what you have done.<\/p>\n

Johnson accepts that, embraces it and thrives on it. It\u2019s part of what has separated this laidback Southern Californian talent from the rest.<\/p>\n

He concedes that this season, in particular, has challenged his competitive ire. And even his patience. Since his rookie campaign in 2002, Johnson has won multiple races every season \u2013 highlighted by a 10-trophy haul in 2007; the second season of his historic five-championship run.<\/p>\n

Last season he had three victories, the last coming at Dover International Speedway on June 4, almost exactly a year ago \u2013 and it is currently the longest time between wins in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about being patient and it\u2019s tough to be patient especially in this industry,” Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re all adjusting to a thousandths of a second every time we\u2019re on track. I\u2019m trying and that\u2019s where I do have some comfort in the process. But we need this to change, we need to see improvement and we need to keep marching forward. We can\u2019t stall out and be content where we are at. We need far better than this.”<\/p>\n

Getting a handle on the new car, new teammates (Alex Bowman and rookie William Byron), a new shop set-up and getting news that your longtime sponsor won\u2019t return has unquestionably presented a daunting set of single season obstacles.<\/p>\n

No matter the circumstances, social media trolls continually remind Johnson of this first-of-his-career span between victories. Even though, no one is more aware than he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never worked harder but I\u2019ve also never been more excited to work,” Johnson said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s age, what it is. Some of my frustration comes from the wonderful people on social media who want to think that I don\u2019t have the heart or desire. It\u2019s like, you don\u2019t even know me. Just stop. I\u2019ve never worked harder or enjoyed it more than I do now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do (see the gains). But summer stretches are tough on us, that\u2019s out there. But we can rally through that and keep building through the summer stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince all the [four Hendrick Motorsports] teams have kind of moved in together, it\u2019s just going to take some time to get the new ideas and cars through the system. We\u2019re just now starting to see it. Being patient is part of it, but at the same time we\u2019ve got to be honest with ourselves and know if we\u2019re making the right improvements and closing the gap.”<\/p>\n

After his last win – at Dover last June – Johnson closed out the season with eight finishes of 24th or worse, three times he was 35th or worse. A rough start in the 2018 season-opening Daytona 500 (he crashed and finished 38th) followed. That was compounded by a 27th-place finish the next week at Atlanta and then a crash a couple weeks later at Texas Motor Speedway, where Johnson is the all-time winningest Cup driver.<\/p>\n

The only Chevrolet Cup victory this season was on Austin Dillon\u2019s last lap pass in the Daytona 500. For the teams \u2013 which switched to the Camaro ZL1 body this year \u2013 it\u2019s been a wholly expected learning curve. And across the board, Chevy drivers say they anticipate an uptake on production. Effort has never been a problem.<\/p>\n

Chevrolet\u2019s Kyle Larson \u2013 who has won the last three Michigan races – has three runner-up finishes in 2018.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s teammate Chase Elliott has three finishes of third or better this season and was the fastest Chevrolet in Friday\u2019s opening practice at Michigan. Elliott has three runner-up finishes here too.<\/p>\n

Statistically speaking, it\u2019s obvious the improvement of Johnson\u2019s team. He scored his best finish of the year (third-place) at Bristol in April and worked his way into the championship top-12 a week later with a sixth-place at Richmond.<\/p>\n

He has three top-10s in the last four races, including a fifth-place finish at Charlotte and an eighth-place at Pocono last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting there, we\u2019re seeing the gains,” Johnson said. \u201cThe way we have converted our operation and all four cars in the same spot, it\u2019s pretty obvious when we\u2019re on or when we\u2019re off. All four cars carry the same speed either good or bad, so that does bring a little bit of comfort from the driver standpoint, even from a veteran\u2019s standpoint.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternally there are a lot of small victories, but we just wish we had the real victory in the real Victory Lane.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a historic lesson in championships \u2013 what separates the best. Now 18 years into his certain first-ballot Hall of Fame career, Johnson would concede the winning edge is as much mindset as it is driving hard into a corner.<\/p>\n

To that end, Johnson shared that his team has adopted a \u201clocker room\u201d mentality \u2013 involving all his teammates \u2013 a reinvigorated way of approaching races and outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy when things are going good but it\u2019s tough when they aren\u2019t going well,” Johnson said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t end last season very well and I felt like the locker room piece is something important for me and that environment is important for me to be relaxed and free and to feel and sense the car and communicate with my team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat energy inside the transporter – or our locker room – is something I\u2019ve been working really hard on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly no one feels more eager, anxious and overdue for a win than Johnson. Celebrating in Victory Lane has been the norm for his once-in-a-lifetime career. Yet this recent stretch has been both a grueling test and learning opportunity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s evoked strong memories for Johnson himself forced a personal reassurance that as he has many times before, Johnson will right the ship. And that 84th win may well feel like the first \u2013 hard-earned and mightily cherished.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that does come to mind is the \u201ccycle of things,\u201d Johnson allowed, thinking about his competition situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been in this place emotionally and mentally many times in my career, it just wasn\u2019t in the Cup spotlight. Success on a dirt bike led to opportunities with off-road racing. And things went pretty well there in the lower divisions but then in the higher divisions I was racing against the best of the best and I wasn\u2019t winning much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have the up-moments racing for the Herzogs and my off-road trucks \u2013 but then transitioning into ASA and stock cars my Xfinity days were really tough. And what I\u2019ve been going through recently reminds me of my Xfinity days.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to me, it\u2019s more the cycle. As you\u2019re falling down into that valley there\u2019s a point where you can lose confidence and it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a seven-time champion or someone else, it can happen. But I feel like I\u2019ve come through the bottom and built my confidence back up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s not all just me and I\u2019m starting to climb that mountain again. It\u2019s wild how those cycles go and I can trace it all the way back to being eight-years old on a dirt bike.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here before. And absolutely, I expect to win. I will win.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. \u2013 Fresh off a long morning bike ride through the serene hills and vast farmland surrounding Michigan International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson spent the hour before opening practice for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) doing a couple media one-on-one interviews […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18811,"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_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":[63,219,16],"class_list":["post-18809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-michigan-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/MENCS-JimmieJohnson-052718.jpg?fit=4816%2C3252&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4Tn","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18809","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=18809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18812,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18809\/revisions\/18812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}