As I was sitting in the sun-drenched grandstand of Pocono Raceway Sunday, I anticipated the reaction of the fans when Jimmie Johnson was introduced. When his name was finally announced the stands filled the air with boo’s drowning out the few folks who cheered. Jimmie Johnson is fast becoming the driver NASCAR fans love to hate. His crime? He’s too good.
Oh sure there are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there that he and his Crew Chief, Chad Knaus, are overstepping the boundaries of the rules – in other words “cheating”. Let’s take a look at some of the factors at play here.
Is Johnson and his team cheating? After the race on Sunday the Twitter world exploded when word reached the fan base that Johnson’s car was having an issue passing through the post-race inspection. The parking lot was filled with people yelling “Hey! Johnson isn’t passing inspection. They finally caught the son of a (expletive)!” Several minutes passed when word finally came that Johnson’s car eventually passed inspection after a cool down period. NASCAR officials quickly said that it’s standard that cars be allowed to “cool down” in order to meet the height/weight requirements.
All Sprint Cup cars are vigorously tested prior to the race. The race winners along with other cars are impounded and more thoroughly inspected for any violations. Therefore, because Jimmie Johnson wins more often than any other active driver, his car is the most inspected of any. Here are the only issues with Johnson’s car thus far:
- February 2012: A C-Post issue discovered with Johnson’s car pre-race
- October 2011: Crew Chief Chad Knaus overheard telling Johnson on the radio to intentionally wreck his car in the front if he wins the race.
- June 2007: Failed fender inspection pre-race
- February: Raised rear window fails post-inspection
- March 2005: Johnson’s winning car fails to reach minimum height requirement in post-race inspection.
Folks, there is not much there. Unless NASCAR is involved in a conspiracy that would make OJ Simpson’s jurors blush, there does not appear to be any supporting evidence that Johnson’s team is getting any kind of an unfair advantage mechanically.
Is Jimmie Johnson’s car better? There is no question that the deep pockets of Hendrick Motorsport provide Johnson with the very best of the very best. Hendrick is by far and away the premier team in NASCAR whose stable includes Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne. In a recent interview Earnhardt Jr. said that they have an open-book policy at Hendrick where ALL information is shared between all four car teams. If that’s the case then at least three other drivers have similar cars and setup information.
Most weeks, at least one member of the Hendricks stable seems to run with Johnson. One week it will be Kahne, the next Gordon, and then as in Pocono Sunday, Jr. seems to have a car able to keep up with Johnson. Where Mr.’s Gordon, Earnhardt, and Kahne deviate from Johnson is that Johnson runs up front every week. Week after week Johnson can be found running in front and with the car to beat. If it were not for a restart penalty last week, one in which Johnson still maintains he was set up, Johnson had the Dover field covered as well. Change the track, repave it, change the car, and change the type of tires. It doesn’t seem to matter.
If he’s not cheating and if it’s not just the car, is it the driver? This won’t be popular among the NASCAR faithful but I think we are witnessing the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR. During the peak of Jeff Gordon’s popularity he was vilified and booed soundly at NASCAR tracks. Today, that same reactions now belong to Jimmie Johnson. In a sport where fans have their favorite drivers, if Johnson is not your man, then you owe it to your driver to root against him. “Anybody but Johnson” could be heard through the day Sunday as Johnson led lap after lap after lap. His car looked the same as the others. His car sounded the same as the others. But as usual his car was much faster than the other 43 cars leading 128 of 160 laps.
If we assume that all the Hendrick cars have the same resources available and share all information with each other then why is there such a huge divide between the teammates? Look, future Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon is no slouch and Kahne and Junior are two of the most talented young drivers in the sport today, but they are no match for Johnson who is now the standard bearer which other teams and drivers are measured.
Chad Knaus is a very skilled Crew Chief and Johnson and he have a very good working relationship, probably second to none. Knaus should be given some credit here and I do. That being said, I think if you put Johnson with any other of the Hendrick teams, we’d see similar results with Johnson which we are seeing now.
Folks, there is no use kidding ourselves any longer. Jimmie Johnson is far and away the best driver in NASCAR today and I believe he’s the best of all time. The folks who root for drivers other than Johnson? Sharpen those vocal cords because it looks like you will be booing Jimmie Johnson for a while.
My picks for Michigan:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Greg Biffle
Feel free to give me a follow on Twitter – @JimLaPlante, as well as the site – @LastWordOnSport.
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Photo Credit: flair.wittysparks.com, CC
