Success, Success, and More Success
Jimmie Johnson is a 6-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. He could be considered one of the greatest drivers of the modern NASCAR era, some say one of the best of all time.
No matter what you think, 6 Championships in itself is an accomplishment, especially when the first 5 come in a row.
Slumping?
But Team No. 48's 15th place finish at Indianapolis this weekend made some of us here at "The Ultimate NASCAR Blog" wonder if Johnson is slumping.
He has not led a lap since the Juky DAYTONA race this season. He finished 2nd in that race.
Here's why "The Ultimate NASCAR Blog" does NOT feel he is in a slump:
He has four wins this season, which makes him lead the Chase standings. He would be tied with Kyle Busch in the Chase standings because each one of them has four wins. But Kyle Busch is outside the Top-30, 23 points outside the Top-30 in points to be exact.
Team No. 48 has a reputation of focusing on the Chase. They've been known to really prep the team for the post-season, and possibly head into Homestead with a chance to win the championship.
Last year, Johnson headed into Homestead without acchance to win the championship for the first time since the chase was created in 2004. Johnson has always been known to be a competitive driver.
Johnson, his crew chief Chad Knaus, and the entire No. 48 team, know that they are in a good spot for the chase. Now is a good time to use the rest of the regular season to experiments with their tactics, adjustments, and anything they can change and see if the changes oradjustments benefit them.
The Perfect Team, Or At Least One Of Them
Some call Johnson and Knaus the best driver-crew chief paring in NASCAR history. But there are undoubtedly some great pairings in recent times. Kyle Busch and Adam Stevens, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte, and Brad Keselowski and Paul Wolfe are among other great pairings we've seen.
But only one of the pairings won a championship in the Sprint Cup Series, and that was Keselowski and Wolfe in 2012, where Johnson and Knaus were in that championship fight almost until the end.
What really hurt Jognson that year was the race before the final race at Homestead, which was at Phoenix, where Johnson slammed the wall, and lost plenty of track position and lost ground in the points standings.
But those other crew chief pairings don't have a championship together, and neither one of them were together as long as Johnson and Knaus have. They've been together since 2002, when Johnson made his full-time debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
One of those pairings isn't even existent anymore. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte split us as a pairing when Letarte left his crew Cheif job at the end of the 2014 season so he could work as an analyst on the NBC broadcasting team for NASCAR.
Earnhardt Jr. is now paired with Greg Ives, who was Chase Elliott's crew Cheif when Elliott won the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship in 2014. Elliott will replace Jeff Gordon at the end of the 2015 season, since Gordon is retiring from being a full-time driver when this season ends.
But as of right now, Johnson and Knaus are the best pairing in our mind. Other pairings haven't been together long enough, and maybe haven't had as much success as Johnson and Knaus had.
But there really isn't a slump. We feel that Team No. 48 is in Chase mode right now, as they are focused on winning their 7th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
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