Who is it? We'll wait until the end to show you. But I have to ask you, who else has won 38 races out of 249 starts, and also has 98 top five finishes and 152 top ten finishes?
Who also has 18 poles out of his 249 starts? Who also has never finished worse than 5th in the points standings since he started driving all the races in Cup?
This driver's ability to cultivate wins astounds me. He has a fantastic crew chief as well, though about as nerdy as Mr. Spock on Star Trek. But, the combination has produced fantastic results.
This driver also lacks, or so it would seem, in personality. He is one of those "I want to thank my sponsor" kind of guys in interviews. He never seems to have a hair out of place, and never says the wrong thing on camera. In other words, he's a sponsor's dream.
This driver overcomes adversity at all costs. He never sounds tired or overly frustrated on the radio during the longest of races. I would know. I spent a lot of time listening to his radio during Sunday's Talladega race, and he had more reasons than I have the space to list here to be frustrated. His crew chief kept him in line very well.
Who am I talking about? Of course it's Jimmie Johnson.
Since his first Cup race in 2001, he's managed to win 38 times and has two championships.
He never gives up, as evidenced on Sunday. He salvaged a 9th place finish after losing a lap early. He currently leads the Cup standings, and appears to be on his way to a third consecutive championship. What he lacks in on camera personality, he makes up for with on the track greatness.
Performance is what counts, and Jimmie Johnson has proven that he's one of the best.
8 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Pam R 9 months ago
Johnson is the best driver on the circuit today. He and the team have the chase figured out, and if luck with things out of his control continue, he'll be joining Cale with a three-peat.
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Ron Van Lew 9 months ago
I agree with Pam. Jimmie can flat out drive a car. Championships are built on a good team, a good driver, a good race shop ,a good owner, and a good amout of luck during the season.
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Dave Gainer 9 months ago
Jimmie is calculating patient, smart, driven to win championships...and this year he's further ahead in the chase then last year...Chad Knaus is genius, he is also calculating, patient , determined and driven. its not unusual to say that if he wins a 3rd title in a row, he may win again in 09. This team is has the formula for success down to a science.. its hard to stop a train rolling at full speed. the 48 team is en fuego, and their best tracks are coming up.... watch out Roush boys. I just hope Carl and Gregg don't become wreckless trying to catch Jimmie....
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Mitchell Hall 9 months ago
No way... Jimmie is mirroring what Jeff Gordon did with Ray Evernham.
Without Chad Knaus, Johnson would be another Casey Mears. On top of that Hendrick still has the best equipment, despite not being quite as strong this year as they were last year.
Some teams are built on driver ability, i.e. the #18.
Some teams are built on equipment, i.e. Roush x 5.
Some are built on crew chief, i.e. the #48.
I mean no disrespect to JJ, he still had to drive for it, and as long as he has Chad he will be strong. But if they ever get split up he will fall into Gordon's rut without Evernham, a win now and then with a lot of top 10's.
If Gordon or Jr. had Knaus they would be better than Jimmie is with him.
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Ron Van Lew 9 months ago
How could you honestly say that if Gordon had Knaus that he would do better than Jimmie does? it is all about chemistry. No team is built on just driver ability or equipment or a crew chief. You need all the parts to make it work. Please do not say #18 has inferior cars to the #99 because that is flat out not true. Alot of R&D goes into EVERY teams equipment. If this is the case what is Jeff Burton's team built on or Jeff Gordon's, or Clint Bowyer etc.etc.etc.
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Dave Gainer 9 months ago
Good point Ron, Mitchell has taken the short cited view of team-48's excellence displayed...He must be a jr fan..lol..No 1 element wins you a championship its multitude of elements that make a team successful. kyle can slide a car and keep it under control, that's great for dirt racing , but that wont win you a title...the top rated equipment you say rousch has is not enough to win a title...and chad knause alone cant win a title. But all those things together with a little luck will win you a title every season....
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Mitchell Hall 9 months ago
Recovering Jr. Fan. Now a Kyle Busch fan.
Kyle Busch has had 2.5 parts failures and an accident in the first four races of the Chase. To say he is only capable of sliding a car and keeping it under control is selling him short. He will win a title one day soon.
You want a good indicator of how much of a role equipment plays? Look at Kurt Busch. He won a title with Roush's equipment, he can't win without rain at Penske. Of course his cup was a few years ago, and the other teams have balanced out a bit equipment wise.
More often than not, the crew chief has just as much of an impact on the race results as the driver does. The only driver that I can think of that maintained consistency regardless of who was on the pit box was Dale Sr. He went through many crew chiefs, and for many years still managed to be successful.
Knaus has figured out how to make his car better throughout the race, and consistently does. That allows Johnson to get better while everybody else struggles during the race. I will stand by my earlier statement that if Knaus was sitting on a different box he could do the same thing with the same equipment, but different driver.
Jimmie Johnson came in and got right into Jeff Gordon's equipment. The reason he will never be as popular as some other drivers out there is because he just isn't that good.
Knaus is the smartest and best crew chief in the garage area on any given Sunday.
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Dave Gainer 9 months ago
Mitchell we can go back and forth with this discussion, the real reason why the 48 team is so successful is jimmy and Chad are the best crew chief to driver communication out there. And the main reason why jr isn't successful thus far is because he doesn't seem to be able to communicate well with Tony Eury Jr...If Chad were Gordon's crew chief that doesn't mean they will have the same communication and success as with JJ...Chad is a genius i will give you that, but its the driver crew chief relationship that's at the core of their success...Jimmie knows whats going on with his car threw out a race and is able to tell Chad what he needs and Chad gets it done.. Many times this season the 24 and the 48 shared the same set up most of the time it was Jeff using Jimmie's set up and the 48 came out ahead each and every time.... Kyle Busch is a great driver, but i said it before the chase started his season reminded me of what Ryan Newman did a couple of years ago when he won like 10 poles and 8 races and then fell on his face for the championship run...as far as I'm concerned until Kyle Busch shows us something more he's about as good as Ryan Newman a couple of years back......
This week at Lowes i believe Jimmie will be using the car that won indy cali and kansas, its a dominant car...all it does is win races, barirng any mishaps, the 48 should get a a top 5 if not win the race...
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