Post by dalejrfan on Feb 11, 2006 1:47:41 GMT -5
Jimmie Johnson ready to roll, hoping to put it all together this time
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Sooner or later.Jimmie Johnson believes he'll win a Nextel Cup championship. He also believes he has everything he needs to do that is in place this season.
But that has also been true in his first four seasons in NASCAR's top series, and Johnson hasn't won that first championship yet.
"Something I do believe (is) that it will come when it's meant to be," Johnson said. "And if it is or isn't, I'm OK with that. I'm going to show up every day and give 100 percent, and I know my team is, too.
"We'll just keep plugging away. It's got to happen sooner or later."
There's reason for Johnson's optimism.
In the four years he's been a full-time Cup driver, Johnson leads the circuit in wins, top-10 finishes and average finish.
He finished fifth in the standings as a rookie in 2002, then was runner-up the next two years. Johnson was second again last year until a 40th-place finish in the finale at Homestead cost him four spots - and roughly $1 million in points fund earnings.
As NASCAR's 2006 competition begins with the Budweiser Shootout, an event Johnson won last year and in which he'll start beside Ken Schrader on the front row this time, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolets is again on almost every list of likely title contenders.
Johnson's Shootout victory last year provided a springboard for a torrid start. He finished no worse than eighth in the first seven races and scored wins at Las Vegas and Lowe's Motor Speedway, which helped him lead the points standings after 15 of the first 18 events.
But between the 19th race at New Hampshire and the end of the 26-race "regular season," he finished better than 10th only once and slid to fourth in the standings as the Chase for the Nextel Cup began.
Then, a 31st-place finish at Talladega after he was widely blamed for causing a multicar wreck, knocked his title hopes off track. Even though he won at Dover and again at Charlotte during the Chase, he went to Homestead 52 points behind Tony Stewart and succumbed to a wheel problem just 124 laps into a 267-lap race.
When he lost the championship to Kurt Busch by just eight points in 2004, Johnson won four of the season's final six races but failed to win the title because he finished 37th and 32nd in the two immediately before that surge.
Johnson's pattern over the past two years, particularly, give him and crew chief Chad Knaus an obvious area of concern for this season's title bid.
If they can avoid a slump from New Hampshire, the season's 19th race on July 16, through the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega on Oct. 8, they'd figure to be hard to beat.
"It seems to start right around Brickyard time," Johnson said. Last year at Indianapolis, Johnson finished 38th while Stewart was winning the Allstate 400 to propel him toward a title.
"We've been trying to be ready for that period of time and not lose our momentum," Johnson said. "But it has happened for whatever reason.
"This year, we want to get off to a good start in the first 26 to try to secure ourselves a spot in the Chase. Then we'll try to ramp up as the year goes on instead of starting off so strong and trailing off and then trying to turn the corner and get things going in the right direction again."
Last year's dip after the strong start brought frustrations that led to late-season rumors that Knaus was looking to leave the team.
Johnson and Knaus both deny there was ever anything to those reports, but Knaus doesn't deny it was disheartening to see another shot at a title slip away.
"Last year was tough at the end," Johnson said. "This year we want to make sure that we're mentally able to make it through all 36 races and especially in the final 10, regardless if we're on top of the world or if we're going through a tough time."
Knaus, of course, is looking for the top of the world.
"That's what we expect out of our team," he said. "That's what Jimmie expects of me, and that's what I expect of him. When a new team member becomes a part of the 48 team, he knows what's expected. You expect to win races and contend for championships."
The sooner, the better
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Sooner or later.Jimmie Johnson believes he'll win a Nextel Cup championship. He also believes he has everything he needs to do that is in place this season.
But that has also been true in his first four seasons in NASCAR's top series, and Johnson hasn't won that first championship yet.
"Something I do believe (is) that it will come when it's meant to be," Johnson said. "And if it is or isn't, I'm OK with that. I'm going to show up every day and give 100 percent, and I know my team is, too.
"We'll just keep plugging away. It's got to happen sooner or later."
There's reason for Johnson's optimism.
In the four years he's been a full-time Cup driver, Johnson leads the circuit in wins, top-10 finishes and average finish.
He finished fifth in the standings as a rookie in 2002, then was runner-up the next two years. Johnson was second again last year until a 40th-place finish in the finale at Homestead cost him four spots - and roughly $1 million in points fund earnings.
As NASCAR's 2006 competition begins with the Budweiser Shootout, an event Johnson won last year and in which he'll start beside Ken Schrader on the front row this time, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolets is again on almost every list of likely title contenders.
Johnson's Shootout victory last year provided a springboard for a torrid start. He finished no worse than eighth in the first seven races and scored wins at Las Vegas and Lowe's Motor Speedway, which helped him lead the points standings after 15 of the first 18 events.
But between the 19th race at New Hampshire and the end of the 26-race "regular season," he finished better than 10th only once and slid to fourth in the standings as the Chase for the Nextel Cup began.
Then, a 31st-place finish at Talladega after he was widely blamed for causing a multicar wreck, knocked his title hopes off track. Even though he won at Dover and again at Charlotte during the Chase, he went to Homestead 52 points behind Tony Stewart and succumbed to a wheel problem just 124 laps into a 267-lap race.
When he lost the championship to Kurt Busch by just eight points in 2004, Johnson won four of the season's final six races but failed to win the title because he finished 37th and 32nd in the two immediately before that surge.
Johnson's pattern over the past two years, particularly, give him and crew chief Chad Knaus an obvious area of concern for this season's title bid.
If they can avoid a slump from New Hampshire, the season's 19th race on July 16, through the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega on Oct. 8, they'd figure to be hard to beat.
"It seems to start right around Brickyard time," Johnson said. Last year at Indianapolis, Johnson finished 38th while Stewart was winning the Allstate 400 to propel him toward a title.
"We've been trying to be ready for that period of time and not lose our momentum," Johnson said. "But it has happened for whatever reason.
"This year, we want to get off to a good start in the first 26 to try to secure ourselves a spot in the Chase. Then we'll try to ramp up as the year goes on instead of starting off so strong and trailing off and then trying to turn the corner and get things going in the right direction again."
Last year's dip after the strong start brought frustrations that led to late-season rumors that Knaus was looking to leave the team.
Johnson and Knaus both deny there was ever anything to those reports, but Knaus doesn't deny it was disheartening to see another shot at a title slip away.
"Last year was tough at the end," Johnson said. "This year we want to make sure that we're mentally able to make it through all 36 races and especially in the final 10, regardless if we're on top of the world or if we're going through a tough time."
Knaus, of course, is looking for the top of the world.
"That's what we expect out of our team," he said. "That's what Jimmie expects of me, and that's what I expect of him. When a new team member becomes a part of the 48 team, he knows what's expected. You expect to win races and contend for championships."
The sooner, the better