Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson hoping change in mindset pays off at Daytona
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson is third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Saturday's race at Daytona International Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jimmie Johnson has looked almost invincible the past three seasons, winning 19 races and three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships.
But if the Hendrick Motorsports driver has had an Achilles heel, it’s been restrictor-plate races. In 30 combined races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, Johnson has only two victories, in the 2006 Daytona 500 and at Talladega in April of that year.
Johnson feels he’s fallen a bit behind at restrictor-plate races, especially with NASCAR’s new car.
“The restrictor-plate tracks have been tough on me in general,” Johnson said Thursday at DIS. “There was a period of time where I won a couple of races and then the car kind of changed and went away from there. So in general, defending, trying to pick the right line to be in or to block … those aspects of racing, I have never really been that good at.”
Johnson says it’s not an equipment issue holding him back in plate races. It has more to do with his mental outlook.
“My teammates and I, we talk about different techniques in the cars and about what we do and so far, all the conversations that I have had with everybody … I feel like I’m doing what they are talking about,” Johnson said. “They are such small, split-second decisions and I am missing it somewhere. The end result is … I haven’t been running all that well and I have been running in the back and haven’t led many laps.”
Without being specific, Johnson said he’s going to try a different approach Saturday night in the Coke Zero 400.
“I have a good idea about what I have been doing and I am going to make some changes and take a little different approach to the race this weekend and hopefully it pays off,” he said.
