Kenny Bruce: Just another day at the office for the great Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson celebrates his victory in the Food City 500 at Bristol. It was the 50th of his stellar Cup career. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
COMMENTARY
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Jimmie Johnson finally wins at Bristol and it’s just another day at the office for the four-time Sprint Cup champion.
Only this time, it wasn’t one of those crushing, check-you-later performances. It was more of a lurking-in-the-background, we’ll-be-there-when-it-counts efforts.
Fifty career wins? Already? Seems like just the other day that the kid from El Cajon, Calif. couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn … no, wait, check that. Johnson’s been “a contendah!” from the get-go.
He might not have won a single Cup race in 2001, but come on, the guy only made three starts that year. Given his talent, and the level of talent on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, one now has to wonder what went so terribly wrong in ’01? Oh-for-three? Stop the presses. This guy can’t drive.
This year’s third win, which came in the Food City 500, “matches” what can only be described as his worst seasons in Cup. He won three times in 2002 and finished a lowly fifth in points; three times again the next season but squeaked out a runnerup finish in the championship battle.
So this is what it’s come down to: We now categorize “bad” seasons by this soon-to-be-legendary driver as those in which the team only wins thrice. Sorry, but the guy’s been so successful, we really don’t have anything else with which to compare it.
Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus haven’t raised the bar; they’ve created an entirely new game. And it’s called catch me if you can.
Maybe folks are tired of hearing about Johnson’s other-worldly accomplishments. Maybe they’re tired of reading about it, seeing it live or watching it unfold on the television screen.
Well? There doesn’t seem to be too much anyone can do about that. How about beating him? That would seem to be the perfect place to start.
Four championship rings. Fifty wins. He’s only 34 years old. In canine years, geez, that’s what? Four years old?
And yet the guy isn’t lauded as anything special. His team isn’t seen as anything special. When they win, there are those who call it luck. When he struggles, there are those who cheer.
So what’s a guy gotta do to earn a little respect? Car owner Rick Hendrick says he doesn’t know.
“If you look at the stats and you look at the talent and you look at the dedication …. Just look at his record,” Hendrick said after popping the cork on another victory celebration. “I don’t understand why it’s not written now he’s one of the best that’s ever done this.
“You look at [teammate] Jeff [Gordon], and I’ve been around for a long time; I’ve watched a lot of guys – from Richard Petty on up to current day. When you look at the level of competition since [Jimmie’s] been in the sport, what he’s accomplished, I mean, I don’t know what he’s got to do.”
Johnson isn’t losing any sleep over it. He’s got thick skin. Paint him as the devil and he’ll still manage to survive.
“I think it’s awesome,” he says of the “anyone but the 48” catcalls. “I’ve watched from afar before I was in the sport [and] people would say, ‘Anyone but the 3.’ ‘Anybody but the 24.’
“I’m awfully proud to be in that category where they’re saying ‘Anybody but the 48.’ I think it’s awesome.”
The 3 being that of Dale Earnhardt, of course, and the 24 a reference to Gordon, his mentor and fellow four-time champion.
Nice company, those two.
