Overlooked Jimmie Johnson lurks ahead of initial Sprint Cup Chase race

Reid Spencer

Overlooked Jimmie Johnson lurks ahead of initial Sprint Cup Chase race image

JOLIET, Ill. — If you're looking for a driver with momentum entering the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, you're probably not seeing Jimmie Johnson.

The only driver to have qualified for every Chase since the inception of NASCAR's playoff format in 2004, Johnson is seeking his seventh Sprint Cup title. But no one, it seems, is talking about the prospect of a record-tying championship.

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That's because, statistically speaking, Johnson is having his least productive season at NASCAR's highest level.

Consider the following numbers.

— With 10 top 10s through 26 races, Johnson will have to finish in the top 10 in each of the Chase races to match his lowest career total of 20 in a season (2003 and 2014).

— With 266 laps led so far this year (and only 51 since the ninth race of the season at Richmond), Johnson is on pace for a career low in that category; in 2005 he led 547 laps.

— Johnson has two victories, none since the season's fifth race, at Fontana. Only once before, in 2011, has Johnson won as few as two races in a season.

— His average finish of 15.3 is tied for a career worst established in 2014.

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So why was Johnson smiling when he fielded questions from reporters during Thursday's Chase kickoff promotion in Chicago?
    
Perhaps because the Chase is about to start. Perhaps because the 10 Chase tracks fall right into the No. 48 team's wheelhouse. And perhaps because Johnson has won six of the past 10 Sprint Cup Chase competitions.

Nevertheless, Johnson doesn't enjoy his position as a handicapper's also-ran.

"Hell, I'd rather be dominating and be on top and be the top pick," he said. "I don't like where we're at. We're working hard. There's a lot of optimism and a lot of great things happening. We just need to deliver consistently and execute at the track. "The way that the Chase works, if we can run in the top five and stay alive and make it to Homestead, you know, we do have some time to sort things out and get back to where we need to be."

Staying alive until Homestead was a problem in the first two years of the Chase's elimination format. Johnson made it to the second round in 2014 before exiting after Talladega. Last year, a mechanical failure knocked him out in the first round at Dover — one of his best two tracks.

Though listeners to the team radio have often noted a palpable tension between the driver and crew chief Chad Knaus, Johnson says his relationship with Knaus isn't the problem in and of itself.

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"It's a frustrating journey when you're off," Johnson said. "When you're on, it's easy, practically. If we were being outrun by our teammates week in and week out, we weren't the lead car at Hendrick, we'd probably have to look real hard at the relationship between me and Chad.

"But with that not being the case, we're just frustrated. The things that are seen and heard, the unhappiness is due to the competitive spirit in both of us. We don't want to roll over. We don't want to be in the position we're in. I guess that's where that frustration comes from."

Even though Johnson doesn't enter this Chase as a favorite, however, it would be a mistake to count him out.

"You can't ever discount him and Chad Knaus and what they've been able to accomplish in this sport over the last decade," defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch said. "So that's why you always put them in there."

It's the Chase, after all, and of the 120 Chase races held so far, Johnson has won 26. No other driver is within light years of that total.

And, oh, by the way, the fastest car in Friday's hour-long practice session was driven by Johnson, at 183.780 mph. In Saturday's first practice, Johnson clocked in at 183.861. And in Saturday's final practice, Johnson had the fastest 10-lap average speed at 179.687.

— Reid Spencer writes for the NASCAR Wire Service.

Reid Spencer