What's the Secret behind Jimmie Johnson's Success?

A little food for thought this morning:  Why has Jimmie Johnson been so successful in Sprint Cup?  Currently, he's won three consecutive championships, plus a ton of races, at this time, 40 wins since he drove his first Cup race in 2001.  Out of 258 total Cup starts, Johnson has finished in the top 5 101 times, and 157 times in the top 10.  Jimmie has also won 19 poles in his Cup career so far.

Jimmie Johnson has never finished higher than 5th in points for any season since he began running full time in the Cup series in 2002.  Twice he finished 2nd in points, and of course, he's also finished first for the last three seasons.  To say the obvious, basically no one has enjoyed as much success in the Cup series in such a short time, at least not in a long time.  Kyle Busch is a hot driver, and he may eventually eclipse Jimmie Johnson, but so far, Jimmie has to be considered a top driver in the series since 2002.

It's often reported, and repeated by members of the various teams at Hendrick Motorsports, that all the teams share information and technology.  That may or may not be absolutely true.  One factor that comes into play is the fact that the registered owner of Jimmie Johnson's 48 Lowe's Chevrolet is not Rick Hendrick, but Jeff Gordon.  Now I'm certainly not an insider in NASCAR circles, which means I have no special intelligence or information regarding exactly how information is shared at Hendrick Motorsports.  There is an old saying, I think that can be attributed to George Orwell, which states that some pigs are more equal than others.  I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that Jimmie Johnson is a little more equal than some of the other drivers on his team.

That's not to say that Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, and by proxy, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman are being short changed, but with crew chief Chad Knaus calling the shots, I'm pretty sure that Jimmie Johnson can rest assured that he is driving the very best equipment available, every single race.  And why not?  The man has won 3 Cup championships for Hendrick Motorsports.  Jimmie Johnson is obviously a talented driver, because great equipment or not, a poor driver could not achieve all that Jimmie has.

Jimmie Johnson is not my favorite driver.  If I based my loyalty to drivers on statistics alone, he probably would be, but that's not what I do, and I hazard to guess, neither do you.  We see little in the way of personality when Jimmie is interviewed.  He has broken out of the robot mold a little this season, sporting a beard, which surprised me.  Most Hendrick drivers are always clean shaven, even during practice, with the obvious exception being Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Personally, I find Jimmie Johnson to be a likable guy, if not particularly interesting.  He's a made for TV kind of driver, always thanking his sponsors and team, and rarely saying anything that can be construed as controversial.  In other words, he's a sponsor's and owner's dream driver.  He goes about his business quietly, and so far, has been racking up wins and championships.

Like him or not, Jimmie Johnson is an impressive driver on the track.  I know there will be knocks on Cheater Chad because I'm saying this, and there is some value to those opinions.  It could be said that Jimmie had 'special' equipment back in 2006, or even 2007.  The Car of Tomorrow rules more or less even the playing field these days though.  Though Jimmie has not won a race so far in 2009, he's still been a factor in most of the races run so far.  

God willing, Jimmie Johnson will be around for a long time.  He's not my favorite driver, but I can't help but admire his accomplishments.

Photo courtesy of Cox News.

Last Night, All Heck Broke Loose!

Oh, you thought I was talking about the race?  Oh, Ok.  I suppose all heck did break loose during the race.  Not that I got to watch much of it.  I was without power most of the night.

All I can say is Congratulations to Kyle Busch for winning at his home town track of Las Vegas.  This guy is just getting better and better all the time, and might be one of the best drivers that NASCAR has ever seen.  If there's not a major fan club out there for Kyle yet, note to entrepreneurs, start one.  This dude is going to be big before it's over.

My power went out, which of course means the TV went out at about 7 or so last night.  I didn't get to see much of the race, but I listened to the end of it on my GE Super Radio, with batteries installed.  MRN - The Motor Racing Network, does a great job in a pinch.  It's not like seeing the race, but it's probably the next best thing when you're sitting in the cold, 24 degrees as of this morning, and literally sweating it out.

We had about 5 inches of snow here in the Upstate area of South Carolina last night.  I know, most of you folks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, and other states scoff at that.  In SC, this is a pretty major deal though.  Tree limbs fall, power goes out, and we're left with no NASCAR on FOX, or any other channel for that matter.  For a NASCAR fan, that's like being left at the alter.

I do read that though overcoming yet another embarrassing pit stop deal, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to finish 10th last night.  I'm glad to see that, and now that this puts Dale Jr. solidly in the top 35 in points, and hopefully some of the rumors about him not making races will cease.  I find it funny to read that stuff like I've read in the last 4 or 5 days saying that Rick Hendrick called Jr. into the office last Monday and told him to get a top 10 at Vegas or turn in his helmet.  I'm afraid that some of the people that were repeating this rumor believed it.  You anti Junior people, please, try to come up with something a little more believable than that that bag of crap.

Finally, this week we're off to Atlanta, one of my favorite tracks in the world.  If you haven't been to Atlanta, and can get there, believe me, it's a great experience.  There is no such thing as a bad seat at Atlanta, and you will definitely get your money's worth if you go to the track.

Will what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas?

What a mess the Nationwide race was yesterday.  I mean, it was fun to watch, but so many wrecked cars, and so few reasons for them.

It appeared that some cars could get maybe 2 feet out of the groove, and they just wrecked.  It's that simple.  Some cars could run high and did OK, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Go Daddy 5 Chevrolet.  Others that put even one tire outside the middle groove of the track were sent into an immediate spin, and all heck broke loose behind them.  Based on the Nationwide race on Saturday, Sunday's Cup race should be very interesting indeed.

On Saturday, Kevin Harvick was driving his own car, the 33 Rheem KHI Chevrolet.  He got caught up in a wreck when the 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet of Jeff Burton, owned by Richard Childress, spun in front of him.  Kevin had a few choice words for Jeff on the radio.  Today, they are teammates, both driving Richard Childress Chevrolets.  I doubt that any angst from yesterday will carry over to today, but Kevin was obviously not happy with his RCR teammate yesterday.  Kevin eventually got his car back onto the track, but basically was just trying to run NASCAR's minimum speed, sticking to the apron of the track for the most part.

I don't know what's going to happen today.  I have a feeling it's going to be ugly, like a Las Vegas bar brawl on wheels.  There are some drivers that desperately need good finishes, and obviously Matt Kenseth wants to go 3 for 3.  Dale Jr.'s trying to climb his way out of the top 35 doldrums.  Several Toyotas, including the 18 of Kyle Busch will be starting from the back, so the 18 will be passing a lot of cars today.  How cleanly he passes some of those cars will probably be somewhat of a story today.  Kyle is a great race car driver, but he's not known for having an excess of patience.

Today's race, by most indications, should be much more entertaining than the yawner known as California was last weekend.

Some California Results

Racing off pit road was about all the major racing there was.  Congratulations to Matt Kenseth for his 3rd California win, and his second in a row for the 2009 season.

Bad luck for Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who all lost engines in the race.  Especially bad for Kevin, who had the longest streak of no DNF's in the modern era going.  I suppose all streaks must end, eventually, but it's disappointing to see Kevin lose an engine when he obviously had a pretty strong car all day.  Dale Jr. also had a strong run until his engine let go, driving from 43rd to 13th at one point in the race before engine problems sent him to the garage.

Matt Kenseth is obviously now the driver to beat in the Cup series now, starting the season 2 and 0.  Showing a lot of promise also is the 24 of Jeff Gordon, who came in second tonight.

I suppose some of the biggest news of the night is that Kyle Busch didn't complete the sweep, winning not only the Camping World Truck race, but also the Nationwide race on Saturday.  That feat alone set a record, winning two major NASCAR series races in one day, but Kyle didn't complete the trifecta, winning all three major NASCAR races in a weekend.  Give him some time though, he's still a young man.  Finishing 3rd in the Cup race was a pretty good run for Kyle Busch.

What I wonder though, is how long can Kyle Busch keep burning both ends of the candle, as well as the middle?  3 races in a weekend, at least when they run all three races at the same track is a grueling schedule for any driver of any age.  Kyle does it regularly, and I applaud him for that, but I have to wonder if the schedule from yesterday didn't take a toll on his performance today.  I'm guessing not, because Kyle seems to have an inexhaustible supply of energy, which is normal for a man his age.  I just wonder how long he'll keep that kind of schedule up though.

A Little bit of a Format Change here

Obviously.  I was just getting a little tired of the old look.  I don't know if it will stay this way, and I'll probably be tweaking it over the coming weeks.

Once again, NASCAR is feeling the curse, or maybe blessing of rain, this time at the Auto Club Speedway in California.  It's a little past half way, and there's been some racing tonight, but not a great deal.  I suppose that's about par for the course at Fontana.

Now 3 of the Hendrick cars appear to have engine problems at the same time, so or at least 2 of them.  Fox TV is reporting that the 88 of Earnhardt Jr. and the 5 of Martin appears to be down a cylinder.  It appears that the 48 of Johnson is jumping out of gear.  I wonder what's going through Jeff Gordon's mind right now?

My biggest complaint with the California races is purely selfish.  I live on the east coast, so the race didn't even start here until sometime around 7:00 pm, local time.  I wouldn't mind it so much on a Saturday night, but it's Sunday, and I've got things to do tomorrow, all of which involve paying the bills.  Life was so much simpler when it was Rockingham in February, instead of Fontana.  But like I said, it's probably selfish on my part.  I hope the west coast fans enjoy the race!  I really do.

I'm still wishing that the race was at Rockingham though.

Conversations Overheard at the Waffle House

For those of you who don't have a Waffle House nearby, I feel sorry for you.  I happen to have one nearby and ate dinner there tonight.

While I was eating dinner, an older gentleman came in and sat next to me at the counter.  It was rather crowded, so that's not unusual.  The gentleman was talking on his Blackberry cell phone the entire time he was there.  Apparently he was traveling through the area, and was talking to his teen aged son, who apparently lives with his estranged wife.  This man was apparently trying to push on down the road tonight, driving all night, to go see his son in Louisiana.  I live in South Carolina, for those of you who don't know, so this man had a long drive ahead of him.  I heard him mention that he had not seen his son in almost 2 months.  Part of that time, his estranged wife was on the phone with him.  She apparently said that because he was out traveling all the time, it's his own fault that he hasn't seen his son in so long.  Obviously, I don't know all the details involved here, but what I listened to was a sad story.  By the time I left, the gentleman was in tears, his face wet, and his voice hot with emotion.  This gentleman apparently had taken a job that puts him on the road about 95 per cent of the time, far away from his home and loved ones.

I'm alone most of the time these days.  I lost a very dear friend and companion back in July of last year.  I don't mind being alone, but since I am alone most of the time, it's amazing what you overhear at places like the Waffle House.  

Tonight, on the other side of me, I listened to a conversation between a young couple, apparently engaged to be married.  The young man had just been laid off from his job, and now the wedding plans were on hold.  The lady was very distressed, as many young ladies are likely to be when the wedding of their dreams gets put on hold.

I left the Waffle House tonight full of food, but quite frankly sad.  I had a couple of tears in my eyes when I walked out the door.  I consider myself one of the lucky ones.  I'm going to begin a new job next week that quite frankly is well below my skill set, but I'm still anxious to have.  We all have bills to pay, we all have obligations to fulfill, and this job will help me to do what I need to do to survive right now.  I'll still be here, of course, and on my new site, JCNN as well.  

Be thankful for what you have, if you have anything.  Don't ever take it for granted.  As some say, the good Lord gives you things, and the good Lord can surely take them away in a big hurry.  If you have family, friends, people who are willing to look out for you, take a little time and thank God for them.

I'm lucky enough to have those things.  I hope you do too.  If you have them, or whatever you have, take time to be thankful for them.

Please, from one friend to another, never, ever, take anything in your life for granted.  Thank whomever you pray to for what's good in your life.

Thank you. All of you!

I don't say it nearly enough, but thank you for reading.  I'd like to thank you in Ithaca, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, Virginia Beach, Virginia, The Dominican Republic, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, New York, NY, Zurich, Switzerland, Las Vegas, Nevada, Mexico, Tampa, Florida, Greensboro, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Frankfort, Kentucky, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Chicago, Illinois, Cazenovia, New York, Detroit, Michigan, Wilmington, North Carolina, Scottsdale, Arizona, Meridian, Mississippi, Dallas Texas, Knoxville, Tennessee, Santa Clara, California, Warminster, Pennsylvania, Coolidge, Arizona, Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

That's just page one of my stats out of about 24.  Thank each and every one of you.  It's a new season, and I'm probably going to write way more than I should, but I'm going to do it anyway, since I have such nice readers like you.

Once again, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.