Jimmie Johnson gets that winning feeling again
— -- CONCORD, N.C. -- So many drivers would have loved to have had? Jimmie Johnson's problems this summer.
A losing streak? Didn't he win two races earlier in the year? Doesn't he have 77 for his Sprint Cup career? Oh, and there are those six Sprint Cup championship trophies. So what is there to complain about?
But Johnson, when asked about having a win fall out of his grasp a week ago at Dover thanks to a pit road penalty, didn't hesitate to react to the fact that his career-long winless streak had stretched to 24 races.
"It's been a long summer, there's no doubt," Johnson said after Dover. "Leading laps [in recent weeks] certainly helps and takes the sting off of the long summer, but I'd really like to get to Victory Lane soon."
"Soon" ended up being seven days, as Johnson captured the Bank of America 500, a race rescheduled thanks to Hurricane Matthew from Saturday night to a Johnson-favorable day race Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Johnson's victory was a relief to not only himself but the entire Hendrick organization. No Hendrick driver had won a race since Johnson won his second of the season March 20 at Auto Club Speedway in California in the fifth race of 2016. Even for a driver with six big trophies and millions in winnings, the losing stunk.
He could have looked at his six Cup trophies and relish in the years when he dominated, the years when he was the driver to beat, instead of the quintet of Toyotas from Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing. Instead, he grew quiet, as he often does when frustrated, and the last win seemed like an eternity ago.
"The past is the past," Johnson said. "You know, I've always raced for the experience I've had in the car. It hasn't been about stats or the previous trophies that I've won or what's really ahead of me.
"There's an experience that I have in the car that I chase and I love: the community that's created on a race team, the bond and friendship that you have."
In the first 21 races after that California win, Johnson had led just 95 laps, posted a meager seven top-10 finishes and had an average finish of 17.4. In the past three events, he has led 363 laps -- including 155 in Sunday's victory.
In some ways, it would seem silly to fret over that slump. He had made NASCAR's version of the playoffs. He had two wins this year. Only eight drivers can say they have had that many.
"It's easy to get down and out," Johnson said. "You're only as good as your last race, and this summer was really hard on us."
It's not like his Hendrick Motorsports teammates were winning. Chase Elliott came close a couple of times.? Kasey Kahne was completely out to lunch until rattling off five top-10 finishes in the last six races. The No. 88 car -- the one that shares shop space with Johnson -- has had three drivers, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out with a concussion.
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and young driver Alex Bowman have shared driving duties for Earnhardt, and Gordon being in the car played a critical role in Johnson's victory on Sunday. His feedback helped the organization look at some of its issues in a different way, and the team has debuted some new cars in the past month that have implemented those suggestions.
"Having Jeff Gordon in the car has really opened up our eyes to a different side of Jeff that's helped us," said crew chief Chad Knaus, who didn't work as closely with Gordon when Gordon drove the No. 24 car, which is housed with the No. 5 car at the HMS complex. "Jeff gives great feedback, as does Alex, and it's been interesting to hear what they say.
"It's kind of like when you hear the same thing over and over and over again, but then somebody else tells you the same thing, your ears kind of perk up a little bit."
Charlotte was a natural place for Johnson to snap his skid. He broke a 19-race winless streak at the track in 2003. His eight wins at the 1.5-mile track are more than any driver, but five of those victories came in a six-race stretch from 2003-05.
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