Subscibe to our feedFLOOR IT FOR FOUR: Team 48 Wants One More
Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus weren’t in a good mood. They were coming off what team owner Rick Hendrick called the worst performance in the No. 48 team’s seven-year history, a 29th-place showing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that left them 14th in points and 127 out of first only three races into the 2008 season.
They were embarrassed. Frustrated.
They weren’t accustomed to getting lapped once, much less twice. They wanted to get back to the Hendrick Motorsports campus in Concord, N.C., to figure out why they were 1.5 to 2 seconds off the pace and what needed to happen to make a run at a third straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
Instead, they were headed to a huge white tent outside Turn 2 to speak to 3,000 Lowe’s employees, a group that included Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock along with every store manager from the company.
“It was real tough,’’ Knaus recalled. “Unfortunately, I was the first one introduced. As I walked up there . . . I was greeted with cheers and yells and screams. The first thing I said was, ‘I hope you guys aren’t mad at me.’
“They all screamed, ‘No! No!’ I knew then we had to turn our season around, not only for us but for them, too.’’
From Vegas to Victory
Eight months later, Johnson walked onto the Waldorf-Astoria stage in New York City to be honored as only the second driver in the sport’s 60-year history to win three straight championships.
He was greeted by childhood hero Cale Yarborough, who pulled the “three-peat” 30 years ago.
Despite a light-hearted request by Yarborough to skip a year before winning his fourth title, there was nothing in Johnson’s speech or demeanor to suggest he won’t put the same effort into next season.
“I’m in a place right now where I feel I’m finally good at what I’m doing,’’ Johnson said. “I enjoy that. I want to stay good at it. Now I’m in a spot where I’ve done it and I’m very proud of all of those good things, but we’re doing something special.
“Let’s stay motivated. Let’s keep this focus and see how far we can take it.’’
Knaus, the first crew chief to win three straight titles, agreed.
“ Yeah, we want four. Why not?’’ he said. “That’s why we’re here. We think with the team that we’ve got, the resources that we’ve got with Hendrick Motorsports and Team Chevrolet behind us, we can definitely go and bid for four championships in a row.
“Why wouldn’t we? Give me a reason why not to. I think that’s the mentality we’ve got to have.’’
Is the Fourth in Their Future?
There’s no reason to think the No. 48 team can’t four-peat. Since Johnson entered Cup full-time in 2002 he’s never finished outside of the top five in points. He’s won 40 races, more than any other driver during that span, averaging a win every 6.8 races.
“I’m just glad I don’t have to race against him,’’ Hendrick said.
Most would argue there are no limits for Johnson’s team. Knaus spent the off- season working with engineers to learn more about simulation and other computer-related tools that will replace testing since NASCAR has banned it in an effort to help the organizations save money..
He’s doing everything he can to better understand the new car that frustrates him because of the small box NASCAR put everyone in as far as making improvements.
“There are a lot of things that I’ll be working on to make myself a little more efficient to make sure I make the proper decisions,’’ Knaus said. “I’m not the smartest guy in the garage, but I surround myself with very, very smart people. I feel I get smarter through osmosis.’’
Knaus and Johnson are smart enough to know you don’t get better by standing still. That’s why they tested almost every week after the Las Vegas fiasco, often canceling vacations or family activities to make it happen.
“In a competitive environment to stay the same is to regress,’’ Knaus said. “Those are the cold, hard facts. If you don’t always try to get better, you’re done. If you’re not trying to get better, you’re probably burned out and tired. I haven’t reached that.’’
No one on the team has. That’s why motivation hasn’t been a problem since Hendrick had a heart-to-heart -- as well as milk and cookies to make an example -- with Knaus and Johnson to alleviate any tension between them during the 2005 season.
“I would say being full of myself and overconfident is not something that comes along with me,’’ Johnson said. “As I think back to the media conference that we had before Daytona last year, we said we were tied for 43rd. We really made a conscious effort last year to say, ‘Just because we won last year doesn’t mean anything for ‘08.’
“We’ll go through that same stuff. We will not be overconfident. We’ll just have to do our job. I feel where we’re all at if we do our jobs right, we can be a champion again.’’
Hungry for Another Championship
Gary Johnson said his son was just as hungry to win now as when he was racing motorcycles and trucks.
“He’s still the same Jimmie,’’ he said. “He’s just got fancier cars now.’’
Motivation is the least of Knaus’ concerns.
“Our team is compiled with a bunch of competitors,’’ he said. “If you got the 20 people that go to the racetrack for the Lowe’s team together in one room and said, ‘OK, we’re going to have a Pinewood Derby car race and you guys have to make your cars right now,’ you would see 20 guys working harder than you’ve ever seen in your life.
“And the reason is they’re competitors. What they want to do is win. That’s all there is to it. They’re just winners.’’
Hendrick recalled one week when Johnson got up at 5:30 a.m. for several days to fly from Key West to a test and back in the early evening to be with a house full of guests.
“The dedication they have to excellence and not taking anything for granted [is unbelievable],’’ he said.
Johnson remembered seeing Knaus work on plans for the 2009 Daytona 500 in the middle of the Chase at Texas.
“It’s what you have to do to stay ahead in this sport,’’ he said.
Johnson didn’t grasp the full appreciation for what he and his team accomplished in 2008 until he ran into a few icons from other sports at the ESPN complex in Bristol, Conn., a few days after capturing the championship.
First there was Mike Ditka, the NFL Hall of Fame player and coaching legend with the Chicago Bears.
“I introduced myself to him and he said, ‘I know who you are, champ. And by the way, you are a dynasty,’ ’’ Johnson said. “It just shocked me that he had been paying attention to NASCAR and seeing comments where I’ve mentioned I couldn’t say where I placed [in history].’’
Later in the day, the 33-year-old driver from El Cajon, Calif., ran into Cris Carter, one of the NFL’s all-time great wide receivers.
“He walked up to me and said, ‘I don’t really follow NASCAR, but winning three titles in anything, in a row, deserves a lot of respect,’ ’’ Johnson said. “So when people like that notice what we have done and compare us to other teams in sports history, that’s special.’’
The accomplishment was, indeed, special. It has drawn comparisons to the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers, the 1995-1998 and 1990-1993 Chicago Bulls, the 1998-2000 New York Yankees and 1972-74 Oakland Athletics, all teams that won three consecutive titles.
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, co-owner of Johnson’s car, argued this was the No. 48 team’s most impressive title because of how far off it was early in the season. He gets little argument from Johnson and Knaus.
“I knew we could do it,’’ Knaus said. “It was just a matter of doing it. It’s just finding the ingredients and putting things where they needed to be to make it happen.’’
Still, Johnson believes the best to happen may be ahead.
“A fourth is possible,’’ he said. “T hat same fire and desire and mindset, all of that is still the same it’s ever been. I don’t feel like I’m at a point in my career where ‘I’ve done this, now what’s next for Jimmie Johnson?’
“I’m still head down. I’m looking ahead to more years of driving. I don’t want to flop around out there. I want to be in that car and win races.’’