Subscibe to our feedShort Track Rhythm
For most fans, watching Jimmie Johnson drive a race car is a lot like watching the professionals on “Dancing with the Stars” – smooth, elegant, dashing moves with great rhythm.
Many drivers would be happy with Johnson’s average finish at Bristol of 17.3. Not Johnson and Team 48. They would like their performance at Bristol to look more like that of Martinsville, where his average finish of 5.7 includes five wins and 13 straight top 10s.
“Of the short tracks, Bristol is the one I just cannot find the rhythm,’’ Johnson said. “Martinsville came for me early and it’s been good for me. There’s just a rhythm with the braking, the way you turn the car and how you try to control the car through the center of the corner, and then how you use the throttle to hook up all the horsepower we have with the heavy car and the small tire. There’s a delicate touch you have to have with the throttle to get off the corners right.’’
That tempo on the Tennessee track is what separates Johnson from teammate Jeff Gordon.
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We just don’t have it there,’’ Johnson said. “I don’t know why. The thing that frustrates it even more is [teammate Jeff Gordon] will go out there and sit on the pole, run well and race for the win. You know it’s the same equipment. I’m sitting back there in 20th and can’t get out of my own way.
“Shoot, we can’t try any harder on Bristol,’’ Johnson said. “I ran the Truck race [last year]. When we could test I tested there numerous times. They changed the surface of the track. I was hopeful that would help me out. I still just stink there. That’s just how it is.’’
Stink might be too harsh. Johnson has six top 10s, including a third in 2004 when he led 20 laps. He started from the pole in the first race last season.
“We did struggle there at the beginning,’’ crew chief Chad Knaus said. “But if you look over the course of the last couple of years we’ve run in the top 10 and top five and just had weird things happen to us. There was one race we almost won, but we got run into on the backstretch under caution.
“The fall race we ran in the top five all day long and had a flat tire. We haven’t had the finishes we need there, but our performance there has grown tremendously.’’
Johnson doesn’t really have a set strategy for the short tracks. Martinsville he typically runs well right off the truck. Bristol he sometimes needs 15 to 20 laps, maybe half a race, to get into a rhythm.
“For some guys, the first lap they run off the truck is the fastest lap they run all weekend,’’ Johnson said. “That’s not me. So I’m trying to work on showing up on that first lap being my best. If I can lay down that first lap in practice spot on with the tire rules we have, I can give better information to the team and we can qualify better.
“I see each time we go to the track I need less time to find my rhythm and give them good information on the car.’’
Johnson hoped the new car and new surface would benefit him at Bristol. He figured it was an opportunity to start over even with other teams searching for the right setup. But the four races on the new surface have still left the No. 48 team looking for the right combination of rhythm, handling and speed.
“Yeah, we’ve struggled there to find our rhythm,’’ car chief Ron Malec said. “It seems halfway through that race he gets pretty good. It’s just a matter of staying out of trouble until he gets the rhythm he needs.’’
Knaus isn’t concerned. He’s confident the team will figure out Bristol just as it has every other track. He likes the challenge.
“We’ll all sit down and look at what’s happened in past races there and how the car performed,” Knaus said. “We’ll look at what went wrong, and see what we can do to anticipate problems in this race and avoid them. If we can go in with a good game plan, hopefully the team will be able to establish the rhythm it needs in that very first practice.”
Winning Bristol is one of Johnson’s goals this season. He’d also like to knock Michigan, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Homestead and Chicagoland off the list of tracks he hasn’t conquered.
But none of them require rhythm like Bristol.
“It’s something that is important to me,’’ he said. “At every track I develop some good feelings with it because I find some good rhythm. I just can’t find a good rhythm at that place.’’
But by Sunday afternoon of the Bristol race, Johnson hopes to be dancing in Victory Lane.