Letarte on how Johnson ‘redefined the era’

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | December 12, 2022 1:23 PM ET

This is the first of a series of stories reflecting on Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR success from those who competed against him or with him at Hendrick Motorsports. Ironically, this project was planned before Johnson announced he was returning to stock car racing on a limited basis with an ownership stake in Petty GMS but now seems all the timelier as a reminder of how good the seven-time champion was.

Steve Letarte’s response is humorous, but it comes to mind when asked to recall what it was like to try and beat Jimmie Johnson with the same equipment at Hendrick Motorsports.

“I jokingly tell him every time I see him that he forced me to work in television,” says Letarte, who has been an NBC Sports analyst since 2015 after leaving Hendrick Motorsports. “I think about golf because I’m a big golf fan. Think about Phil Mickelson. As great of a career as he had, what could it have been? What could it have been without Tiger Woods taking every air out of it?

“Well, go back to Jimmie Johnson and look at who ran second to him in all his championships. It’s like a who’s who.”

 

For Letarte, drivers who finished second or even third to Johnson is a Hall of Fame type list. The ones that were beaten repeatedly by Johnson are just as impressive as what Johnson was doing.

Letarte would know because he’s on that list. Working with Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion, the pair finished second to Johnson in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings in 2007 after a furious battle in the season’s final weeks. They finished third to Johnson in 2009 when Johnson picked up his fourth consecutive championship.

“It seems very easy to take any sports figure and find a stat that argues the alternative, but there are a few that break through that, and you just can’t get to,” Letarte says. “The Michael Jordans, perhaps Kobe or Tiger. Jimmie Johnson is kind of that guy in NASCAR. I challenge any stat person to find anything factual to try to break down what he built up. Man, it’s hard to do.”

In his nine full years as a crew chief – 2006 through 2014 – Letarte accomplished plenty, first working with Gordon and then Dale Earnhardt Jr. While his drivers never beat Johnson for a championship, Letarte won 15 races, including a Daytona 500 in his final season.

Not only was Letarte a Hendrick teammate, but he was housed in the same building as Johnson’s No. 48 team and worked very closely with Johnson’s longtime crew chief Chad Knaus.

Gordon made it clear during his Hall of Fame career that Johnson was his biggest rival and never shied away from those wondering how many more championships he’d have won if not for Johnson. In 2010, the Gordon/Johnson rivalry played out publicly when notably at Texas in the spring, Gordon said Johnson was “testing my patience” after a move Gordon didn’t like on the racetrack.
Texas in Spring 2010 was a tense time for Johnson (left) and Gordon (right). Motorsport Images

At the same track later that year, after Gordon wrecked out, Knaus swapped out Johnson’s pit crew with Gordon’s. Gordon and Letarte finished ninth in the championship standings, while Johnson won his fifth straight.

 

Of his 15 wins, only three came with Letarte and his driver getting the better of Johnson. There were both events at Talladega Superspeedway in 2007 with Gordon and then at Texas in 2009, also with Gordon.

On the other hand, Letarte was second to Johnson in a race finish four times with Gordon (2004 Charlotte; 2007 Las Vegas and Martinsville; 2009 Fontana) and once with Earnhardt Jr. (2016 Atlanta).

Letarte lightly chuckles and says, “it’s funny,” thinking about Johnson.

“I was at Hendrick Motorsports long before Jimmie got there, and when Jeff Gordon got us together in a room and talked about him bringing Jimmie on board, no one in that room that I know of had any idea how unbelievable that driver was going to be,” Letarte says. “He just hasn’t shown anything that I saw in the Xfinity [series] races on Saturday that made him be this sought-after talent. But Jeff was in a race with him, and it was so clear to him how talented [Johnson] was. It was just one more example of how the drivers on the racetrack see so much more than us.

“Then Jimmie came in and it became clear right away how unbelievably talented he was and how driven he was. And much like everyone, I feel like Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. set the standard, and then Jeff Gordon changed the approach, I think Jimmie Johnson came in and changed the approach again and he kind of redefined the era of the sport.”

Johnson’s work ethic and how that translated to his success came up repeatedly in interviews for this project. Being a teammate, Letarte was one of those who got to see it firsthand.

Letarte mentions a test at Homestead-Miami Speedway but doesn’t recall the year. He was still the crew chief for Gordon and says it was during the continual battle the two teams were having.

“I’ll never forget, the team met at, say, 6 or 6:30 to go to the racetrack at 7, and when we pulled out of the hotel to go to the racetrack, Jimmie Johnson was jogging back into the parking lot from his morning run,” Letarte says. “It wasn’t intentional, he was just out for a run, but there is no way as a competitor you don’t see that and think to yourself, like, holy crap, what are we up against?

“He balanced [things] on and off the racetrack. He balanced his emotions with Chad. He balanced his friendships in the garage with his competitors. He found a way to be successful and it’s so easy to look back and look at the track lineup and how it was this way and that way, but the simple fact is, there are so many ways for things to go wrong. There are so many mechanical gremlins, flat tires, bad pit calls, bad restarts, and mistakes by a driver.
Letarte (right) worked alongside Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus (left) for a number of years. Motorsport Images

“To avoid those for such a span of time and be a champion year after year after year, I don’t think I appreciated it enough when I was trying to beat him, sharing a building with him and Chad, but the farther and farther we get away from those accomplishments, just the more mind-boggling it really is.”

 

There is no easy answer for why Johnson was as good as he was for so long. It was a combination of everything that came together perfectly. Letarte believes something he’s learned about life is the things people love the most or what’s captivating are what can’t be reproduced or perfected into one recipe to use over and over.

“You can’t recreate moments,” Letarte says. “Movies are great, but there’s a script. Reality TV has a script. But not live sports. Live sports are this last leg of a true living, breathing thing. It touches people at a level of connection that most things can’t, and it can be both ways. When your team isn’t winning, it’s the most heartbreaking thing in the world, and when your team is winning, it’s the most jubilation you can ever experience.

“That goes even more when you get to see the person himself doing it. Johnson was in a zone – we talk about the zone – his zone lasted years. His zone wasn’t a good half of football or nine holes of golf. It was years.

“It’s kind of like Tiger Woods; when you go back and bring his stats up, you almost don’t believe they’re real. You don’t believe how many weeks he could have been No. 1. And I think that’s Jimmie Johnson.

“The farther and farther we get away from Jimmie Johnson’s career, the more and more and more we should be impressed with what he’s accomplished.”

 

Racer to Racer: Tony Stewart on Jimmie Johnson

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | December 21, 2022 11:58 AM ET

Tony Stewart will offer the same sentiment whenever he’s asked about Jimmie Johnson. It’s one that he’s even told his fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor and champion when they talk.

“I always remind him at the end of the conversation that when I grow up, I want to be him,” Stewart says.

Stewart competed against Johnson from late 2001, when Johnson made his first few starts in the Cup Series, through 2016. Stewart retired at the end of that season, and Johnson followed a few years later.

Between the two of them are 132 race wins and 10 championships. And after battling each other in hundreds of races, Stewart and Johnson hold each other in high regard.

“He’s just somebody that I really think a lot of, and it’s not only for what he’s done inside the race but outside the race car as well,” says Stewart. “He’s just a genuinely good person and somebody that I have a lot of admiration and respect for — and somebody that I feel is a true friend.”
Johnson nosed ahead of Stewart in 2006, but “Smoke” would also be the one to break the 48’s title streak five years later. Motorsport Images

During his Hall of Fame career, Stewart won three championships. Stewart won his second championship in 2005 and was the last driver for some time to hoist the sport’s biggest trophy as the following year, 2006, began Johnson’s and the No. 48 team’s reign of dominance. Ironically, it was Stewart, in 2011, who ended the streak.

Since Johnson arrived on the scene, many have tried to explain why he and his team were so good. The most straightforward answer is usually the correct one and Stewart agrees that it was all the ingredients: the team, the equipment, the crew chief, and the driver.

“But it wasn’t always easy for him and that team,” Stewart says. “The public thinks they were a well-oiled machine and flawless — there were chinks in the armor but especially Jimmie knew how to work through the rough edges of it to polish it and make it good, and make it to where he could get the most out of that race team every week.”

Johnson did have the advantage of driving for a championship organization and having Jeff Gordon as a mentor, but he also had the talent to make use of it. On the racetrack, drivers have a keen eye for what their fellow competitor is capable of and is doing with their car, whereas a viewer may not.

“He was just a machine,” Stewart says of Johnson’s talent. “You couldn’t rattle the guy. It didn’t matter what you did; he focused on what he was doing and didn’t care what you were doing around or behind him.

“If Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. was around during his era of championships, he would not have been able to rattle Jimmie Johnson. He just wouldn’t. Jimmie is just that solid. He had that much confidence, he had that much ability, and it wasn’t that he did anything special that others didn’t do, he just did it consistently over and over. Every week he could do it. And they had a package that could work, and they all showcased each others’ talents in that organization and race team.

“If you gave him the tools and a car that could run up front, you could bet your ass he was going to run up front. There was no doubt about it. I never saw him have an off day on the racetrack. He was just that focused and that much of a machine when it came to getting inside the race car and doing his job week in and week out.”

To say Johnson never had a bad day on the racetrack is high praise.

“It’s hard to do,” Stewart says.

After becoming a full-time driver in 2002, Johnson had a stretch of 16 consecutive years with two or more wins. During his 2007 championship run, Johnson scored 10 wins, including four straight races in the playoffs.

In his first 10 seasons, Johnson finished no worse than sixth in the championship standings. It wasn’t until 2019, his 18th season in the series, that Johnson missed the postseason for the first time.

Johnson’s prolonged success was as exciting for his fans to watch as it was frustrating for rivals — and their fans. But not for Stewart, who never found it aggravating trying to beat Johnson.

“They were the benchmark because they were so consistent,” he says of the 48 team. “It didn’t matter what car, format, they figured out the best way to win and that’s just how solid they were. The organization, the team, and their approach. Everything was that solid during his reign.”

Stewart and Johnson never went head-to-head for a championship, but they had plenty of on-track battles. The post-race paint swapping after the 2005 Daytona 500 led to both of them being called to the NASCAR hauler. Stewart got the best of Johnson by driving around him on the outside on a restart with three laps to go to win the 2011 fall Martinsville race.
The intensity of his duels with Johnson was both memorable and educational for Stewart — particularly at Martinsville, like here in 2011… Motorsport Images

On the other hand, Johnson credits Stewart with teaching him how to run well at Martinsville. It was early in Johnson’s career when Stewart lapped him at the Virginia short track, and Johnson could run behind Stewart and see why he was successful.

Through the years, the two developed a friendship that went beyond racing. Johnson paid tribute to Stewart in his final season with kind words and funny stories, with Stewart returning the favor when Johnson hung up his helmet a few years later.

And, speaking of helmets, the two will forever be connected by one in particular. In 2016, on the championship stage in Miami, Johnson handed Stewart the helmet he had just raced and won his seventh championship wearing.

“Oh God, yeah, absolutely,” Stewart says when asked if he still has the helmet. “I still tell Jimmie, I view that helmet that it’s on loan from him and I’ve always told him, ‘That helmet will never go anywhere.’ If there’s a day when he decides he wants it back, I’ll hand deliver it to him personally.

“That’s a significant helmet in the history of this sport and that’s something I cherish. The value of it isn’t because of what it is. It’s because of who it came from and the fact that it was a personal gift from him.”

 

‘He was never an ego guy’ - Brad Keselowski on Jimmie Johnson

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | December 28, 2022 2:00 PM ET

This is the fourth in a series of stories reflecting on Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR success from those who competed against him or with him at Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson has returned to the industry as a stakeholder in Petty GMS and will run select races in 2023.

Finding a Jimmie Johnson story in the NASCAR garage is not hard. Whether it’s about what it felt like to compete against him, appreciating the dynasty of Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, or the type of person Johnson is, most will have something to say.

• Racer to Racer: Tony Stewart on Jimmie Johnson

• Ron Malec and Mark Martin on what took Jimmie Johnson to the next level

• Letarte on how Johnson ‘redefined the era’

Brad Keselowski is no different, falling into the latter category.

“My No. 1 story for Jimmie is when I had a wreck at Road Atlanta in a test, and everyone else drove by but him; he stopped and helped,” Keselowski says. “He had a certain class to him in the sense of empathy. He was never an ego guy. I guess we all have our egos, but his ego, given his performance, was incredibly low, which I respected about him and still respect about him to this day.”

The 2011 crash — which Keselowski tweeted afterward was the result of a brake failure that sent him head-on into a wall without a SAFER barrier — left him with a broken left ankle. Four days later, Keselowski won at Pocono Raceway.

Keselowski was once a de facto teammate to Johnson when he ran for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. In 2008 when Keselowski made his first two starts in the Cup Series, he was driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Two years later, Keselowski was at Team Penske but struggled initially. When put into the No. 2 car, Keselowski became a contender and a new foe for Johnson. Keselowski won the 2012 championship, a year before Johnson took his sixth crown.

“What always impressed me the most — in retrospective — about Jimmie is just how cool and calm he always seemed,” says Keselowski. “In a lot of environments, surrounded by some people that could rile you up pretty quickly, and how he was always California cool. I have a great amount of respect for that because he found a way to deliver in some tough spots.”

Just once in his 35 wins did Keselowski finish directly ahead of Johnson in the finishing order. That was in 2012 at Chicagoland Speedway where Johnson actually led the most laps.

On the other hand, Keselowski has finished second to Johnson four times. Twice at Texas Motor Speedway (2012 and 2015), Dover Motor Speedway (2014), and Martinsville Speedway (2016).

The ’12 Texas race was one of their most memorable battles, coming late in the season as the two sat first and second in the championship hunt. Keselowski and Johnson swapped the lead multiple times in the last 10 laps, running each other hard side-by-side and sliding around the racetrack.
A hard but respectful duel at Texas for Johnson and Keselowski in 2012. Motorsport Images

In the ’15 race at Texas, Keselowski led the most laps (312) while Johnson led six laps. Johnson was already out of the championship hunt, and Keselowski ended up missing a spot in the Championship 4, which the victory would have clinched.

The two also had a big run-in at Kentucky Speedway in 2020. Keselowski turned Johnson on a restart, which he called unavoidable contact, but Johnson was none too pleased.

Although rivals, it was one of respect and hard racing. Keselowski and Johnson never had a big feud, and competing against Johnson was something Keselowski found both fun and aggravating.

“No doubt, both,” he says. “It was aspirational, for sure. I take a lot of pride in the success we had and looking back, I’m glad I got to compete with him.”

Despite competing against Johnson and the time spent around him, Keselowski can’t speak to the work ethic of the seven-time champion — a quality that others have said played a big part in Johnson’s success.

Keselowski has a more lighthearted view of things.

“I think Jimmie was really good at making people think he worked very hard,” Keselowski said. “Whether he did or not, I’m not sure because I never saw it. He did the whole workout thing and all of that, and I’m sure there was a lot of validity to it. Honestly, I don’t think that makes race cars go fast; I don’t think that made him go fast.
Did Johnson, pictured here with crew chief Chad Knaus in 2005, really work harder than his rivals or just make them think he did? Motorsport Images

“But I think it told a great story to the garage and the media that made them feel good when he was fast. Like, ‘Oh that makes sense. He worked out.’ OK, I saw Tony Stewart eat a cheeseburger before the race, and he was fast as (expletive). So, I don’t think that’s why he was fast, but it created this really great cover for when he had such an incredible team, and it was really a memorable branding play as much as anything else.”

And yet, Keselowski doesn’t take anything away from what Johnson accomplished and believes as time goes on, it will be appreciated more.

“I guess what I saw the most out of Jimmie is undoubtedly he had the best equipment, but he was cool enough and smart enough to know when to use that equipment and when to settle for a second or third because it wasn’t in the cards,” says Keselowski. “At any point in time, a lot of drivers in Cup will have great equipment, but having great equipment and getting the most out of it is completely different. And he was able to know when to go and when not to go and was really, really good at playing those games of understanding what the landscape was. That was impressive to me.”

• This story has been updated to clarify that Keselowski’s 2012 title came before Johnson’s sixth.

 

Matt Kenseth on racing against Jimmie Johnson: ‘It sucked’

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | January 6, 2023 12:57 PM ET

This is the fifth in a series of stories reflecting on Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR success from those who competed against him or with him at Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson has returned to the industry as a stakeholder in Petty GMS and will run select races in 2023.

The question is simple: What was it like to compete against Jimmie Johnson?

The answer is quintessential Matt Kenseth.

“It sucked racing against him, because I got beat so much,” Kenseth says and then laughs. “I think of a lot of different times and races where I thought I was going to come out on top and didn’t. Even in 2013, with the championship. We won the first two races of the (playoffs), and he comes back and wins the third. We ran really well, and he still comes through and wins the thing.”

One race in particular sticks with Kenseth all these years later. While Kenseth doesn’t recall the year, it should come to mind for those who watched that fall 2007 race at Texas Motor Speedway when Kenseth starts recalling the events.

“I was leading the race and it was toward the end of the race, and he got to second, and he was catching me at a pretty fast clip,” says Kenseth. “He was going to get around me and win, most likely. We were better on the short run, and he was better on the long run. I can’t remember the exact point situation except that he did not need to win — he had a pretty good size lead in the championship race.

“So, I’m thinking to myself, ‘OK, he’s not going to put himself in a position to crash finishing second. He’s still most likely going to win the championship without a catastrophe, but he’s not going to get there and get in a spot to lose.’”

Kenseth took the lead from Ryan Newman off a restart with 29 laps to go, while Johnson lined up fifth. The hunt was on with less than 20 laps to go as Johnson began closing on Kenseth and trying to find a way to get by. Even the television broadcast crew at that time, ESPN’s Andy Petree, Rusty Wallace and Jerry Punch, said Johnson didn’t need to do anything to get himself in trouble by battling Kenseth.

But that wasn’t how it happened. Kenseth fought on older tires with Johnson on new tires. Kenseth ran high while Johnson tried down low. Lap after lap, the two went at it, putting on some of the best racing the series has seen.
Johnson didn’t have to beat Kenseth at Texas in 2007…but that didn’t prevent an epic duel between the two. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images

“He gets underneath me and I get on his door and make it hard as I can and get back past him once,” recalls Kenseth. “He gets underneath me (again), I crowd him as much as I can to make it where his car is as loose as it can, and I’m like, ‘He’s not going to take a chance on wrecking us both, he’s going to back out of this thing and finish second.’

“Man, we raced side-by-side and he just raced his guts out and sideways. Most people wouldn’t have gotten that pass done. Most people would have either crashed themselves or crashed both of us and not made that (work). It shows not only how smart he is but what a fierce competitor he is. If he had a chance to win a race, he didn’t care that he didn’t need it or not, there was never a race that he was in that he didn’t want to win. He was so good that people somewhat took advantage of him, and in that situation, I wouldn’t have raced anybody else like that; I would have given them more room because I know anyone else would have wrecked us both.

“But it being him, I’m like, ‘Well, he’s going to keep control of his car and not crash but not be able to do it and get by me. So, he’s probably going to slow up a bit and finish second.’ I wanted to make it as tough as I could. And he still came out on top. That’s the one finish of a race that I always think about when I think about how good he really is.”

Johnson cleared Kenseth off Turn 2 with two laps to go. It was his third straight win in the playoffs as he marched to his second straight championship.

In trying to understand what made Johnson one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, Kenseth echoes the sentiment of many with Johnson taking advantage of his situation. Hendrick Motorsports had great equipment, and Johnson’s race team was special. It was also a race team that didn’t change much over the years.

Even still, Kenseth doesn’t take anything away from how fierce Johnson was as a competitor. As he showed Kenseth in Texas, Johnson could drive the car on edge as well or better than anyone. No matter what, it always seemed like Johnson could come through in crunch time.

“To be the best, you have to beat the best, so you always wanted to beat him,” says Kenseth. “If you don’t have him, there is always going to be somebody else, but certainly, I look back and (think) I’d arguably have another championship, maybe two, without him around. And maybe some more wins.
While feeling like he rarely got the best of Johnson, Kenseth felt he was better for having the chance to go up against him. Motorsport Images

“He certainly made everybody better. I did enjoy racing with him. More than anything, I did enjoy getting to know him as a man and during the last four or five years of our careers on the road, cycling together and talking about life and becoming better friends. That’s for sure my favorite part, but it was great racing with him.”

Kenseth’s only championship came in 2003. Johnson finished second that season.

Johnson’s first title came in 2006, and Kenseth finished second in the standings. Kenseth also finished second in a Johnson championship season in 2013.

In head-to-head race wins, Johnson beat Kenseth five times (Charlotte 2003; Las Vegas 2006; Indianapolis 2006; Texas 2007; Charlotte 2016). Kenseth got the best of Johnson twice (Fontana 2006; Bristol 2015).

In discussing his friend and once rival, Kenseth also praised Johnson’s ability to fit into any situation seamlessly. Johnson, said Kenseth, is easy to talk to, whether at the racetrack or on a three-hour bike ride. He remembers people’s names and fits in at the racetrack or a boardroom.

As Johnson returns to competition on a limited basis this season, Kenseth won’t compete against him, having left the series after 2020. But Kenseth isn’t someone who needs to be reminded of just how good Johnson is and how unbelievable his accomplishments were.

“I lived it,” Kenseth says. “I’ve thought that (about Johnson) for years and years and years and years and like I said, unfortunately, I was on the losing side of that way more times than the winning. I don’t know if I was ever on the winning side of it.

“When you do get away from the sport for a while, you certainly tend to reflect more on the past, and when I think of different racing stories, he’s in a lot of them, for sure.”

 

Kelly Crandall

Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.

 

Helton on Johnson: "I don't think we completely recognize the talent that he is"

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | January 24, 2023 1:52 PM ET

This is the seventh and final in a series of stories reflecting on Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR success from those who on the ground during his dominant Hendrick Motorsports era. Johnson has returned to the industry as a stakeholder in Legacy Motor Club and will run select races in 2023.

The early part of Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR career did not offer many hints of what was to come. Johnson was an unproven talent when Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon signed him, and for the longest time, the only thing Johnson was known for was crashing his Xfinity Series car at Watkins Glen and, after climbing out of the cockpit, standing on the roof with his arms raised.

“Then he comes in with Rick and Chad Knaus and all of a sudden, this 48 car gets in the garage, and it doesn’t take long for it to be a player amongst other very talented organizations and drivers,” NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton tells RACER. “Then you’re thinking, hmm.”

Helton is continually amazed by those who can recognize talent in someone when it hasn’t fully revealed itself. Gordon and others saw talent in Johnson as he climbed the ranks, putting him in the No. 48 Chevrolet and pairing with him with Knaus, who was just as unproven even though Knaus had a year of Cup Series experience under his belt as a crew chief.

“Then the whole industry gets to see Jimmie, and the chemistry between him and Chad was obvious early on,” says Helton. “Then he starts winning – winning championships, winning multiple championships, winning three straight championships, and after he got his sixth one, I don’t know if anyone really truly thought he could get the seventh one, but he did. I think that’s about all it took, because there were so many individual races that he was kind of down and out early on, but him as a driver, the pit crew, Chad Knaus, the car chief, they figured out how to stay in the game, and more often than not, came out winning.

NO ONE has asked why he stopped before he broke the record of seven championships.

Related

Knaus on Johnson: "His racecraft was at such a high level"

Matt Kenseth on racing against Jimmie Johnson: ‘It sucked’

‘He was never an ego guy’ - Brad Keselowski on Jimmie Johnson

“That’s the heart and soul of what we do. We run long-distance races almost every weekend. Five or four hundred miles or 500 laps. In the world of motorsports, ours is a lot of mileage in one event, and Jimmie was a strategic driver who fit well in a strategic organization. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for the NASCAR family, fan base, and industry to totally appreciate his ability, even after all the wins and championships. I just don’t think we completely recognize him as the talent he is; it may take a while.”

Johnson spent his career under the watchful eye of Helton, who served as NASCAR president from 2000 through 2014. However, Helton hasn’t gone far and is still visible in the garage in his current role.

Helton viewed Johnson as an under-the-radar guy even while winning 83 races and seven championships. Equipment aside, Johnson could put on a show on the racetrack, and Helton was just as amazed as everyone else.

“He did it in an era where there were a lot of other talents, so it wasn’t like it was a window of opportunity just for him,” says Helton. “He went out (and succeeded) just like Jeff Gordon did in his era and Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. did in his era or Tony Stewart. I think part of his talent and ability was reading what else was going on on the racetrack and what part of the race they were in.

“It was kind of David Pearson-like and Bill Elliott-like. Where did he come from at the end of the race? Where has he been all day? That’s the strategic-ness of a guy like Jimmie that when he had to get on the wheel and accomplish what he needed to accomplish… he had that second and third wind in him that he could pull from.”
Johnson battles Tony Stewart at Phoenix in 2014. Helton points to the fact that Johnson was able to dominate in an era when the field was deep with talent. Russell LaBounty/Motorsport Images

It took Johnson’s team 10 races before they pulled into victory lane for the first time in 2002 and were in championship contention late in the season. Johnson didn’t win rookie of the year honors – that went to Ryan Newman – but the foundation was quickly built for sustained success.

In addition to seven championships, Johnson had 16 consecutive seasons of multiple wins. The last three years of his career finally saw a downturn when he went winless and missed the playoffs for the first time in 2019 – his 18th full season.

Through his first 10 seasons, Johnson finished no worse than sixth in points; a stretch that includes five straight championships. No matter the cars, rules, playoff format or schedule, Johnson and his team couldn’t be slowed down.

Helton chuckles when reminded that some accused NASCAR of making changes to try and stop Johnson’s reign of terror.

Related

Racer to Racer: Tony Stewart on Jimmie Johnson

INSIGHT: Ron Malec and Mark Martin on what took Jimmie Johnson to the next level

INSIGHT: Letarte on how Johnson ‘redefined the era’

“It speaks to the Hendrick organization and Chad Knaus’s ability to do the things he does, but it certainly speaks loudly to Jimmie Johnson’s talent because we never made the changes to affect anybody changes,” Helton says. “(It was) to improve the sport or to fix things that didn’t need to be a part of the sport. But the most talented athletes can adapt to whatever is thrown at

them. And you think about the changes NASCAR might make from one year to the next or maybe over two years, think about all the changes a driver has to react to and reflect on during the race itself. You think of all the different moments during those races a driver has to adapt, read it, figure out their place at that moment and adjust correctly.

 

“Jimmie made mistakes along the line, but so did every other seven-time champion we’ve had, and every other good driver is going to make mistakes. You’re going to have wrecks, tear up stuff, bump into people. You’re going to do things you’d like to go back and do-over. But more often than not, Jimmie was capable of reading the moment and adapting to them, and that applied to each race he ran, and each time we might make changes across the board in the garage.”

Helton said watching the Johnson dynasty unfold is good sports.

“Because a franchise or dynasty or iconic athlete isn’t one that, OK, maybe he’s going to have a good day, maybe he’s not,” Helton says. “Those teams or those individuals, every day, the expectation is that they are going to be a remarkable player or in our case, driver. What Jimmie did very quickly – and I say very quickly for the first four or five years of his career – was be identified race morning as a contender for that day consistently. Then he backed it up with wins and championships.”

Fans would get on the bandwagon along the way, hoping to see Johnson continue winning. Others became tired of seeing his success.
Helton (pictured with Johnson in 200 laughs off suggestions that NASCAR changed the rules to try to break the No.48’s dominance, and insists that Johnson and the team were simply better at adapting to change than their rivals. Motorsport Images

“But that’s the nature of sports, and that’s the nature of our sport,” says Helton.

Helton watched Johnson grow up in NASCAR. Johnson entered the Cup Series as a 26-year-old who matured into a champion, married and had children. A “remarkable individual” away from the racetrack, according to Helton, Johnson then puts on a helmet and becomes an incredible race car driver.

“That entire package is special and unique,” Helton says.

Aside from his success, Johnson gets praised for being good for NASCAR in terms of how he represented himself and the sport. It’s hard to find someone who will say Johnson isn’t a good person. Helton not only agreed, but applauded Johnson for trying other forms of motorsports when he left NASCAR.

But Helton and NASCAR are thrilled to have Johnson back in the stock car family as an owner at Legacy Motor Club and part-time driver.

“It means a lot; it’s a big statement,” says Helton of Johnson’s return. “If you watch the last few years and you see Brad Keselowski join Roush Fenway and become part of the ownership package, you see what Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. has done with JR Motorsports, Kyle Busch with his race team that’s separate from his driving career, and Kevin and Delana [Harvick] when they had their truck teams while he was driving.

“Those involvements in the sport beyond being a race car driver sends a big message to the whole NASCAR industry that this is my sport, I’m a part of it, and I want to contribute back to it because it’s been good to me. You want to stay engaged in it.

“A lot of drivers, and there is nothing wrong with this, they’ll go away, and you never hear from them unless we celebrate them at the Hall of Fame or something like that. But the guys like Tony Stewart and now Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Brad Keselowski, these drivers who help other drivers get the opportunities that they had, is a big positive statement for us.”

NO ONE has asked why he stopped before he broke the record of seven championships.