NASCAR Chase set to begin, and Johnson's ready
The 2011 season has been atypical for Jimmie Johnson. His only win in the first 26 races came at Talladega, a restrictor-plate racetrack. Late in the Sprint Cup Series' regular season, however, Johnson began to string together top-five finishes.
In an exclusive interview Aug. 26 at Bristol, Sporting News talked to the five-time champion about his readiness to begin the quest for a sixth title, which begins this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.
Q. Is it better going into the Chase feeling invincible or vulnerable?
A. I've been both, and the Chase is humbling to all. Kyle (Busch) rolled in there one year with eight wins (2008), pulls into Loudon and the sway bar falls off the car. There's no guaranteed way to enter it, but you need everything you can working on your side. It only makes life easier.
So, yes, if you're coming in hot, you're coming in off of wins, momentum is on your side — all of those things are very productive and useful to have. But you can win without 'em.
Q. At this point, your win total is lower than it has been in any of your championship seasons. Is the sleeping giant ready to awaken?
A. I'm ready. This team's ready. We see what happens on Sunday afternoons. We've been close a few times. When I look back at the last handful of races — very close at Kentucky. We were in the money at Michigan. The road course (Watkins Glen) — we were one of three cars that had a ton of speed there, and, granted, we ended up with a top-10 finish, but we know that we were very competitive there. Things have been going in the right direction.
If we can get back to pulling out those victories when we're in and around the top five, I think we've got a really good chance at this.
Q. Given what you've accomplished, do you feel under-appreciated?
A. I don't. I've always looked for my affirmation through my peers, the people I race against, and within my team. I walk up and down that garage area, and even the guys that I've had trouble with over the years still respect what I've accomplished. That means more to me than anything.
I think that my unwillingness to be involved with social media in the early stages has worked against me, but I think now that I'm engaged and people are having other opportunities to see me outside of the racecar, that part is coming along. I take a lot of responsibility for that. I just was in my little world and didn't want to venture out, because I was worried about doing my job right.
Q. So why did you suddenly embrace social media? A lot of fans are seeing a side of you on Twitter that they probably haven't seen before.
A. If you're not present, then you can't defend yourself, and for a lot of years I just wasn't present. From the old days of the blogs, I kind of paid attention then, and I saw some stuff written about family members and my wife that I just didn't appreciate. So I said, ‘The (heck) with it; I'm out; I'm not doing anything.'
So then all the things have started up from Facebook and MySpace and Twitter, and I'm like, ‘I have no interest, no interest, no interest.' But I wasn't there to defend myself, and things got out of whack. So I'm active now and having a blast with it.
Q. After five championships, where do you find motivation?
A. It's not that tough. This is what I do. This is who I am. Certainly, being a parent — when the appearances start up, and I've got to go do a Winner's Circle appearance, that part, I don't like it. I'm away from my family for a day, but it is what it is. It's a day.
Now when I go to the track, there's nothing that affects this environment. It's the outside stuff, the 100-plus appearances that I have through all my contracts that really add up on the bad side of it. But it's part of the job. That's the part that IS the job. Driving the racecar is the fun part. That's not the work — it's the stuff around it.
Q. You're really good at putting everything else out of your mind when you come to the racetrack, aren't you?
A. Yeah, and that's why I don't run Nationwide; I don't run trucks. My business sense and the things that I've worked with outside of motorsports, that stuff's done early in the week, and it's not relative to the sport.
I feel like I'm very well diversified. I take my large risks at the track. When you look at my portfolio, this is my main revenue stream, and the other stuff that I do is pretty conservative, pretty easygoing stuff during the week that I'm making smart investments with.
My endorsement program, by choice, is far less than a lot of guys', because I want to stay focused in certain areas. I'm just trying to make sure that I'm always comfortable, and I wake up as excited as I can be for those 100-plus appearances that I have to make.
But coming to the track, there's no problem getting motivated for that.