First Practice Speeds | Dover Schedule
A 12th Monster Energy Series win at Dover International Speedway would go a long way in helping Jimmie Johnson get back on the right track.
It’s been a struggle for Johnson since he took the checkered flag in last year’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism. He’s in the middle of the longest winless drought of his career at 33 races, a streak he’s hoping to snap at a track where he holds the record for most wins: 11.
“I can relax a little bit more coming to this racetrack,” Johnson said. “With it being my best track and the love I have for this place, I’m always excited to come. We’ll get our car close. History shows that. Hopefully, we get it perfect and we can have the day we really want to have.”
There’s been some reason for optimism around the No. 48 camp in recent weeks thanks to Johnson’s performance. He finished third at Bristol, sixth at Richmond and 12th at Talladega in the last three outings. He admits that part of the equation in his struggles this year has been the move from the Chevrolet SS to the new Camaro ZL1.
“We haven’t had the cars where we need them and I’m a part of that process,” he said. “As a group – everybody at Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, everybody on the No. 48 car, my three teammates and their teams, we collectively need to do a better job. We’re working hard on it we’re seeing those rewards slowly coming along.
“We have been the benchmark for so many years that other manufacturers and teams invested a couple of years in figuring out how to beat us. And we’re living through that right now. We’re needing to recreate ourselves and how we go about handling business. A lot of that change has happened and it’ll just take a little bit longer before it really starts providing for us.”
Johnson hopes his recent trend upward continues Sunday at Dover and he can add to his impressive success at the one-mile track. But he admits there is a bit more added pressure to the process simply because he’s competing at Dover.
“The encouraging news is we are making our cars better each and every week,” Johnson said. “I’m more of a realist in where we’re at and what we’re doing, and reflect back and think damn, we had it really good for a while and it was really special.
“But we’re a victim of our own success, and I hope to create the headlines that we want and the headlines being along the lines of well, they should have won. It was Dover.”
Motor Racing Network – “The Voice of NASCAR” will have live coverage of Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism, beginning at 1 p.m. (ET) – with live streaming at MRN.com.
