August 16, 2021

Experience pays off for Johnson, No. 48 car

By Bruce Martin
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Experience pays off for Johnson, No. 48 car
(Photo by Bruce Martin)

Back at IMS for the second time this season, the INDYCAR rookie has his best race of the season.

Jimmie Johnson returned to the site of some of his greatest NASCAR triumphs and put together the best complete INDYCAR race of his rookie season.

During his NASCAR Cup Series career Johnson experienced historic success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with Hendrick Motorsports. He won four Brickyard 400s: in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012.

This past Saturday in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at the 14-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Johnson had the best race of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. It was Johnson’s second contest on the IMS road course and the first time he returned to a track on the INDYCAR schedule where he previously competed.

He was faster in practice and qualifying on Friday and was as high as fourth place with just 30 seconds to go in his qualification segment before some of the faster cars kept him from advancing into the final round of 12 drivers.

Johnson started the No. 48 Carvana/The American Legion Honda 22nd. Throughout Saturday’s race, he showed significant improvement by battling and passing cars throughout the race before he finished 19th in the 28-car field.

That tied Johnson for a season-high finishing position. He was also 19th in a 21-car field at the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on April 18.

Among the drivers that Johnson finished ahead of included four-time Indianapolis 500 winning driver Helio Castroneves (21st), multi-INDYCAR race winner James Hinchcliffe (22nd), three-time Virgin Australia SuperCars champion Scott McLaughlin (23rd), the winner of the first road course race at Indianapolis in May Rinus VeeKay (24th) and his teammate, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Alex Palou (27th).

“We got to the finish line and that is our motto,” Johnson said afterwards. “The support I’ve had from Chip Ganassi Racing, Carvana and The American Legion has allowed me to stay focused on the job at hand and that is learning these cars and tracks.

“To come back to a track where I raced on earlier this year and have a floor to build off of, I raised my ceiling. I had an awesome qualifying session, a much more competitive race. I was in there mixing it up and making passes against the guys. It was nice to not think so much on the track and really fall into my rhythm of being a race car driver and try to pass cars again.”

Now that Johnson has raised his ceiling, The American Legion driver is ready to raise the roof by the end of the season.

“I’m getting there,” Johnson said. “It was nice to have a clean weekend and have the statistics show my improvement in the eight months that I’ve been an INDYCAR driver.

“For sure, this is my high-water mark right now. I tested at Portland and hopefully I can take this momentum and confidence and build on that for Portland. Hopefully this shows, that coming back to a track for a second time and how much there is to understanding the track and where to be aggressive.”

Eric Cowdin is Johnson’s race engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing and believes it was the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion’s most complete INDYCAR effort in 2021. He was racy, competitive, and passed drivers on the track.

“The key is having a track he is familiar with,” Cowdin said. “At the end of the race, he was not thinking about driving in this line or that line; he was just racing. He has transitioned from thinking less about driving the car and more about racing. That was a big step today.”

Johnson’s race strategist, former racing star Scott Pruett, was not at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday but called the race on Discord. Cowdin was the man who worked the closest with Johnson on-site and believes now is the time to let “Jimmie, be Jimmie.”

“I think there is some truth to that, but the thing that has amazed me when we started this journey back in November in an F3 car at Barber in the snow is Jimmie’s ability to look at data and replicate it on track,” Cowdin said. “That has been key to all of this. You wouldn’t believe the amount of data he absorbs between sessions. It’s really impressive.

“We take a step forward like this and every time he comes back to a track next year, he will be familiar with it. Here’s the notes, here is what we did, these were our problems last time, and we will go from there.

“Race car drivers are all of the same cut and there is no doubt why this man is a seven-time champion. The work ethic, focus and attention to detail – that is his race craft. It doesn’t matter what race car he is setting in. He is going to get this, it’s just a matter of time. It’s not ‘if’ it’s ‘when.’”

Johnson believes he is surrounded by so many great people with INDYCAR experience that he will succeed.

“I know there are many ways to get the job done and I try to take that advice, the lessons taught to me by this long list of accomplished drivers and try to apply it,” Johnson said.

It was almost a homecoming weekend for Johnson as INDYCAR was part of a tripleheader that also included the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. After the INDYCAR race, NASCAR President Steve Phelps came to Johnson’s pit area and gave him a hug and the two had a nice conversation together.

Johnson also got to visit with former teammates and crew members, including former driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Johnson’s former crew chief Chad Knaus.

“It’s been awesome,” Johnson said. “I saw Aric Almirola, Chad Knaus, a bunch of guys from my 48 Cup team and I miss them all. I really do.

“It’s like a reunion week. The schedules at the track don’t always work out, but it really does feel nice to see everybody.”

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