Top NASCAR stories of 2014: No. 9 – Jimmie Johnson falls short of seventh championship

By Dec 22, 2014, 4:50 PM EST
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MotorSportsTalk will be counting down the top 20 stories of the 2014 NASCAR season over the month of December.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

Today, we’re at No. 9 — Jimmie Johnson goes from consideration as the Greatest Driver of All-Time to the worst single-season finish in his career. …

When Jimmie Johnson ended the 2013 season with his sixth Sprint Cup championship, numerous media members and fans began calling him the G.O.A.T.

As in the Greatest Of All Time driver.

With the way he won his sixth Cup crown in eight seasons, it seemed almost like a given that Johnson would win No. 7 in 2014, thus tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most championships won by a driver.

So many folks seemed to be convinced Johnson would breeze through the season – even with the new Elimination-style format of the Chase for the Sprint Cup – that they half in jest (or seriously, depending upon your perspective) suggested that NASCAR scrap the season because Johnson was going to win the championship anyway.

But as it turned out, Johnson did not win the championship.

In fact, he wasn’t really much of a factor in the championship. Why, he didn’t even advance past the Competitor’s Round and into the Eliminator Round.

Even worse, he recorded the worst single-season finish of his career, 11th place.

What happened?

There’s really no right or wrong answer. It was simply not in the cards for Johnson to win the title in 2014 – much like it wasn’t in the cards in 2011 when Tony Stewart won, or 2012 when Brad Keselowski won.

It’s not like Johnson forgot how to race. Remember, he won three races in 2014, and had it not been for mistakes, mishaps or simply coming up short, he probably could have won at least two or three more.

Some speculate that Johnson and his No. 48 team just didn’t have the intangibles that they had during their six prior championship-winning seasons. But trying to figure out what those intangibles were is equally a mystery as to why Johnson ultimately faltered in his quest for No. 7.

You really can’t point at any one thing. The motivation was there, all the key players – including crew chief Chad Knaus and his veteran pit crew – were all there.

Johnson didn’t change either. If anything, he became a stronger individual – both literally and physically – as he increased his physical training for things such as marathons, triathlons and more. It would be hard not to say Johnson wasn’t in the best shape of his life in 2014, so it wasn’t a matter of fatigue or lack of endurance.

Honestly, boil it all down and Johnson’s failure to win a seventh championship and coming up short essentially winds up with one conclusion:

It just wasn’t his year, plain and simple.

That doesn’t mean 2015 will be his year once again. He may go through another season that’s overall good, but not great like his championship-winning campaigns.

Racing in general — and NASCAR in particular — is a very cyclical business. Some seasons are better than others, obviously. Many of us may have gotten spoiled by all of Johnson’s championships, including the five in a row from 2006 through 2010, one of the greatest achievements in all sports history.

Johnson knew he was in trouble in this year’s Chase when he started off the Contender Round with a 40th place finish at Kansas. He followed that up with a 17th place finish at Charlotte, but saw his hopes of advancing to the Elimination Round come to a screeching halt with a 24th place finish in the final Contender Round race (at Talladega).

Ironically enough, Johnson led nearly half (84) of the 194 laps in that ‘Dega race before falling back to the eventual showing he had.

In the end, like I said earlier, it just wasn’t Johnson’s year.

Now, 2015, that could be a whole different story. Maybe it all comes down to Knaus. He figured out a way for Johnson to win his six championships and maximize his advantage during the Chase.

If Knaus can work is magic again in the new elimination format, a few years from now we may be talking about Johnson not only winning a seventh championship, but maybe eight, nine or even 10 titles before his career is over.

Follow me @JerryBonkowski

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”