June 1, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

After knocking off the rust, Jimmie Johnson looks competitive on farewell tour

Jimmie Johnson’s first podium in nearly 11 months should be cause for optimism on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team.

On Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson rallied from his 24th starting position to finish third—his best result with Cliff Daniels since the crew chief assumed responsibility for the squad 24 races ago. 

Sure, Johnson was at the right place at the right time. He lined up sixth for the five-lap shootout to determine the winner. And when the seas parted, as Chase Elliott took out leader Joey Logano, Johnson was there to capitalize. 

But if Johnson didn’t have a competitive car to begin with, he would have never been a contender throughout the Food City Presents the Supermarket Heroes 500. 

“Very strong performance for us,” Johnson said. “Really proud of the guys keeping our chins up through the last four weeks. We've had fast cars, really haven't had the results to show for it.

“To put together a solid race, start to finish, great pit stops, fast car, be a threat. We need more long runs. There's only one long run in the whole race. We were battling for the lead with Kyle (Busch, who finished fourth). I wish there were more long runs, because our car didn't have the short-run speed in it. But we still salvaged a great day out of it with the Ally Chevy.”

Had it not been for Johnson’s disqualification in the Coca-Cola 600 after finishing second, he would have already earned as many top fives as he had in all of 2019. His four top-10 finishes in the first nine races of this season have come on four different style tracks, ranging from the Bristol half-mile to the two-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway.

Johnson credits the new Camaro with Hendrick’s dramatic turnaround in his final season as a full-time NASCAR Cup driver.

“Without a doubt, that new Camaro has been a huge help for us,” Johnson said. “I think through last year's events, and NASCAR taking the three makes, taking those cars after the race is over, blowing them in the wind tunnel, they saw the situation and they allowed Chevrolet to build a new Camaro and bring it out to get us up on par with the Toyotas and the Fords.

“This year we feel like we are much more in the ballpark and much more on an equal with them with the 550 package.”
Chevrolet introduced the Camaro to Cup competition in 2018. The manufacturer won four races that year. The following season, NASCAR changed the Cup aero package and slashed engine output by 200 horsepower at tracks longer that 1.2-miles. The Camaro visited Victory Lane just seven times in 2019. 

After 13-straight seasons of winning the NASCAR Cup manufacturer’s title from 2003 through 2015, Chevrolet has been shut out the last four seasons. This year, Chevrolet appears to have figured out the package.

“With the low horsepower, it's really about efficiencies,” Johnson added. “It kind of tells a story that back when we didn't have these restricted engines, the Chevrolets were creating downforce kind of in an inefficient manner, but it didn't matter because we had the horsepower to pull us through it.

“Last year it was pretty obvious when we raced the 550 package we had trouble. We couldn't trim the car out to the lengths of the other manufacturers. After NASCAR studied it hard, they realized they needed to do something. They let us have a new car this year.
          
“Between that and I think a new engine block that they approved for the year, the engine block is a lot lighter and helps on days like today. It's their job to keep the quality, and they allowed us to make those changes and bring us up to par with the other two makes.”

The results for Hendrick Motorsports since NASCAR’s return to racing on May 17 are proof. Chase Elliott has won a race and three stages in the last five races. He has been in contention in each event and led 182 laps.  Alex Bowman has three stage wins since the break. Though he hasn't been as consistent in each race as Elliott, he has led 256 laps. William Byron won the first stage back at Darlington. He has shown promise early in races but of the four HMS drivers has suffered the most from a lack of practice prior to the events. His sole top-10 finish came Sunday at Bristol.
 
And then there’s the seven-time champion. Johnson was en route to his first stage win of the season at Darlington when he wrecked coming to the green-white-checkered flag and finished 38th. Without that result—along with the DQ in the Coca-Cola 600—Johnson’s average finish since the re-opening is 7.3.

“We're excited,” Johnson said. “I felt like when the lockdown and quarantine started, we had momentum on our side. I was really bummed that we couldn't see that through. Then to sit on ice for eight, nine weeks, whatever it ended up being, then come back and really actually be stronger than we were before the lockdown happened is really a testament to everybody at Hendrick, the leadership on Cliff's side, what he's doing with these crew guys.
           
“I felt like we would be good, but we definitely stepped it up after the lockdown lifted, now that we're back racing.”

Considering the slump Hendrick experienced over the last two years, the resurgence could not have come at a better time—particularly since this is Johnson’s last full-time season in the No. 48 Chevrolet. But the veteran knows there’s more work to be done if the organization is to return to its glory days.

“We always want to be stronger,” Johnson said. “There's no doubt. I feel like there's probably two races that I could have been in contention to win, three including (Sunday). I think Chase could be sitting here with five in a row if things go his way, four or five in a row.
           
“I do think HMS is very strong. I do think we have left some wins on the table as a group, unfortunately.”