It was business as usual this weekendfor the Nextel Cup series ? another race and another win for Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports.
With an amazing seven wins in the last eight races, including victories in all four of the Car of Tomorrow events, Hendrick teammates Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch have thoroughly dominated so far this season. Despite their winning ways, though, don?t pencil them in for a championship yet.
“In some ways, I am surprised that we?ve been able to win as many races this year as we have,” Johnson said after collecting his fourth win of the year Sunday at Richmond. “We?ve had a lot of great competition from other teams.”
Although it sounds like he is just trying to be humble about his organization?s overwhelming success, the truth is, Johnson understands how quickly hot streaks come and go in NASCAR and that the real difference between Hendrick and everyone else is a combination of good execution and a little luck.
“Our team is as good as Hendrick,” said Denny Hamlin, one of the few drivers that have been able to consistently compete with Johnson and his teammates. “They?ve got all the wins because they haven?t made any mistakes.”
In a sport where a few tenths of a second often separates winning and losing, that ability to avoid mistakes can ? and has ? made all the difference this year for the Hendrick teams.
“The level of competition is very, very close,” said Chad Knaus, Johnson?s crew chief. “You?ve got to make sure you?ve got the best team around you possible.”
While some are questioning whether Hendrick?s dominance this season has the potential to hurt fan interest, it is easy to forget that streaks like this are a regular occurrence in the sport.
“Think back to Roush and what they did a year or so ago,” said Johnson, referring to the 2005 season, when Roush Racing won 15 races and placed all five of their cars in the Chase.
Six months ago, Childress Racing was in the same situation. Kevin Harvick was running away with the Busch series championship, and it looked almost certain that either he or teammate Jeff Burton would win the Nextel Cup title just as easily.
NASCAR is a cyclical sport, though, and just as Roush and Childress turned out to be beatable in the previous two seasons, so will Hendrick … eventually. Johnson, having seen other teams go through highs and lows, is realistic about the rest of the season.
“You enjoy it while you?ve got it,” Johnson said. “But we know that somebody is going to figure something else out.”
There are a lot of other drivers and teams out there that hope that Johnson is right, because if they don?t figure out something soon, we can expect business as usual next week at Darlington. It will be simply a matter of which Hendrick car rolls into victory lane.
Get up to speed on the latest in NASCAR by listening to Wilson?s Race Report every Monday and Friday at 5:39 p.m. on 93.1 WPOC. You can e-mail Steve at [email protected].
