Jimmie Johnson to Retire after 2020

FLRacingFan said:
I’m not sure we’re prepared for the civil war between the Elliott and Larson fan bases if they compete on the same team. Lol
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It's funny cuz I thought Larson would keep me interested in this sport once Gordon went but it just didn't happen. I still like Larson but the racing in this series sucks. I've tried to watch races this year and it's painful and boring so I have had to tune out.

Now about Jimmie. Not surprise he's retiring but what I am hugely surprised about is how he just flatlined. The decline was not at all pretty or decent. Also the fact he will not (probably) get Gordon for wins.

Hopefully he wins a couple of races next year to make the last few go down easier.
 
Greater convergence of driver, car, crew, team, owner, horseshoe (jk) has never been seen.

When I first heard the news, it was mis-reported that he had retired, and I thought “how freaking cool, none of that ‘last season’ crap to endure and just going out as undisputed Cup royalty”. But nope we are not spared all the gibberish about “his last time @ fill-in-blank” like they did with Jr.

Oh well - at least he earned the 10 month victory lap.

If he gets to Victory Lane it’s gonna be off the hook. If he doesn’t it’s gonna suck.
 
I wouldn't be surprised except in a lot of the recent interviews he's done he's said that he's far from done. Racing for one more season doesn't exactly scream "far from done".
 
SpeedPagan said:
It wouldn't surprised me if he's getting out in part due to the high downforce, low HP package. This package just doesn't play to his strength as a driver.
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I agree on this, Jimmie pretty much said as much stating that his strong suit is a careful application of throttle off the corner, LOTS of brake entering the corner. this package really is the opposite of that. its enter the corner, blip the throttle then, mash it all the way again. I still don't know why he runs terrible at shorter tracks which have the 750 hp engine and rules closer to before. Jimmie isn't even fast at martinsville or dover anymore. The other thing is jimmie is overdriving the car and trying to get too much out of it. I bet he would say the same thing. He has had some crashes pushing it, instead of just taking what was there.
 
Kyle
Robert J Sublett said:
The funny part is it looks like somewhere around 75-85 wins is where success seems to dry up. Did so for Waltrip, Allison, Sr., Gordon, and now Johnson. All of those guys at a point looked like they would challenge Pearson and didn't come close.
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Kyle Busch
 
StandOnIt said:
what's the excuse for a win less season the year before? Too little downforce?
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Yeah, the downward trend in performance was consistent across two different extremes, from low downforce in 2017 and 2018 to high downforce in 2019.
 
gnomesayin said:
Yeah, the downward trend in performance was consistent across two different extremes, from low downforce in 2017 and 2018 to high downforce in 2019.
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Johnson actually did worse with the low downforce package last year compared to the higher D/F this year.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
I agree on this, Jimmie pretty much said as much stating that his strong suit is a careful application of throttle off the corner, LOTS of brake entering the corner. this package really is the opposite of that. its enter the corner, blip the throttle then, mash it all the way again. I still don't know why he runs terrible at shorter tracks which have the 750 hp engine and rules closer to before. Jimmie isn't even fast at martinsville or dover anymore. The other thing is jimmie is overdriving the car and trying to get too much out of it. I bet he would say the same thing. He has had some crashes pushing it, instead of just taking what was there.
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A package that takes more skill to drive. Go figure. From 2004-2016, no one was better. Packages play to driver strengths, but no one drove a cup car better and more skillfully than he did in his prime, especially at the 1.5s. He drove those differently than anyone else.. very late entries, landing in the bottom lane, at times, not until the apex of the corner. No one was better or more skilled at driving a cup car, not even Kyle Busch of today.. anyone who says so is wrong. Takes more than great equipment and a great CC to be that dominant. Jimmie doesn't get the credit for how good a race car driver he was.

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kyle18fan said:
Who ?
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The guy who accomplished more in 9 years AGAINST your boy than your boy did in 15..the guy who made your boy truly irrelevant until his decline. I understand you've waited a long time for this..

Its like Kevin Durant on a historic team pounding his chest for beating a declining LeBron.

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jaqua19 said:
The guy who accomplished more in 9 years AGAINST your boy than your boy did in 15..the guy who made your boy truly irrelevant until his decline. I understand you've waited a long time for this..

Its like Kevin Durant on a historic team pounding his chest for beating a declining LeBron.

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You are only as good as your last race, JJ bores me to death, I am glad he is going bye bye
 
jaqua19 said:
A package that takes more skill to drive. Go figure. From 2004-2016, no one was better. Packages play to driver strengths, but no one drove a cup car better and more skillfully than he did in his prime, especially at the 1.5s. He drove those differently than anyone else.. very late entries, landing in the bottom lane, at times, not until the apex of the corner. No one was better or more skilled at driving a cup car, not even Kyle Busch of today.. anyone who says so is wrong. Takes more than great equipment and a great CC to be that dominant. Jimmie doesn't get the credit for how good a race car driver he was.

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Looks to me like Kyle had plenty of skill Sunday ..... and all season long. Won the regular championship as well as the lottery championship.
 
Kiante said:
Yo, that sh!t would be insane. @DUN24 would be so torn at times. Lol.

I'm calling it now, JJ and Jeff in a third Corvette for the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2021.

Make it happen Chevy, please I beg of you.
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I need this in my life ASAP
 
Well took all day at work to digest this news...I always cheered against him when he was at the height of his dominance because he was kicking Jeff Gordon’s behind during that time. Still chaps my ass. But since Jeff retired and even from like 14 on...I’ve wanted Jimmie to do well. I have an amazing amount of respect for his accomplishments. Is he a GOAT...ahhh I’m not gonna answer that. Is he this generation’s best driver, hell yes. It’s almost unreal the amount of disrespect he gets, he’s not as popular as Earnhardt or Petty were...the only other 7 time Champions. It was a big deal when Petty retired, and it would have been national headlines if Earnhardt had gotten to retire. I just feel Jimmie isn’t held on the pedestal those guys were. I do think the appreciation for what he’s done will come after he’s long gone. As for next year....I’m not sure he will get contend for a Cup. It never works out for any of them in their farewell year, maybe he will win one last time at Martinsville. I am surprised at this news, I really thought he’d re up with Ally until 2023, would give him time with Rick and JG to rebuild the 48. For today’s news....I just feel sad. I’m going to miss watching his surgical precision to driving a Cup car. Do I think he’s done racing? No I expect him to race in IMSA, Le Mans and hopefully maybe some Indy Car races. Be cool to see him run some JRM cars at tracks he’s never been to like Iowa, Mid Ohio or Elkhart Lake.
 
AdoubleU24 said:
I wouldn't be surprised except in a lot of the recent interviews he's done he's said that he's far from done. Racing for one more season doesn't exactly scream "far from done".
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Yeah, that's basically where I'm at with this. I was expecting him to stick around until 2021 to give the next gen car a try.

I really, really hope he can win some races next year. At least one more.
 
BobbyFord said:
That laser inspection pretty much sealed his fate :growl:
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I've read a lot of goofy conspiracy theories around this place, but this one might indeed be the goofiest. In a world where the shelf life of a competitive secret is about two weeks, you expect us believe that the 48 team was able to hide some secret aero advantage in plain sight of everyone for a decade and a half. Do you own stock in Reynolds Wrap?
 
LewTheShoe said:
I agree with @ChexOrWrex that Jimmie's decline appears to have been steeper than many, but it's not really surprising. Age related diminishment of skills varies from one to the next... but they all wind up in the same place within a fairly short span of years... within a handful of years for most. For every Bobby Allison there are a hundred like JJ or Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr or Smoke... declining substantially in the early 40's range.

It is a testament to how difficult it is to be at the top. When you lose just a bit of your edge, you're no longer at the top... no longer in that rarefied air where you used to be. The lucky ones are those who figure it out timely and deal with it, rather than staying too long trying to deny Father Time.
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I really don't know how we point all of this to skill decline when that Chevy is a piece of **** by all accounts. I like Jimmie a lot. Sad to see him go....
 
ToyYoda said:
I’m gonna be sad to see Jimmie go. Hopefully he gets another couple wins on his way out the door.
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Yup. Adding another 36 L's would be sad. Just one more win and a Playoff run would be a happy ending for 7-Time. Maybe winning a Martinsville clock that chimes at 7:48 would be a good parting trophy.
 
Just a reminder: Jimmie is retiring from full-time racing, so 2020 will likely not be the last time we see him on the track. It irks me whenever I see the word "retirement" for any driver when the reality is they are taking a cut in hours...it's like an employee at your job moving from 40 hours per week to 10 hours. That is not retirement!
 
Nice to see Kyle Busch still instills massive butthurt on this forum. I hope that never changes ;). He’s 34, let’s see what he does the rest of his career instead of comparing him to a guy 10 years older. Literally nobody tries to invalidate championships based on who else is competing at the time except Jaqua.


FYI, Kyle has two Miami bowl championships along with 2 regular season championships. I thought everybody wanted a season long champion? Interesting Kyle gets no respect for winning them.

Jimmie is the best of this generation but when all is said and done Kyle has a real chance to pass him, people that try to pretend otherwise just plain don’t like him.
 
Robert J Sublett said:
Please don't combine his wins. Have more respect for the true legends than that. Kyle has 56 Cup wins end of the story. He has about 30 wins at that level left in him.
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Context.

About drivers stacking wins in their prime and en route to 100+ wins and then suddenly that comes to a halt.

Kyle Busch is in the midst of this now.
 
DaBiff1618 said:
Nice to see Kyle Busch still instills massive butthurt on this forum. I hope that never changes ;). He’s 34, let’s see what he does the rest of his career instead of comparing him to a guy 10 years older. Literally nobody tries to invalidate championships based on who else is competing at the time except Jaqua.


FYI, Kyle has two Miami bowl championships along with 2 regular season championships. I thought everybody wanted a season long champion? Interesting Kyle gets no respect for winning them.

Jimmie is the best of this generation but when all is said and done Kyle has a real chance to pass him, people that try to pretend otherwise just plain don’t like him.
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Of course Kyle gets respect. He was most deserving of the championship this year. But I'm not sure what that has to do with Jimmie Johnson? Yet we always have one or two KB fans getting all hot and bothered whenever JJ is discussed. :idunno:
 
2 Sweet said:
Of course Kyle gets respect. He was most deserving of the championship this year. But I'm not sure what that has to do with Jimmie Johnson? Yet we always have one or two KB fans getting all hot and bothered whenever JJ is discussed. :idunno:
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I was literally responding to Jaqua, whom makes it his life mission to pee and throw a wet blanket on anything Kyle Busch or Truex do, yet gets extremely butthurt when people criticize Jimmie. Try to keep up. I have nothing against Jimmie, he’s the best of my lifetime
 
DaBiff1618 said:
I was literally responding to Jaqua, whom makes it his life mission to pee and throw a wet blanket on anything Kyle Busch or Truex do, yet gets extremely butthurt when people criticize Jimmie. Try to keep up. I have nothing against Jimmie, he’s the best of my lifetime
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Yeah I get that, I'm talking about Kyle18 and Bobby coming in here with their comments. Then it turns into a Kyle Busch discussion.
 
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