What do you think is the main cause of Jimmie Johnson's poor performance?

furredracer88

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A lot of people say it's because of age but I don't think so because Kevin Harvick is 43 and still winning races. Personally, I think it's the Camaro and the package. Before switching to the Camaro, Jimmie was doing well but after that, his performance dropped greatly and I think that switching over the new package a year after moving over to the Camaro is responsible for his further degradation. What about you guys? Is it the car, package, or something else?
 
Watch Dale Jr's download from last night to get your answer. JJ was his guest.

What did he say?

I'd imagine it's a combination of driver fall off, not clicking with Meeandering, his style not fitting the package, frustration.

Since he's had his new CC, he's had speed. As of late, the issue is execution more than anything else. His cars have had speed, top 5 speed two weeks in a row, top 10 speed since July it seems like...just wreck after wreck. While a win this year isn't likely, I wouldn't count it out.

Also wouldn't be surprised to see them put together a run for Homestead next year. Just listening to them on the radio... he and Cliff have that fired up confident swagger we used to hear from him and Chad. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he wins atleast 3 races and makes the round of 8 in 2020.
 
Watch Dale Jr's download from last night to get your answer. JJ was his guest.
yeah jimmie explains his driving style, what really led to jimmie running worse was the reduction in horsepower. he explains his style uses a lot of brake, and a careful and controlled throttle off the corner. Last year with even the low downforce rules they were running a lot of throttle through the corners will very little off throttle. This years its blip the throttle slam the throttle all the way down. jimmie feels like his strong suit was on and off throttle driving. The NXS cars drove much like the way the cars do now with less power and more on throttle time. its likely why jimme was not good in the NXS cars and why he avoided driving them.

That is the explanation for most tracks. it doesn't explain why jimmie isn't better on short tracks where those tracks aren't effected so much by the new rules. Heck he doesn't even run well anymore at martinsville.
I also think HMS cars frankly have sucked, for whatever reason they aren't running that well. they get out run by gnassasi cars and even buescher sometimes. I think jimmie's problems are 2 fold. first crappy HMS cars. next a rules package that isn't his strong suit. if next year is jimmie's last, why not bring chad back for the last year?
 
yeah jimmie explains his driving style, what really led to jimmie running worse was the reduction in horsepower. he explains his style uses a lot of brake, and a careful and controlled throttle off the corner. Last year with even the low downforce rules they were running a lot of throttle through the corners will very little off throttle. This years its blip the throttle slam the throttle all the way down. jimmie feels like his strong suit was on and off throttle driving. The NXS cars drove much like the way the cars do now with less power and more on throttle time. its likely why jimme was not good in the NXS cars and why he avoided driving them.

That is the explanation for most tracks. it doesn't explain why jimmie isn't better on short tracks where those tracks aren't effected so much by the new rules. Heck he doesn't even run well anymore at martinsville.
I also think HMS cars frankly have sucked, for whatever reason they aren't running that well. they get out run by gnassasi cars and even buescher sometimes. I think jimmie's problems are 2 fold. first crappy HMS cars. next a rules package that isn't his strong suit. if next year is jimmie's last, why not bring chad back for the last year?

It’s interesting to hear that. I feel like Kevin Harvick for instance loves to slam it in hard on the corners, hug the bottom, and accelerate off.

Jimmie is saying his strength comes from throttling perfectly through the middle of the corner. Makes sense why he dominated the tracks he did, especially ones like Charlotte and Texas.

I think as well he isn’t used to the aggressiveness of today’s NASCAR. I know we argue about the package, and long for the glory days, but sheesh these guys are absolutely after it the whole time anymore. There are no freebies, almost like IMSA
 
Knaus. Or the lack thereof

The 48 sucked for two years WITH Chad. I think if they had continued to be even mildly successful, they would have stuck together, but once they really started struggling, I think they just used up whatever gas they had in the tank for each other. Better that they part a little early as friends and try to move forward, rather than dragging each other down and end up with a lot of hard feelings. If one or both has success with their new partners, it will only enhance their legacy, just as Gordon did without Evernham, and Evernham did without Gordon.
 
Equal equipment.

Equal equipment would really help ALL of HMS. They are gaining, but they have been showing up at a gun fight with a knife for quite some time now. I KNOW that's not what you meant by your comment, but if it works one way, it works the other way.
 
Equal equipment would really help ALL of HMS. They are gaining, but they have been showing up at a gun fight with a knife for quite some time now. I KNOW that's not what you meant by your comment, but if it works one way, it works the other way.
Bobby has said Jimmie is a mid pack talent driver who has benefited from a good situation. (Yet today's best still are less successful, relatively).

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Equal equipment would really help ALL of HMS. They are gaining, but they have been showing up at a gun fight with a knife for quite some time now. I KNOW that's not what you meant by your comment, but if it works one way, it works the other way.
Driver ability is a factor if all equipment is equal. Laser tech is a bitch for some.
 
Driver ability is a factor if all equipment is equal. Laser tech is a bitch for some.

So your contention is that for about a decade and a half straight, heck lets go back to 1995 with Gordon, that HMS had some special tricks with a car body that NOBODY else figured out that magically worked on about a half dozen different car models and about 100 different rules packages and now can't do because of the laser inspection? You DO realize that the average lifespan of a secret in the NASCAR garage is about two weeks, right? also, In case anybody thinks that before the laser inspection process the teams had TONS of leeway to work with, here is an excerpt from an article explaining why Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte were suspended for six races each in 2007, even though their cars FIT the sophisticated (for it's time) "claw" template template system.

"The penalties stem from failure of the COT Chevrolet Impalas of Gordon and Johnson to pass initial inspection this past Friday for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma.

Both cars fit within the complex "claw" of templates applied by NASCAR at inspection. But NASCAR officials deemed the front fenders of both cars too wide in a small, 10-inch area not touched by the templates.

NASCAR repeatedly has warned teams it will not tolerate rule-bending on its Car of Tomorrow, because one major purpose of the new design is to have uniform bodywork among all competitors.

Darby said the flaring of the front fenders made the overall width of the Gordon and Johnson cars at least one inch wider than NASCAR allows.


Doug Duchardt, Hendrick Motorsports vice president of development and a former racing director at General Motors, said the violation was unintentional, in that the team thought it was free to work within those areas.

"We felt that we could work between the points on the template," Duchardt said at a news conference this past Friday.

But Darby said Tuesday that NASCAR has been very clear both in meetings with teams and with technical bulletins that the dimensions of the COT are precise and definite."

If you honestly think that roughly two decades of record setting performance can be explained solely by some creative bodywork that still fit the templates, I have some magic beans to sell you. :rolleyes:
 
I would love to see JJ test a front running car just so it would stop this argument. He drove an F1 car and was really fast. He drove stadium trucks and just about anything with an engine. I remember JJ outrunning just about everybody on different tracks in his heyday. I think he is probably a talented driver.
 
I would love to see JJ test a front running car just so it would stop this argument. He drove an F1 car and was really fast. He drove stadium trucks and just about anything with an engine. I remember JJ outrunning just about everybody on different tracks in his heyday. I think he is probably a talented driver.

His three teammates are in the Playoffs. Driver, machine, crew, execution, luck...
 
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His three teammates are in the Playoffs. Driver, machine, crew, execution, luck...
I know that ,but this year is somewhat of an outlier in that anything that could go wrong did. I know he hasn’t ran good in awhile but I don’t think it’s entirely on him. Chevrolet as a whole hasn’t ran well and I think that is a major part of the problem. Even his teammates have had a lot of bad stretches this year and I don’t think of them as a threat week in the week out or any of the Chevy teams for that matter.
 
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I think a lot of it has to do with the retirement of Jeff Gordon. Gordon had a lot to say about the cars because he's a little more knowledgeable than Johnson.
 
Nobody is at the top forever.

They aren't that far off from the 24 or 88 honestly.
 
Jimmie said it himself on Jr's podcast ( which was an excellent episode BTW. Didnt know that him and Jr were such good friends for that long a time). I think that ends the debate for me, it came straight from the man himself.
 
Jimmie said it himself on Jr's podcast ( which was an excellent episode BTW. Didnt know that him and Jr were such good friends for that long a time). I think that ends the debate for me, it came straight from the man himself.
yeah that surprised me also the long friendship they had. Sounds like they are closer than ever now that they have fatherhood in common.
 
Nobody is at the top forever.

They aren't that far off from the 24 or 88 honestly.
I don't understand this. The 48 has been faster than the 24 and 88 for over a month... He's been the fastest Hendrick car for a few weeks in a row now. Wrecks and poor finishes are why he's out. He's been arguably the *fastest* Hendrick car for weeks now. I'm surprised people haven't noticed this.

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yeah that surprised me also the long friendship they had. Sounds like they are closer than ever now that they have fatherhood in common.
yah same for me, I didnt know they had known each other and been friendly since Jimmie was in the 57 Kingsford Charcoal car! Blew my mind.
 
I don't understand this. The 48 has been faster than the 24 and 88 for over a month... He's been the fastest Hendrick car for a few weeks in a row now. Wrecks and poor finishes are why he's out. He's been arguably the *fastest* Hendrick car for weeks now. I'm surprised people haven't noticed this.

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I'm not disagreeing with you, finishing is a part of it. :idunno:
 
yeah that surprised me also the long friendship they had. Sounds like they are closer than ever now that they have fatherhood in common.
That seems to be the common trend. Even KB and Harv have seemed to have moved past their differences

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Loved the interview with Jr, but that crap needs to be done when he's in retirement.

Time to change it up. Give Jimmie some tough love -- like Chad used to do to keep him motivated. Grab his face mask like an old-school football coach and get his mind right. Jimmie is living in the past -- needs to be smacked into the present. Making the playoffs, Good -- Missing the playoffs, Bad.

No more switching up coaches or other members of the Team; blaming the machine, driving style, whatever -- all the easy stuff has been done. Time for Jimmie to race and finish competitively or go home and teach his daughters how to race Baja in a Trophy Truck. At this point it's about the next generation, especially if Jimmie is just gonna disappoint in Cup.
 
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