Jimmie Johnson has been down – but not out – before.
Three times he’s fallen to ninth in the championship standings, twice in 2004 when he scratched his way back to finish runner-up to Kurt Busch. Johnson opened the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ninth after a 39th-place finish in 2006, the season in which he claimed the first of five consecutive titles.
Two races into this year’s postseason, Johnson finds himself at an all-time Chase low of 10th, 29 points behind leader Tony Stewart.
The deficit doesn’t seem like much at first glance but consider:
• Those 29 points represent roughly 120 points under the previous system.
• He’s more than half a race in the hole, points-wise.
• Even more disturbing, Johnson cannot race his way to the lead without help. Wishing for nine rivals to stumble over the course of eight races may be an extremely tall order.
All that may have prompted this tweet from Chase rival Brad Keselowski on Tuesday afternoon, moments after ESPN announced that the ratings for Sunday’s New Hampshire race were up from last season: “I think ratings are up cuz [sic] it doesn’t look like J.J. will win it again.”
Humorous trash talking aside, Johnson has another reason to smile. Dover International Speedway is one of the California native’s best tracks. He has won three of the last five races and six times overall, and has posted eight top fives and 13 top 10s along with three Coors Light Poles. Johnson owns a series-best Driver Rating of 117.4 at the Monster Mile, where he finished ninth in May.
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