Is Jimmie Johnson The Best Ever?
Story and photos by Drew Hierwarter
Just how good is Jimmie Johnson? His win Sunday at
Johnson has now won three of the five races run so far in 2010. Twice before (2002 and 2003) three wins was his total for the entire season. Last year it took until
In 2007 Johnson got his most wins in a single year to date with ten. His third win that year came in race 6 at
Johnson ranks seventh in all time wins at
Johnson has led 1551 laps at
Jason Meyers was the winner in Saturday’s finale of the two-day “Kasey’s King of Bulls Gap Presented By Budweiser” World of Outlaws sprint car race at Volunteer Speedway in
It was Meyers third win of the year and he now has a five point lead in the standings over 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.
After finishing seventh in Friday’s ‘A’ main, the team knew what they had to do for Saturday; “After last night we dug down deep,” said Meyers. “I’ve got to have one of the best teams in the pit area, if not the best. They work so hard and everyone is pulling together and working together to give me the best race car that they can. My hat is off to them. They make my job look easy.”
Meyers started the main event in fourth and moved to third on the opening lap. By the third lap he was second behind Lance Dewease. The field then endured three attempted restarts after a fifth lap caution period. Meyers finally got around Dewease on the 14th of 35 laps and never looked back.
“It kind of worked to my advantage,” Meyers said of the restarts. “I wasn’t getting off the bottom very well and I got two or three chances to do it a little bit differently. Those restarts are always tough. Once it goes single file that makes it a little easier. It certainly was nerve wracking and I imagine it was even more so for Lance (Dewease).”
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Did’nt take time to read article. So I don’t know the contents. I saw the title on Jayski and wanted to comment that The answer to the question in my opinion is NO. I am quite the opposite of a Jimmie Johnson fan, in fact I can’t stand him or his personality, But I will say that he is a VERY good driver. Let’s see how good Jimmie Johnson is when he has to race with another Crew Chief. All of the greats accomplished what they accomplished with multiple crew chiefs. I have a strong speculation that Chad Knaus is making a very good driver look like a great one. As for now, I can only hope that the day when Chad moves on is sooner than later.
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
“Is Jimmie Johnson The Best Ever?” We won’t know until we have seen him run for a different team with a different crewchief.
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:47 am
He’s a good driver, who drives for the biggest cheating crew chief in history. Nobody’s been punished as much as Knaus. His owner should be in jail for that racketeering rap with American Honda. What a motley crew! When Johnson wins 200 races, 7 Championships,7 Daytona 500’s, 123 poles, then come and talk to me about being the Greatest. He couldn’t touch The Silver Fox, Cale,Bobby Allison,Tim Flock etc. either!
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:15 am
Lou, three of the four drivers you mention do indeed rank higher than Johnson on the all-time list. Tim Flock is the only one lower with 39 wins to Johnson’s 50. While it is unlikely that anyone will ever reach Richard Petty and David Pearson on the all-time list, (And there are a myriad of reasons for that which have nothing to do with talent or ability) keep in mind that, in all likelihood, Johnson still has at least another ten years of competitive driving to go. There’s no reason to believe that he can’t surpass Yarborough and Allison. He needs “only” 36 more wins to reach third on the all-time list and at his current pace he could easily do that in just 5 years or less!
There is no certainty in racing, for sure, but given that nothing catastrophic happens to end Johnson’s career early, 86 + wins is a reachable goal.
March 23rd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
The only thing Jimmie is proving is that Jeff Gordon is not the greatest driver ever. The only true measure of who is better than who is drivers who are teammates with the same equipment and shared notes.
November 21st, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Now with 5 in a row, No one will ever come close to that feat. Its funny how the anti-48 fans always try to come up with excuses just to make them feel better about themselves, those are the the clowns who just have no respect to Nascar itself. This kinda reminds me about other dinastys like the Montreal Canadiens (NHL), Yankees (MLB), Edmonton Eskimos (CFL) etc…
All the other opposing teams fan bases couldn’t stand those teams, well same goes for team 48.
So for all the haters, get over it, crying is not going to make your favourite driver any better.
Congrats to Jimmie and Chad and Team 48 and Hendrick Motorsports. You guys earned it.