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No. 48 driver still searching for title after disappointing end to '05
In 2005 Jimmie Johnson went into the final race ranked second in points, the only real threat to eventual champion Tony Stewart.
Johnson didn't want to finish second in the final standings for a third consecutive year. He didn't. Nearly midway into the race, a blown tire forced Johnson's car into the wall and subsequently the garage, where it remained as Stewart cruised to the title. Johnson dropped to fifth in points.
"Looking back, Tony did not have the best night that night and there was an opportunity for us to have a top-three night and maybe be the champion," Johnson said.
So now Johnson goes into 2006 with the same questions that have continued to dog him since he burst onto the scene in 2002: Will you ever win a title? And if so, when?
"I wish that I was a champion," Johnson said. "I'm showing up every day and giving 100 percent and I know my team is. We'll just keep plugging away. It's got to happen sooner or later."
Despite Stewart's seemingly invisibility in '05, Johnson had as good if not better Chase than Stewart leading up to the Homestead finale. He won two races and was the only driver other than Stewart to lead in points in the season's final 10 races.
He was tied in points with Stewart after sweeping Charlotte midway through the Chase and was only 52 points behind going into the final race. Coincidentally, after being knocked out on Lap 127 at Homestead, Johnson finished 127 points out of the lead.
"I think everybody saw the intensity in how bad we wanted the championship last year," Johnson said. "It didn't come through and it was very frustrating going through all that. But it just wasn't our year."
Johnson said any perceivable conflicts between him and crew chief Chad Knaus, particularly stemming from a difference of opinion concerning the tire issue, were untrue, as were the rumors that they had decided to part ways.
"I give Chad a lot of credit for how hard he was working. It just didn't give us the results that we wanted," Johnson said. "There was not any internal talk, there was not any discussion about a different crew chief, ever, and those rumors were something that we kind of laughed about and joked about.
"Last year was tough at the end. We were frustrated. At times it hurt our decision-making process and that's something that we're really focused on this year. If we can stay even-keeled, I think we're going to make better decisions."
Which they hope will lead to their thus unattainable goal.
"I think that every year I'm smarter, the team is smarter and we try to make the changes necessary to win the championship," Johnson said. "So going into this year, we're looking at different ways to approach the season, a different mind set.
"Last year ... we had a lot of time invested in the back of the car to do things, to get the right aero. From that point we've been trying to go to the front of the car ... trying to understand how to make the front of the cars work right so that we can get the right aero attitude back and have the appearance of the 20 [Stewart] and the Roush cars at the end of the season, because they were good and had it really dialed-in right. We were getting it done, but with the back of the cars."
In 2005 Jimmie Johnson went into the final race ranked second in points, the only real threat to eventual champion Tony Stewart.
Johnson didn't want to finish second in the final standings for a third consecutive year. He didn't. Nearly midway into the race, a blown tire forced Johnson's car into the wall and subsequently the garage, where it remained as Stewart cruised to the title. Johnson dropped to fifth in points.
"Looking back, Tony did not have the best night that night and there was an opportunity for us to have a top-three night and maybe be the champion," Johnson said.
So now Johnson goes into 2006 with the same questions that have continued to dog him since he burst onto the scene in 2002: Will you ever win a title? And if so, when?
"I wish that I was a champion," Johnson said. "I'm showing up every day and giving 100 percent and I know my team is. We'll just keep plugging away. It's got to happen sooner or later."
Despite Stewart's seemingly invisibility in '05, Johnson had as good if not better Chase than Stewart leading up to the Homestead finale. He won two races and was the only driver other than Stewart to lead in points in the season's final 10 races.
He was tied in points with Stewart after sweeping Charlotte midway through the Chase and was only 52 points behind going into the final race. Coincidentally, after being knocked out on Lap 127 at Homestead, Johnson finished 127 points out of the lead.
"I think everybody saw the intensity in how bad we wanted the championship last year," Johnson said. "It didn't come through and it was very frustrating going through all that. But it just wasn't our year."
Johnson said any perceivable conflicts between him and crew chief Chad Knaus, particularly stemming from a difference of opinion concerning the tire issue, were untrue, as were the rumors that they had decided to part ways.
"I give Chad a lot of credit for how hard he was working. It just didn't give us the results that we wanted," Johnson said. "There was not any internal talk, there was not any discussion about a different crew chief, ever, and those rumors were something that we kind of laughed about and joked about.
"Last year was tough at the end. We were frustrated. At times it hurt our decision-making process and that's something that we're really focused on this year. If we can stay even-keeled, I think we're going to make better decisions."
Which they hope will lead to their thus unattainable goal.
"I think that every year I'm smarter, the team is smarter and we try to make the changes necessary to win the championship," Johnson said. "So going into this year, we're looking at different ways to approach the season, a different mind set.
"Last year ... we had a lot of time invested in the back of the car to do things, to get the right aero. From that point we've been trying to go to the front of the car ... trying to understand how to make the front of the cars work right so that we can get the right aero attitude back and have the appearance of the 20 [Stewart] and the Roush cars at the end of the season, because they were good and had it really dialed-in right. We were getting it done, but with the back of the cars."