AVONDALE, Ariz. – During the opening laps of last Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson looked like the driver who has won 83 races and a record-tying seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championships.
Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was running in the top -, suggesting that Johnson and crew chief Kevin Meendering might have a car capable of challenging for the win.
But as Johnson lost positions, the handling of his Chevy got positively evil and revealed a problem Hendrick has to solve to make its cars consistently competitive.
“We were very aggressive with the set-up of our car. I think once we took consistent air off the top of it, it just started bouncing and went haywire. That thing was bouncing all over the place once I got to like 15th or 20th on the track.”
Jimmie Johnson, on Friday Afternoon at ISM Raceway before qualifying 15th for Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at 3:30 pm ET on FOX
The challenge is to find a setup that is fast in clean air without being out of control in the dirty air a car encounters mid-pack. At Las Vegas, Johnson finished 19th, the first car one lap down.
“As hard as we try, when the car’s performance is based on over-body downforce, you are never going to change the fact that the leader has better air. I don’t think it matters how big the spoiler is which throws air up higher and then you’ve got these (front drag) ducts that throws it out wider.”
“The way we create downforce is tough. It’s tough to have that consistent downforce in traffic. It’s just the way it is.”
Jimmie Johnson, Driver of the No. 48 for Hendrick Motorsports
To win a record eighth championship, Johnson and his team will have to master the idiosyncrasies of the new rules package. In the past, the ability to adapt to new challenges has been one of Hendrick’s hallmarks.
“I’ll race whatever they bring. I’m here to figure out whatever the rules package is, and I’ve been doing this long enough to have a lot of
downforce , no downforce, a lot of power, no power. We have not gotten off to the start that we expected to.”“Atlanta (a 24th-place result), was pretty rough for us. Vegas we had a lot more speed in the car, but when I lost track position as the race wore on, my car was pretty evil to drive. We are learning each and every step. We have been off to a good start here in Phoenix. I know it’s way different than that other package, but we’re learning as we go, and we just have to do a better job and get better.”
Jimmie Johnson on learning the new Aero package in the NASCAR Cup Series