Click.
That’s the sound of Jimmie Johnson flipping his switch just in time for the first race of the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Although Johnson has struggled over the past four races, rattling off uncharacteristic performances of 40th, 36th, 28th and 40th, no driver has dominated NASCAR’s postseason more than the El Cajon, Calif., driver.
Sunday’s GEICO 400 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Chicagoland Speedway, one of only five tracks at which the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has not visited Victory Lane, is Johnson’s first opportunity to turn his fortunes around and regain some of the momentum he had lost — he finished in top 10 in seven of the nine races, including two victories, previous to the last four races.
“There’s always a little concern. Without a doubt you want to enter the Chase with momentum,” Johnson said. “I think every team falls back on past history. We have won championships without momentum going into the first (Chase) race.”
And more times than not, it’s had little impact on where he stood at the end of the season. Matter of fact, only once during his five championship seasons did Johnson enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed — in 2007. In 2006, his first championship year, Johnson entered the Chase in second place (the same spot he holds this year) and finished a dismal 39th in the Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In the last four races of the regular season that year he had only one top 10 (a 10th at Bristol Motor Speedway). To end the season, however, he rattled off a streak of six straight top-10 finishes, including a win and four runner-up performances.
“So we’re going to fall on our experience and also the experience of knowing the Chase is so different than anything else,” Johnson said. “You’re only racing 12 guys, not 43. So things change a lot.”
No other driver has more experience in or knows the Chase better than Johnson. He is the only driver to qualify for all 10 playoffs since the Chase format was instituted in 2004. He also has more wins (22) in the Chase than any other driver; Tony Stewart has the second most with 11.
At the 10 tracks featured in this year’s Chase, Johnson has 34 wins, 90 top fives, 136 top 10s, an average starting position of 10.7, an average finishing position of 10.0, an average running position of 9.4, run 11.2 percent of the fastest laps, run 82.8 percent of the laps in the top 15, run 14.8 percent of the laps in the lead and holds a driver rating of 109.3 — all highs among the 12 drivers in the 2013 postseason.
Johnson’s most dominating Chase appearance came in 2009 when he finished with nine top 10s over the last 10 races, including four wins (he also had four victories in the 2004 and 2008 postseasons). His lone performance outside the top 10 was a 38th-place showing at Texas Motor Speedway where he was involved in an accident with Sam Hornish Jr. on lap 4. He went on to win the title that season by 141 points over then Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin — the biggest points margin since the Chase format was implemented.
Although Johnson has never seized the checkered flag at Chicagoland, he’s finished runner-up there thrice — 2004, 2008 and 2012. In 11 starts at the 1.5-mile track, he has amassed six top fives, nine top 10s and two poles. He’s been running at the finish of 10 of the events he’s started there, finishing on the lead lap in nine of them.
“We have been close so many times at Chicago. We always run well there. I don’t know what it is,” Johnson said. “We just haven’t gotten the win. … It would obviously be a great way to start the Chase.”
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