Jimmy 2024

RaceCritter

RaceCritter

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All due respect for his legacy. But in 3 races his average finish is 28+

I didn’t expect him to win but did assume that his talent would keep him in the top 20. And I’m not sure I’ve even heard his name on the broadcasts. I don’t want to say it’s time to let it go but is anyone including Jimmy invested in an outcome at this point or is something else entirely going on?

I’d be jumping up and down with excitement if he got a top 10 so this isn’t disrespecting him. It’s genuine curiosity about that is happening and why because this doesn’t seem like the way to go out. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I think they don’t have the cars figured out yet
 
I hope that’s it and that we see some old Jimmy driving like young Jimmy before the season is out.
 
*Jimmie hasn’t been in a Cup car for an extensive amount of time since his IndyCar excursion, and now that he is back in a limited time at that, he’s come back to an all new Cup car than the last one he raced. I also think LMC is behind, so with those 3 factors going against him, it’s a tough go of it. I never expected him as he came back for Part 2 of his Cup career to even run top 20. 20-25 is where I’d slot him in at this point of his career as a good finish. I don’t even know many races he has left this year
 
Let's remember that Jimmie wasn't exactly setting the world on fire in the cars he spent his whole career in at the end. I don't know what some people were expecting, but I'm seeing EXACTLY what I was expecting to see from him. That's why even though he's earned the right to do this, I really wish he wouldn't.
 
Formerjackman said:
Let's remember that Jimmie wasn't exactly setting the world on fire in the cars he spent his whole career in at the end. I don't know what some people were expecting, but I'm seeing EXACTLY what I was expecting to see from him. That's why even though he's earned the right to do this, I really wish he wouldn't.
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I guess my question is why is he doing it, and is he regretting the decision to get back in the car after all this lackluster success? Or does he really care about the results and is he just out there having fun, regardless of where he’s finishing? Maybe I think differently, but I fully believe he expected to do better, and now he kind of wishes he didn’t return.

Or…is he just trying to gain knowledge about the new car so he knows what to work on and how to make the team cars better?
 
He was sundowning towards the end of his run with HMS already, and now he’s in a car that he has way less experience than the rest of the field in with little practice to make up for it. Still, he loves to race and he’s not actively in the way or screwing up races like he was in his time in IndyCar, so I hope he keeps showing up as long as he feels like.
 
I think Jimmie has every right to have his fun and race. I also think it is a win for fans to have a seven-time champion entering the events, especially when car counts very seldom exceed more than 36 entries. Daytona is the only race this year where I remember any drivers being sent home due to not making the field.

But it is tough to enter a few select events and be as sharp as the weekly competition. There are so many moving parts on the technical side and the needed teamwork. I think a lot of rhythm, momentum, getting everything in sync, etc. has to come together and the teams that are able to show up every week will be better as a result.

It doesn't help his legacy (no pun intended). DW and Petty are two of the other greats that probably hurt their reputations for racing well beyond their prime years. I still remember how great they were in the day, but many younger fans only saw their slower latter years.
 
Greg said:
I think Jimmie has every right to have his fun and race. I also think it is a win for fans to have a seven-time champion entering the events, especially when car counts very seldom exceed more than 36 entries. Daytona is the only race this year where I remember any drivers being sent home due to not making the field.

But it is tough to enter a few select events and be as sharp as the weekly competition. There are so many moving parts on the technical side and the needed teamwork. I think a lot of rhythm, momentum, getting everything in sync, etc. has to come together and the teams that are able to show up every week will be better as a result.

It doesn't help his legacy (no pun intended). DW and Petty are two of the other greats that probably hurt their reputations for racing well beyond their prime years. I still remember how great they were in the day, but many younger fans only saw their slower latter years.
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Well said. He has every right to play, but it's hard to watch arguably the best driver of all time look this bad.
 
I've been a Jimmie Johnson fan since 2002 and wish he would stop driving, if he can't be competitive at dover he shouldn't be driving.
 
There is no one-size-fits-all standard, but I think in most cases the driving skills start declining by the 45th birthday, and Jimmie will be 49 in September.

That is a little confusing because JJ works out and is well conditioned, but age is still and time is an unavoidable thing that only be delayed at the best.
That doesn't mean he will never run up front or even win again but it does become more unlikely with every passing year.

There are some exceptions. Bobby Allison was the oldest Cup champion at 45 years of age, and most everybody knows about Harry Gant winning four in a row at 50 years old (only a mechanical problem prevented him from winning five in a row during that streak).
 
Greg said:
There is no one-size-fits-all standard, but I think in most cases the driving skills start declining by the 45th birthday, and Jimmie will be 49 in September.

That is a little confusing because JJ works out and is well conditioned, but age is still and time is an unavoidable thing that only be delayed at the best.
That doesn't mean he will never run up front or even win again but it does become more unlikely with every passing year.

There are some exceptions. Bobby Allison was the oldest Cup champion at 45 years of age, and most everybody knows about Harry Gant winning four in a row at 50 years old (only a mechanical problem prevented him from winning five in a row during that streak).
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Even with the working out, his mental sharpness, reaction time etc likely is declining a bit.
 
wi_racefan said:
I think with age comes more fear. I think sometimes they don't have the confidence to hang it out like they used to

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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Life is like racing and racing is like like life

One is usually more aware of what can go wrong at an older age and may have seen some heartbreaking moments. The courage to race is still there, but the knowledge might make you think twice before making a move, and that's an additional fraction of a second you don't have. Especially when running near the back around the squirrels.

A younger driver just wants to win and has something to prove, the big wins are still in front of him rather than being behind him.
In many cases he is still considered the underdog.
 
Daytripper said:
Jimmie was never the same after that crash at Pocono. Wrecks like that have a way of changing your life even if you walk away.
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My only counterpoint to that is if the Pocono wreck was so ingrained in the back of his mind, I don't think he does Indycars, especially the ovals. His qualifying run for the 500 was as ballsy as it gets.
 
Daytripper said:
Jimmie was never the same after that crash at Pocono. Wrecks like that have a way of changing your life even if you walk away.
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Yes. And knowing what we know now that wreck almost certainly banged his head up.

Semi-related... my big conspiracy is that NASCAR has/had a big CTE problem that they've been trying to fix for years now. We had a car that could do 200mph qualifying laps on any freshly paved track Darlington and larger. Then without any major incident or reasoning outside of "maybe it'll be better racing", the car speeds dropped massively with the low HP, high drag package. Corner entry speeds went from 210 to 185. I think that cost-cutting and trying different things for better racing are residual benefits NASCAR uses as justification. And this was all when prevalence of CTE's in the football community were hitting the media. Like I said... no smoking gun but a lot of... odd stuff and statistically improbable things happening to what is a relatively small group of guys who've done this professionally for a while compared to the general public. Jimmy Spencer talked about on Dale's podcast he believes he's in early Alzheimer's. Details are fuzzy and rumor-esque, but by all accounts I've heard the Talladega crash of Eric McClure was fatal it just took a long, sad spiral. Carl Edwards retiring at his peak with his wife being a neurologist is also raises some eyebrows. Dick Trickle's manner of suicide is pretty haunting and a bit out there.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I am not sitting in a dark basement studying this stuff all day, but it was a theory I heard and I definitely believe there could be something to it.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Yes. And knowing what we know now that wreck almost certainly banged his head up.

Semi-related... my big conspiracy is that NASCAR has/had a big CTE problem that they've been trying to fix for years now. We had a car that could do 200mph qualifying laps on any freshly paved track Darlington and larger. Then without any major incident or reasoning outside of "maybe it'll be better racing", the car speeds dropped massively with the low HP, high drag package. Corner entry speeds went from 210 to 185. I think that cost-cutting and trying different things for better racing are residual benefits NASCAR uses as justification. And this was all when prevalence of CTE's in the football community were hitting the media. Like I said... no smoking gun but a lot of... odd stuff and statistically improbable things happening to what is a relatively small group of guys who've done this professionally for a while compared to the general public. Jimmy Spencer talked about on Dale's podcast he believes he's in early Alzheimer's. Details are fuzzy and rumor-esque, but by all accounts I've heard the Talladega crash of Eric McClure was fatal it just took a long, sad spiral. Carl Edwards retiring at his peak with his wife being a neurologist is also raises some eyebrows. Dick Trickle's manner of suicide is pretty haunting and a bit out there.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I am not sitting in a dark basement studying this stuff all day, but it was a theory I heard and I definitely believe there could be something to it.
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That's certainly not the craziest thing I'd ever heard. Though I feel like someone would spill the beans if that were the case.
 
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