Johnson searching for answers
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Jimmie Johnson is fighting a cold.
It’s the kind of debilitating, in-your-throat cold that makes it painful to swallow, much less go for a run. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion tried on a cool morning in the desert but quickly bailed, putting off the resumption of his Boston Marathon training for another day.
As if Johnson doesn’t have enough to deal with right now.
The cold hit him hard last weekend at Las Vegas, when he was in the midst of another ho-hum run in another shaky start to the season for Hendrick Motorsports. But it really whipped Johnson early this week, when the team was turning its attention to today’s race at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.
He has four wins at the track, second only to Kevin Harvick, and that’s a good omen as he tries to end a winless drought stretching 62 points races to his victory at Dover in June 2017.
“The last couple of years we’ve just been off a bit,” Johnson said, “and you can point fingers in a lot of different directions, and believe me we have. And we’ve tried to address everything we think is necessary to get back on top and we’re trending the right way, but not at the pace we want.”
Johnson’s winless season a year ago was his first in 17 full-time seasons with Hendrick, and he later acknowledged it “put a strain” on his relationship with crew chief Chad Knaus. So after working together since his rookie season in 2002, the two split heading into this season.
Johnson’s new crew chief, Kevin Meendering, had worked his way up through the organization, and earned the opportunity to take charge of the No. 48 team. It was no small change: The quirky, sometimes volatile but nevertheless brilliant Knaus had formed a sort of ESP with Johnson where they could often communicate without words, while the more reserved Meendering is temperamentally opposite.
It was an adjustment — a big one — but one that Johnson found rather refreshing.
“They’re definitely different guys,” Johnson said. “Kevin is a quiet guy. He really likes to absorb everything. He doesn’t say a lot but when he does, he’s ready to talk. So there’s maybe less conversation, less being told, but I can see the wheels turning in his brain.”
Busch dominates
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch certainly knows the way to victory lane at ISM Raceway.
Even after the track was reconfigured.
Busch took the lead shortly after the start of the final stage Saturday and cruised to his second consecutive Xfinity Series victory — and his 11th at the mile-long track just outside Phoenix.
“If I’m allowed to race, I’m going to enter a race and try to go out there and win,” said Busch, whose victories at Las Vegas and now this weekend give him 198 in NASCAR’s top three series.
Busch was pushed the first half of the race by Christopher Bell, who won the pole and had been consistently fastest in practice. But everything changed when Stephen Leicht, a car in lapped traffic, blew his engine near the start-finish line and sent a cloud of smoke billowing across the track.
Busch was already ahead of him, but Bell and second-place Justin Allgaier were blinded. Throw in some oil that covered the surface and both of them wound up backing into the wall.
Allgaier managed to finish 14th, one lap down, but Bell’s day was done.
“Christopher was certainly going to give me a run for our money,” Busch said. “I hate that he got caught up in that mess. It was going to be a really fun run to the end there.”
Bell also was dueling Busch in overtime at Las Vegas when he wound up wrecking, making it two straight weeks that he had one of the quickest cars and ended up disappointed.