NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson’s slew of career-lows in 2018 shows clear decline

By Asher Fair | Jan 5, 2019

HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Rookie Throwback Chevrolet, sits in his car in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 17, 2018 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Is Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Cup Series career on the decline? Following the 2018 season, the answer to that question seems to be a lot more clear.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson entered the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, his 17th season as a full-time driver in the sport, having never failed to find victory lane in a season in his career.

In fact, Johnson’s 16-year streak of winning at least one race per season, which was the longest active streak among the sport’s drivers and the third longest streak in Cup Series history, was actually a 16-year streak of winning at least two races per season.

Only Richard Petty had a streak of winning at least two races per season as long as Johnson’s. Petty did so in 18 consecutive seasons from 1960 to 1977. The late David Pearson had a 17-year streak of winning at least one race per season from 1964 to 1980, but he only earned one victory in one of those 17 seasons, the 1970 season.

However, Johnson’s streak came to an end in the 2018 season, as he failed to earn a single victory for the first time in his career as a full-time Cup Series driver.

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As a result, many fans have asked one question about the 43-year-old El Cajon, California native: Is Johnson’s career on the decline?

Johnson is currently on a 59-race win drought, which is by far the longest win drought of his career. In fact, the second longest win drought of his career is not even half as long as his active win drought.

The second longest win drought of Johnson’s career is a 24-race win drought. He ended this win drought when he won the October race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 2016 season. Prior to winning this race, he earned his most recent victory in the March race at Auto Club Speedway earlier that season.

Johnson is simply not performing at the level that won him seven championships and earned him 83 victories, and that could literally not be any clearer. In the 2018 season, he recorded career-lows in a number of major statistical categories.

Here is a list of the categories in which Johnson set new career-lows (or tied old career-lows) in the 2018 season.

Wins: 0
Top five finishes: 2
Top 10 finishes: 11 (tied)
Pole positions: 0 (tied)
Laps completed: 9,764
Laps led: 40
Championship standings finish: 14th place
Average starting position: 19.2
Lead-lap finishes: 23

Here is a list of Johnson’s previous career-lows in these categories and the season in which he recorded these career-lows.

Wins: 2 (2011)
Top five finishes: 4 (2017)
Top 10 finishes: 11 (2017)
Pole positions: 0 (2011 and 2017)
Laps completed: 9,893 (2014)
Laps led: 217 (2017)
Championship standings finish: 11th place (2014)
Average starting position: 16.9 (2017)
Lead-lap finishes: 25 (2002 and 2017)

You will notice that he set a decent number of his previous career-lows in recent seasons, mostly the 2017 season. This points to the fact that Johnson’s recent decline in performance is more than just a one-year thing and that his career may very well be on decline.

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It also shows that despite the fact that the Chevrolet teams and drivers struggled mightily throughout the 2018 season with the new Camaro ZL1, their struggle with the new Camaro ZL1 is certainly not the only reason why Johnson’s 16-year streak came to an end in 2018. After all, Johnson’s teammate Chase Elliott still earned three victories, the first three victories of his career, in the 2018 season.

Entering the 2017 season, Johnson’s career-low in top five finishes in a single season was six, which he recorded in the 2002 season. This season was the only season during which he failed to record at least 11 top five finishes. He has now recorded just six top five finishes over the course of the last two seasons.

Also entering the 2017 season, Johnson’s career-low in laps led in a single season was 547, which he recorded in the 2005 season. He has now led just 257 laps, which is not even half of that total, over the course of the last two seasons.

After finishing no lower than sixth place in the championship standings in any of his first 12 seasons as a full-time Cup Series, Johnson has now finished in 10th or worse in the standings in four of the last five seasons.

Finally, after recording an average finishing position of lower than 12.7 in just one of his first 12 seasons, Johnson’s average finishing position of 12.8 in the 2015 season is his highest average finishing position in a single season over the course of the last five seasons.

With all things considered, Johnson’s days of being a championship contender seem to be in the rearview mirror. There will likely be no eight-time Cup Series champion, at least not anytime soon.

Father Time is still undefeated.

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Is Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Cup Series career on the decline following a season during which he set new career-lows in several major statistical categories? The 2019 season should tell us more, and it is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 17 with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Be sure to tune in to this race and all 35 of the other races on the 36-race 2019 schedule.

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