NASCAR Cup Series: Is Jimmie Johnson washed up?

Jimmie Johnson has not won a NASCAR Cup Series race in nearly two years. Is the seven-time Cup Series champion washed up?

Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson entered the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season on a 23-race win drought, which was the second longest win drought of his career at the time. His victory in the June race at Dover International Speedway in the 2017 season was his most recent victory.

This victory, which was the 83rd of Johnson’s Cup Series career, is still his most recent victory, as his win drought has risen to 61 races, which is more than two and a half times as large as what was previously his career-long win drought, a 24-race win drought.

The 43-year-old El Cajon, California native went on a 24-race win drought during the 2016 season before ultimately emerging as the 2016 Cup Series champion and just the sport’s third seven-time champion.

By extending his win drought, Johnson also ended what was an impressive streak of 16 consecutive seasons during which he earned at least one victory. In fact, this streak, which began when he began competing in the Cup Series on a full-time basis in the 2002 season, was technically a streak of seasons during which he earned at least two victories.

This streak ended at the conclusion of his winless 2018 season, and it ended as the third longest streak of its kind in Cup Series history. Richard Petty won at least one race in 18 consecutive seasons while David Pearson won at least one race in 17 consecutive seasons.

Petty’s 18-year win streak began in the 1960 season and lasted through the 1977 season while Pearson’s 17-year win streak began in the 1964 season and lasted through the 1980 season.

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In addition to his win drought being extended and his win streak ending during it, Johnson’s 2018 season as a whole was by far the worst of his career, and this was the case despite the fact that his 2017 season was also the worst of his career in many ways at the time.

In an article published slightly under two months ago, we detailed nine major statistics in which Johnson set new career-lows during the 2018 season in addition to what his previous career-lows in these statistics were and when he set those previous career-lows. Many of his new career-lows in these statistics were career-lows by far despite the fact that he only recently set his previous career-lows in them prior to the 2018 season.

These statistics point to a clear decline from the seven-time champion. But are we at the point now where Johnson has become truly washed up?

Johnson opened up the 2019 season by winning the Advance Auto Part Clash exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway. But he didn’t do it without causing a wreck involving 17 of the 20 cars in the field that effectively ended the race before the rain began to pour. He then went on to finish in ninth place in the 61st annual Daytona 500 at the track despite the fact that he took a lot of damage in a pit road crash.

The following weekend, Johnson advanced to the third and final qualifying session for the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was the first race on an intermediate track to feature elements of the new aero package.

He qualified in 11th place for this race, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. An 11th place qualifying effort would have been his sixth best qualifying effort of the 36-race 2018 season. He appeared to be off to a good start to the weekend with something to build on for the race itself in an attempt to end what was a career-long 60-race win drought.

But Johnson ended up dropping down the order at a rapid pace before ultimately finishing two laps off the lead in 24th place in his #48 Chevrolet. He was never a factor for even a top 10 finish in the race.

Several people have chalked this up to the idea that Johnson may be getting used to the new aero package. But even if this is the case, there are evidently close to two dozen drivers who have gotten used to it better than he has. Of course, making this judgment based on one race is not completely fair. Whether or not it will truly end up being the case still definitely remains to be determined.

Johnson’s current contract with Hendrick Motorsports, which he signed in June of 2017, runs through the conclusion of the 2020 season. There are a total of 70 Cup Series races on the schedule before that time.

Even given his recent slump, it would be shocking if Johnson did not find victory lane at least once in these 70 races, especially since going winless in all of them would take what is already a lengthy 61-race win drought and turn it into a 131-race win drought.

After, the man is a seven-time champion whose career Cup Series win total of 83 is tied for sixth place on the all-time Cup Series wins list, and as 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick stated, he is a man who deserves more respect for what he has accomplished throughout his career in the sport.

But it does not seem nearly as crazy to believe that Johnson’s days as a regular threat to win races, much less championships, are indeed over. Writing him off as “washed up” would be naive at this point, but not acknowledging the fact that he has become more of an also-ran than a regular contender would be just as naive.

Will Jimmie Johnson get back to victory lane following a NASCAR Cup Series race before he retires from the series, or is he washed up? Will he find a way to become the first driver in Cup Series history to win eight championships?