NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson snubbed after legendary career

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was snubbed from the FanSided 250 despite 2020 marking his final season in the sport.

The fifth annual FanSided 250, a huge compilation of fanbases in sports and entertainment that are ranked from #250 the #1 by FanSided, was revealed earlier this week.

After appearing on the list in some form from 2016 to 2018, NASCAR was snubbed in 2019 and snubbed yet again in 2020, despite the fact that it was the first major sport to return to live action amid the coronavirus pandemic and the first to complete a full season as well.

Bubba Wallace was the sport’s lone representative, and his rank was explained using absolutely nothing to do with the actual on-track racing (their explanation, not mine), which says something considering NASCAR is, quite literally, about racing — at least from a fan’s perspective.

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In 2016, NASCAR itself was ranked at #71, and it jumped to #24 in 2017, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ranked #17 among sports figures at #203 overall. While NASCAR itself dropped off the list completely in 2018, Dale Jr. still ended up at #19 among sports figures and #225 overall following his retirement.

But in addition to the snub of Chase Elliott, the sport’s most popular champion since 1988, I want to point out the snub of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, and I want to do so because of his similarities to Earnhardt in 2017/2018.

Johnson announced after the 2019 season ended that the 2020 season would be his last. With him being one of just three seven-time champions the sport has ever seen and just the second to properly retire, that naturally caused the 2020 season to produce a huge farewell tour.

Unfortunately for Johnson, not all the fans that would have liked to see him race one final time got to do so as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. But even with fans watching on-screen, it was still a huge deal, as it should have been.

Apparently that wasn’t enough to warrant a top 250 ranking.

NASCAR isn’t as big as sports like the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc. We get that, and NASCAR fans get that, and we get that this list isn’t all sports-based. Baby Yoda ranked #3, for crying out loud.

But Jimmie Johnson is arguably NASCAR’s greatest driver of all-time. Imagine Tom Brady not being on the list the year he retires (he was, by the way, ranked #24 this year), or LeBron James not being on the list the year he retires (he was #4).

Johnson at least warranted a top 100 ranking, and even a ranking that low doesn’t justify his role in the sport. You’ve got to put some respect on his name and his career at some point.

Sure, he didn’t win or make the playoffs in 2020, but let’s be honest. Would he have ranked with a win?

It doesn’t matter now, but we already know the answer: no, he wouldn’t have. Dale Jr. ranked in 2017 despite not winning nor making the playoffs and again in 2018 despite not even driving.

A lack of a win wasn’t the difference for Johnson. Lack of recognition for NASCAR in general was, and that’s nothing new.

Just look at Elliott’s ranking (or lack thereof), another one which should have easily been a top 100 (at worst) given what he accomplished in 2020 alone.

At the end of the day, the tough reality is that the FanSided 250 is a lost cause for NASCAR, period. After Chase Elliott’s 2020 championship and Jimmie Johnson’s retirement, the fact that they were both omitted from the top 250 shows that there probably isn’t a path for a driver to rank in this annual list for his on-track accomplishments at any point in the near future.