By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
SAN DIEGO – Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson enters Sunday’s race with tremendous gratitude knowing an opportunity to run at a venue 25 minutes away form his hometown of El Cajon, California is here.
Johnson had time to reflect on getting the chance to run close to home knowing there’s tremendous buzz and pageantry within the San Diego community. Everyone knows that NASCAR is indeed racing at Naval Base Coronado and has been welcomed with open arms.
“All the tracks that were here when I was growing are all gone, so be able to be able to bring this temporary street circuit and have it here, it’s a unique opportunity that I never saw coming. I think that it’s really wise for NASCAR to do this,” said Johnson.
“There are so many pockets of race fans around the country that they can’t get close to NASCAR. The amount of race fans here and the racing culture that’s here in the San Diego area is deep. All my off-road friends are here and have never been to a Cup race. This is really going to do well for the racing world.”
Whether it’s last month or this weekend, Johnson has noticed the passion the community has had for the sport to run at a noble venue that’s unlike any other venue in the world of motorsports.
“It’s mind blowing, to see the support. I came out a month ago for some advance media and literally the town was buzzing,” Johnson commented.
“People that didn’t recognize me, but I had my team gear on engaged in conversation with me on it.
“It really has been neat to see in the community and seeing the traffic coming in here this morning, what’s happened here on base and the relationship with the Navy and all the branches that NASCAR and how we represent them every weekend. I think it’s just a great collaboration and certainly hope we come back.”
Johnson ran the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday where he ran in the top-10 for much of the afternoon before an onslaught of problems that were none of his doing relegated him to a 30th place finish.
To many people, it’s an ongoing trend of driver etiquette being out the window to the point that racing with respect is a lost art form.
Johnson explained it’s a generational concern and how they behave on the track isn’t making matters better. Even when Johnson was racing in the then-known as Busch Series, he recalled the amount of times his competitors chewed on him because of how he raced others.
As time have went on, the Californian is left torn on the topic. Not just as a competitor, but also as a team owner of LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.
“I realized that when I was going forward and had a chance to pass them, they could make life really tough on me and if you were respectful of one another and just work together. That’s completely out the window now,” said Johnson.
“I think stage racing and all of these other elements where the car performance and air disadvantage, you can defend a lot more and it’s kind of created this culture. But I wear two hats with my ownership hat. I want the sport to be vibrant and healthy and chaos brings eyeballs. So I’m kind of torn.
“But [Friday] I just couldn’t believe the disrespect that everybody had from the jump. I mean, just gouging each other nonstop and I was up at the front racing away and we were pointing each other by and I was like, this is old school Cup, this makes sense,” Johnson continued.
“The way the fuel cycle worked out I entered mid pack and I look around and I saw these trucks all twisted up, and I thought had had hit the wall, and I guess maybe some did, but it was all from bashing into one another on the track.
“And then I got turned around twice, just last second lunges into areas that nobody should have been. So, it is what it is. When I look at my Instagram feed or my twitter feed and see the local short tracks and behavior there, man it’s just wild. So we’ll see where it goes,” Johnson concluded.
Disappointing result aside, all eyes are towards the 75-lap race, scheduled to be his penultimate Cup race of Johnson’s career, where he’ll roll off 36th out of the 39-car field.
Following San Diego, Johnson will run the 2027 Daytona 500, which is slated to be his final Cup race. But it won’t be the end of his all-around racing career as he plans on doing more racing, including off-road in the foreseeable future.
With his NASCAR driving career nearly ending, again reflection became the word. Prior to this weekend, the NASCAR Classics YouTube channel uploaded a video of Johnson’s Cup debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2001.
Included in the video was Jeff Gordon discussing how the 2000 Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway was the race that caught his attention to Johnson. One thing led to another, Johnson would be signed at Hendrick Motorsports with Gordon co-owning the No. 48 team effort. As the old saying goes, the rest was history.
If there’s a driver Johnson saw potential during his driving career, like Gordon did with him in 2000, it was Ryan Blaney.
Before Team Penske acquired his driving services, Johnson actively pursued the 2023 Cup champion to join Hendrick Motorsports.
“I remember being on track with him early on the moments he took risks versus the moments he knew to ride were pretty smart,” Johnson on Blaney. “It’s one thing to go fast and everyone that gets to the Cup level has plenty of speed, but there’s more strategic thinking, team leadership.
“There are a lot of layers that are required to separate yourself and with Blaney, I saw that early. And through everyone at Hendrick, we were pursuing him pretty hard, but Penske was a step ahead of us and had my locked down. So, we didn’t get that chance.”
Of the current crop of drivers, Johnson noted Cup rookie Connor Zilisch and soon-to-be full-time Cup driver Jesse Love as the two guys with a lot of potential.
“In today’s world, I see a lot of talent, the one difficult thing is knowing how you are going to perform in the Cup car,” said Johnson. “The Truck Series and O’Reilly Series, the platforms of the vehicle and how you generate speed is so different than the Cup car.
“When you look at it, I think the O’Reilly driver moving to Cup the shortest time frame to win is 70 races. I think the average is closer to 100. It just makes it that much more difficult to know who’s going to stand out.”
No matter what happens in the Anduril 250 (Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET on Prime Video) and in next year’s “Great American Race,” Johnson’s head is in the right place.
His 2024 induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame played an instrumental role of looking back at his career with gratitude rather than living too much on those moments.
“The further I get away from my full-time driving the more I’m letting in,” said Johnson. “You are just wired at a young age to always look forward and chase the next opportunity.
“And for me, I try not to live too much I the lows or the highs, I just try to stay steady and look forward. And the Hall of Fame induction really started this process of reflecting and it has nothing to do with being 50, getting old and doing what my Dad did or what my parents have done.
“I’m really letting it in now and enjoying it. Being here and competing at this event and feeling the home vibes is a part of it and the 500 will be the same thing.”
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