January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Jimmie Johnson's start is stalled
Normally, such a statistic should be a sign Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team are in prime position to take advantage - run well or extend the streak.
However, this season so far has been anything but normal for Johnson.
Entering Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway - the sixth race of the Sprint Cup Series season - Johnson has one top-10 finish and lies outside the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
The two-time series champion is 13th in points, 14 behind current 12th place holder Martin Truex Jr.
Three times this season Johnson has started from the pole, but so far California (a second) is the only race he finished anywhere near where he started.
Johnson also entered Las Vegas Motor Speedway this season on the heels of three consecutive wins. He left with a humbling 29th place finish. He appeared headed to a top-10 at Bristol, Tenn., only to see a late-race flat tyre put him two laps down.
"We're not excited to be driving our hearts out to finish 13th at Atlanta and then the week before at Vegas was a disaster. We're not happy to be in that position but it's racing. Everybody goes through lulls," said Johnson, who has 33 wins in 224 career starts.
"It's uncharacteristic for us to start the season like that. I think it's probably the first one for the No. 48 car, but it is what it is and we feel like in the last few weeks we've identified the problem and the areas where we need to work and we're making good gains."
Johnson is by no means alone in his struggles at Hendrick.
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon is 14th in points with two top-10s in the first five races and Casey Mears is 33rd in points with no top-10s.
Only new teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. has found any consistent success so far in 2008. He's fifth in points with four top-10 and three top-five finishes. None of the Hendrick drivers have won yet.
The slow start is uncharacteristic for Johnson and his team.
In each of his past four seasons, Johnson had at least one victory headed into the season's sixth race. Until this year, every season since he became fulltime in 2002 he's had top-10s in the first five races.
"I know what Chad (Knaus, crew chief) can do and he knows what I can do. It's not like those issues that you might have with a young team and driver pointing fingers at each other saying it's his problem (or) it's his problem," Johnson said.
"We're in this thing together and we're making it better each week. And the confidence carries us through the tough times. It questions you. But the confidence from success carries us through."
Johnson said his team went through a similar experience in the 2005 season when they had trouble adjusting to increased reliance on coil binding of springs that many teams were utilizing.
"I feel like this car is doing that and we're going down that same road right now. Once we get it, we're going to be right on top of things," Johnson said.
In the meantime the No. 48 is not resting on its championships.
The team planned to test at Kentucky Speedway on Monday, but weather conditions prevented that. It also scheduled a test before Martinsville at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
"We're working really hard to get back to where these expectations are," Johnson said. "We've set our own expectations, too."[[In-content Ad]]
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