Johnson chasing 8th title, racing immortality – La Crosse Tribune

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jimmie Johnson might have had an easier time had his 6-year-old daughter asked for help with a school art project. Genevieve Johnson instead left dad briefly bewildered with a messier question:

At school, the kids are asking her, saying, Your dads famous, Johnson said. How do you answer that question?

Does your dad dress in a Lowes fire suit, slide into the No. 48 Chevrolet and race on national television every weekend? Does your dad have more than 2.3 million Twitter followers, is he besieged by autograph seekers and asked to voice cartoons on the Disney Channel?

Yes, Genevieve, your father is famous.

But the more contemplative question is this: Is Johnson the greatest to ever drive a stock car? That answer is up for debate, though arguments for other contenders thin as Johnson continues to add to his championship collection.

Seven of em, if youve lost count.

An eighth would push Johnson past Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most ever, leaving him alone as NASCARs greatest.

Johnsons shot at history hit him in 2010 when he won his fifth straight Cup title and talk about chasing eight intensified. He won his sixth in 2013, and his surprising seventh last year now makes an eighth championship seem more inevitable than a longshot.

With 80 career wins and a pair of Daytona 500 victories, the 41-year-old Johnson wont let the record define him.

No, he said, but Im going to try (and win it), though.

Long before he fires up the Chevy, Johnsons championship pursuit begins near dawn with a run. Johnson long ago traded his race helmet for a bicycle helmet during off-hours at the track and put a twist on his Sunday finish line by running the occasional marathon before a race.

At Daytona, he biked 42 miles on Sunday morning hours before he pulled double duty and raced in the Clash and qualified for the 500. Hes inspired and coached members of the NASCAR family crew chiefs, fellow drivers and helped whip them into shape before he whipped them on the track.

With a wife, two daughters and enough race trophies to stuff a storage unit, the fitness freak has never been happier. Johnson has even won over fans who had grown tired of the 48 dynasty built with team owner Rick Hendrick and crew chief Chad Knaus. Before the championship race at Homestead, Johnson was greeted by fans holding up seven fingers, not the one-finger salute hed grown accustomed to receiving.

I get the respect from being around a long time, now he said. I think the age kind of does something.

NASCAR fans are coming around to what the drivers have known for years Johnson is an easy guy to root for.

I dont know anyone who doesnt like Jimmie, 2010 Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray said. I feel like hes the guy that you would like not to like because he does win all the time. Hes got a beautiful wife. Hes got great-looking kids. He just kind of like has everything. But hes just always so nice.

Life as a stay-at-home dad will be confined to the winter for now. While Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards have called it quits the last two years, Johnson said hes not even thinking of retirement. He loves racing too much.

When it feels like work someday, Ill stop, he said. It hasnt been there yet.

Certainly not when hes coming off a bit of a surprise championship.

Johnson was practically gifted his seventh title when Edwards aggressive attempt to win the championship ended in a wreck. Johnson got the restart of his life in overtime, took the lead on the very last lap, won for the first time in his career at Homestead and grabbed the final Sprint Cup trophy.

Johnson won all his titles in the Chase era and goes for eight under a rules revamp that divided races into segments and every point counts. Who knows? The format could be just the jolt needed for him to win five straight championships for a second time.

If I did it before, I guess it is possible, Johnson said. Its probably not probable. But its certainly possible.

Just keep some fingers free to count more championships.

Continue reading here:

Johnson chasing 8th title, racing immortality - La Crosse Tribune