NASCAR
Will Chicagoland Speedway Be a Change of Luck for Jimmie Johnson and the 48 Team?
There are only 3 active tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series where Jimmie Johnson has never won. 1 of them is Chicagoland Speedway. The Illinois mile-and-a-half track will be the site of Sunday’s Overton’s 400, the 17th race of 2018. There are some reasons for team 48 to be optimistic this weekend. This comes in spite of the 7-time champion looking for his first win in over a year.
Jimmie’s Mixed Results at Chicagoland Speedway
In 16 career starts at Chicagoland, Jimmie and the 48 team have 7 top 5s, 11 top 10s, and 695 laps led. 2 years ago, Johnson looked to be on his way to victory lane in the Windy City. Despite that, a late pit road speeding penalty cost him the win. The major penalty also came after leading a race-high 118 laps that day.
Hendrick Motorsports has been uncharacteristically absent from victory lane this season. Even without any wins, the 48 car has been slowly gaining on the front runners. Jimmie has not finished worse than 20th since Texas in April. That 9 race span has seen the 48 score 5 top 10s, and rise to 13th on the Playoff Grid.
Is Jimmie’s 2018 a Repeat of Kyle Busch’s 2017?
With the halfway point of 2018 quickly approaching, Hendrick Motorsports’ results are eerily similar to Joe Gibbs Racing’s stats a season ago. The parallels between teams goes even further. Jimmie Johnson’s 2018 is comparable to Kyle Busch’s first half of last year. Kyle went through the longest winless streak of his career to start 2017, much like Jimmie in 2018. Kyle would get his first of 5 wins last year in race 21 of the season at Pocono. A similar season has occurred so far for the 48 car. Only time will tell if Johnson can repeat Busch’s Playoff performance.
Chicagoland Weekend Off to a Good Start for Hendrick Motorsports
Practice on Saturday was a high point of 2018 for Hendrick Motorsports as well. Jimmie and the 48 team led much of the first morning session, until Ryan Blaney ran a faster lap at the end of practice. That session would end with Jimmie having the 2nd-fastest lap time, right ahead of teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman.
This blistering pace from practice would not translate over to qualifying for the entire Hendrick team however. Chase Elliott would lead the 4-driver team at Chicagoland by qualifying in 3rd. Not far behind the 9 was rookie teammate William Byron, who will start 9th on Sunday. Cars 88 and 48 had more disappointing runs in qualifying though, slotting in 17th and 22nd respectively.
Would Jimmie go on to win, it will be his 84th career NASCAR Cup Series win. This would tie him with Darrell Waltrip for 4th on the all-time winners list. It would also be win number 250 for Hendrick Motorsports.
Only 400 miles of racing now stand between Jimmie Johnson and victory lane at Chicagoland Speedway. Johnson’s Las Vegas odds to win at Chicagoland are 30-1, so he has a good chance at toppling the ‘Big 3’ drivers of 2018 on Sunday.
