For a good portion of the race on September 18, fans of NASCAR could feel that same terrible pain rising up in their stomachs once again. More than halfway through the race, Jimmy Johnson was sitting in the lead and pulling away from the field. For a sport in need of an interjection of something different, it could not have been a more disheartening sight. Then as the laps clicked down to the finish, something exciting happened. Jimmy Johnson’s lucky horseshoe started to run out of gas and left him to a tenth place finish.
Even better than that, Johnson was relegated to eighth overall in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s ten race showdown to name the 2011 champion for its sport. Though only 16 points back according to ESPN’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings, it marks an unknown occurrence for Johnson and his team during the chase. They are usually the ones that have just enough gas left or somehow skirt that big wreck that hits the other contenders.
For many race fans, it was a welcome sight to see. Having Johnson winning five times straight titles has not been a popular thing to most of its loyal followers. Sure when he won the first one or two it was cool to see, but as time has worn on and the streak has reached five, the fan base has become bored. Watching the same race team ending the season on top has also caused changes for NASCAR and not good ones.
NASCAR’s ratings have slowly declined during the time period and Johnson’s reign has to figure in it. Jimmy is not Dale Earnhardt or one of the other adored racers that toil for NASCAR. He is also not the super villain like Kyle Busch is made out to be sometimes. Johnson is a relatively boring personality that people don’t seem to like, but don’t hate. He can come off as arrogant at points and he certainly grates on people when he complains about tactics that he himself uses as well.
For the historical racing fan, his run of titles is also not that impressive as well. In interviews, Johnson will mention how incredibly difficult a feat it was to accomplish, but was it and should he be mentioned in the same sentence with Richard Petty? Under the old system, a racer had to win the points standing through the entire season. Johnson has on several occasions has won titles based on the ten race format and having points reset. Imagine Petty’s record and how many more titles he would have had if a ten race stretch at the end of the season decided it?
As NASCAR and its brass watch their ten race showdown with great intent, they have to be hoping in the back of their mind that Johnson finishes out of that top position. The sport needs a new face to emerge and possibly re-energize that edge fan base that has left the sport in recent years because of the same old, same old. The time has come for that five time nickname to be retired and have a new cowboy take over as king of the mountain.