By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
The struggle has been real for the man who was dubbed Superman not many years ago.
That’s Jimmie Johnson, who entered Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway with not only a 27-race winless drought, but a 10-race span without a top-10 finish.
What a change for seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.
In fact, the early season struggle has been team-wide in 2018, as Hendrick Motorsports has often lacked the top-10 pace that was prevalent throughout past Cup seasons.
But for Johnson, his California hometown advantage led to some morale-boosting speed when the green flag dropped. The No. 48 Chevrolet missed qualifying, as did more than a dozen in the pre-session inspection debacle Friday, and started the event in the rear in 33rd.
Despite the concern from on-lookers, Johnson took to task. By the end of Stage 1 on lap 60, the six-time Auto Club winner was fifth, more than enough to earn his first stage points of 2018. Finishing Stage 2 in seventh, Johnson was set up solid for a top-10 finish.
And it came, as the 42-year-old secured ninth place in the final 68 laps of green-flag racing. The finish, his best of the year, continues a run of three straight top-15 finishes in 2018.
“Each week, we’ve been getting a little bit better,” Johnson said. “We’re definitely not happy with where we are right now but to see the improvements, we’ve been seeing it internally and to make the cars drive better and better and get more competitive.”
With 23 prior starts on the oldest surface in the sport — a driver’s favorite on the schedule — Johnson feared tire issues, which have been common on the wide, hot, bumpy layout. However, the new left-side tire held up to Johnson’s glee.
“It seemed like we had more durability,” he said. That’s something we’re always very scared of here, especially on green-flag stops when those tire pressures are low. We didn’t have that today.”
Dodging issues and gaining traction toward an improvement season in 2018, Johnson feels they’re getting close to returning to those Superman-like winning runs of yesterday.
“A strong day,” he said. “Definitely not where we want to be but we’re getting closer every week. We had a good, solid day and we’ll take it.”