NASCAR Playoffs: Other drivers warn not to count Jimmie Johnson out

Jimmie Johnson hasn’t led a single lap in months, but in the minds of the other contenders in the NASCAR Playoffs, he’s lurking and ready to strike.

It’s hard to imagine any scenario under which Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, could be considered an underdog. Yet here we are, on the eve of the first race of the NASCAR Playoffs, and Johnson isn’t the first name that comes up when talking about title contenders — or even one of the top three.

Martin Truex Jr. was the best driver during the regular season. Kyle Busch is probably the one with the most momentum going into Chicagoland, and both of them drive Toyotas that appear faster at the moment. Second-place Kyle Larson is going to be a factor, too.

So that gives us three drivers with real chances at the championship, at least as things stand today. But even if sportsbooks are making Johnson the underdog, nearly every driver among the playoff field is counting Johnson among those with a real chance to win it all.

Kevin Harvick certainly isn’t.

“I don’t think you can ever count him out,” Harvick said at the media day for the playoff drivers. “I think as you look at it, obviously the performance hasn’t been what they want or what they need, but you almost have to laugh because you look at it and you would have said the same thing last year. When I clicked on to go through this week’s race from last year and the guys that were running first and second with the 48 and the 24 and you hadn’t seen them all summer and there they are.”

Nor is Kyle Busch, who brought up Jimmie Johnson immediately when asked who he expects to be dueling to the end besides Truex and Larson.

“48,” he said. “Never count ’em out, nope. I’ve had friends over the years that have worked for Hendrick and have worked with the 48 team. They always say, Man, when Chicago comes, whatever the first Chase race is, Jimmie’s got a switch that he flips on, and it’s on. So we’ll see if he can do it again. He has before, right? So don’t count him out.”

Harvick and Busch are referring to the 2016 season, when Johnson went pretty quiet during the summer and looked like he was off the pace enough to be an issue. But when the Chase came around, the 48 found speed it hadn’t before, and the rest was history: three wins over the final 10 races, including a victory at Homestead to seal up his seventh Cup Series championship.

If anything, Johnson’s summer of ’17 has been even worse, with a particularly nasty stretch from Kentucky to Michigan with an average finish of 27th place. Still, the 48 might be turning the corner already after a top-10 finish at Richmond, and of course the driver and crew chief know how to get things done in a number of different championship formats.

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So the seven-time champion might be at 7-to-1 odds to win this year, but that might just mean you can make more of a profit than usual if you back him.

“It’s so unpredictable that there is no telling,” Johnson said when asked about his feelings on his own odds. “I think our chances are really good and we should be in the conversation. I know we need to earn that right to go out and be a part of the conversation. So maybe there is a good bet there to be had.”

That’s as close as you’ll get to Johnson saying that he, too, believes he’s got a real shot. Then again, every other driver is already thinking that.