Chad Knaus praises ‘completely re-dedicated’ Jimmie Johnson for 2018
By Nick Tylwalk
The seven-time champion was just a tad off his game when it mattered in 2017, but his crew chief expects him to bounce back big time.
It was strange to think that Jimmie Johnson wasn’t a factor during the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs, but that was indeed the case. Though he earned his way into the field by winning races in the first half of the season, he faded during the summer, and he wasn’t a threat to win a record eighth championship as Homestead got closer.
That’s not something fans are accustomed to seeing. While no one would dare raise any “jumped the shark” questions about Johnson after one sub-par campaign (by his standards, we mean), it’s natural if fans of the 48 bunch are a little more anxious than usual with Daytona just over a month away.
Fortunately, Johnson’s equally accomplished crew chief is around to make sure no one despairs. Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday (as passed along by NASCAR.com), Chad Knaus told the world to prepare for a reinvigorated Jimmie Johnson once the new season arrives.
"“He’s completely re-dedicated himself to this — and I’m not saying that he wasn’t dedicated last year, because the man was,” Knaus said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I think that anybody that goes out there and drives a race car for 40 weeks in a row basically has got to be dedicated to his craft. There’s just no ifs, ands or buts about that. But he’s got a new emphasis put on it. He wants to go out there and do well. …“You know Jimmie, man, he’s tenacious. And if he can get what he feels what he wants underneath him, I don’t think he can be beaten out there, so it’s good stuff forward.”"
NASCAR.com also mentions a specific way that Johnson, already known for his fanatical devotion to fitness, can actually be more dialed in than he already is: by “spending more time at the shop and dialing back some of his recreational travel” ahead of Speedweeks.
The question, of course, is whether Johnson will have “what he feels what he wants underneath him” in 2018. There’s reason to think he might, as the Chevy drivers will have the new Camaro in their corner this year.
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It’s way too early to know if that will give Johnson an edge he didn’t have in 2017, but given the way Toyota drivers took to the new Camry, there’s every reason to believe it might. In other words, if you’re forgetting Jimmie Johnson when you make your list of 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title contenders, you might want to reconsider that, at least until we see how he and his team come out of the blocks once the races start.