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NASCAR preview: Does Jimmie Johnson have to win at Texas?

By Brittany Frederick

FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 30: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 30, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 30: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 30, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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NASCAR comes to Texas on Sunday, but is the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 a must-win for Jimmie Johnson if he wants to save his 2019 NASCAR season?

Nothing in NASCAR is more synonymous than Jimmie Johnson and Texas Motor Speedway. The seven-time Cup Series champion is starting on the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, and he’s a statistical favorite to win the race.

Which is good, because Johnson needs a victory today to get back into the conversation.

The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet holds several track records at Texas. No one has more race victories than Johnson, who’s got seven. He also has the most Top 5 finishes, the most Top 10 finishes, and the most laps led. To summarize, he dominates at this venue, and earning the Busch Pole on Saturday puts him in the best possible position to do it again.

But his struggles over the last few seasons have been well documented. Johnson is winless since the Dover spring race in 2017. That’s close to two years without a trip to Victory Lane.

He’s working with a new crew chief, Kevin Meendering, because the battle has been such that the best option in the offseason was for Hendrick Motorsports to break the long-standing partnership between Johnson and Chad Knaus apart.

And so far in the 2019 NASCAR season, he still hasn’t gotten where he ought to be. In six races he has no Top 5 results, and only two in the Top 10. The other four have been 17th or worse.

This is a crucial campaign for Jimmie Johnson. It’s the season where there really isn’t anything left to do but win. If he can’t pull it together now, there’s not much else that he can change. Driving to another victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 would break his drought, earn him valuable points in a championship battle where he’s currently 14th, and most importantly prove to a growing list of doubters and naysayers that he still has what it takes.

Johnson has to deliver a win sometime soon, and Texas is the best place for that to happen. It’s one of his best tracks—he only has more wins at Charlotte and Dover—and Sunday’s lineup has done him a few favors. His teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott will start beside him and behind him respectively, essentially insulating him on the start.

In fact, the front of the field is comprised of less experienced drivers; you have to go all the way back to sixth place and Denny Hamlin to find someone who’s won here before. And the toughest competition, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, struggled in qualifying—they’re 12th and 16th, respectively.

There’s no reason Jimmie Johnson shouldn’t get off to a great start today, and give himself a well established lead on the NASCAR contenders. If he can stay in front and be there when the race is over, then that would take a weight off his shoulders and maybe, just maybe, make fans start to consider if he can become an eight-time NASCAR champion.

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For complete coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 and the entire 2019 NASCAR season, see the NASCAR category at FanSided.

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