Jimmie Johnson seeks Daytona 500 glory as a last link to bygone era

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson’s contemporaries from his sport’s heyday are all but gone.

Pictures in a frame. Names on a trophy. Plaques in the Hall of Fame.

All remain faces of the sport, most just sans helmet and fire suit.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick are on TV. Jeff Gordon is a big wig at Hendricks Motorsports. Tony Stewart pilots dragsters and returned from a decades-long absence Friday at Daytona International Speedway to race trucks.

While Denny Hamlin, 45, and Kyle Busch, 40, remain relevant, Johnson in many ways is the last of the Mohicans. He’s a final touch point to a bygone era in the aughts, when ratings soared, sponsors flocked to the sport and fans flooded race tracks — old and new, coast to coast.

But his 23rd appearance in Sunday’s Daytona 500 isn’t ceremonial. Winless since 2017, including his final three full-time seasons on the Cup Series, Johnson aims to match the late Bobby Allison as the only 50-year-old to win the Great American Race.

“I finished third last year,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Sweeping changes to the car and the rule book have done little to change restrictor-plate racing on superspeedways since he won his first of two Daytona 500s in 2006 — 20 years ago.

“In the 25 years, I’ve been driving these types of tracks, the game’s changed, like 5%,” he said. “The elements of the draft are still the same.”

Johnson’s beard is more salt than pepper, and his piercing brown eyes are framed by lines. But his body remains lean and fit, and his engineering mind sharp as ever.

Fresh are the memories of Johnson’s 2006 Daytona 500 win, which ignited the greatest run of championship success in NASCAR history — featuring an unprecedented five consecutive Cup Series titles.

The iconic No. 48 car’s race team arrived to Florida’s Surf Coast in 2006 after coming up short of a season championship the previous two years. Kurt Busch nipped Johnson by eight points in 2004, followed by Stewart’s 52-point margin in 2005.

Those close calls spurred hard conversations after the ’05 disappointment.

“There was a lot of tension internally,” Johnson recalled.

Johnson, a 31-year-old rising star, and his strong-willed, 35-year-old crew chief Chad Knaus set aside enough differences to win 18 times from 2002-05. Yet, the duo had competing visions of the team’s direction.

Knaus involved himself in every aspect of the operation to prevent strategy and testing results from leaking. Johnson felt the team would be best served if Knaus delegated.

“Chad didn’t want his secrets getting out,” Johnson said. “We had this siloed world — our testing team and racing team. Chad was worn so thin. It was holding him back and holding us back.”

Knaus dismissed Johnson’s suggestions, causing friction.

Hall of Fame owner Rick Hendricks finally stepped in. Johnson and Knaus arrived to his office to find chocolate chip cookies, on a Mickey Mouse plate, and glasses of milk awaiting.

The message: Quit acting like children.

“The lesson was about empowering others and trusting others,” Johnson said.

A Daytona 500 win validated the restructuring. After a runner-up finish the next week in Fontana, California, and win in Las Vegas, Johnson’s historic run was underway.

“It was such a fortifying moment for us as a group,” he said. “That whole dynamic created what the 48 became.”

NASCAR had never witnessed anything like it. Johnson recorded 35 wins and 81 top-five finishes in 160 races to sit atop the final standings from 2006-10.

Along the way, Knaus found gray areas on the black asphalt, was penalized for rules infractions and even suspended.

“Chad’s brilliance, because the rule book was quite thin, he was truly a rule maker,” Johnson said. “He did break a rule or two along the way. But think of how many times people thought we were in hot water and caught and doing something wrong, and once they got in there and read the rules a little closer, ‘Well, damn, they got us again. So let’s write a new rule.’ And then that next Monday, a new rule would come out.

“That innovation was something I was able to exploit — and we made such a great team.”

The No. 48’s team’s genius emerged late in races.

“I lived it — not on the good side like he did,” said Joey Logano, a rookie in 2009. “He and Chad had things really well figured out to where they always were there. They always figured out how to finish great even when they had an off day. They didn’t have many.”

Now a car owner at Legacy Motor Club, Johnson recognizes he and Knaus would have far fewer advantages in today’s NASCAR.

Decision-makers pushed for uniform cars to spur competition, culminating with the Gen 7 model introduced in 2022. That season produced 19 distinct winners — the most since 2001.

“Back then things were different; the teams could build extremely fast race cars,” said Hamlin, who is coming off a six-win season. “The advantages your team could build into your car were just a lot bigger. You can’t build that much speed in your car like you could back then.”

Hamlin’s success with Joe Gibbs Racing shows the top teams rise. The 2025 season produced 15 distinct winners, one fewer than during Johnson’s 10-win 2007 campaign.

Vast resources and extensive research and development allowed the No. 48 team to test 22 times, “to get it right,” Johnson recalled.

Trial and error on race simulators doesn’t provide the feedback familiar to Johnson, who cut his teeth racing motorcycles and trucks in the Southern California desert.

Johnson will race trucks in the Las Vegas foothills March 4-8 during the storied Mint 400 off-road trucks race. His NASCAR schedule will be sparse as he focuses on his Legacy team’s success.

“For the company, I’m better out of the car than in the car,” he said.

Few have been better than when Johnson was in full flight. The 83-time winner redefined a sport’s standards.

Not everyone cheered his success.

Sponsors embraced Johnson, who was telegenic, polished and charming at a time the sport was reaching new fans. The appeal was lost on holdovers accustomed to drivers rough around the edges, with a Southern drawl, drinking a beer in Victory Lane.

In time, Johnson won over the masses. Appreciation grew for his accomplishments, presence and generosity with younger drivers, like 19-year-old Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch.

“I always loved Jimmy. He was just one of a kind,” Zilisch said. “He always walks up and says hello. It makes younger me proud to have cheered for him, just because he’s such a good person — and he’s done a lot for the sport.”

Johnson appreciates the respect within the garage and the increasing fanfare during the twilight of a Hall of Fame career. Starting alongside Zilisch in Row 16 Sunday, Johnson’s No. 84 Toyota will have considerable support from the sold-out grandstands.

“It does seem to resonate more and is honored more, maybe now than then,” he said. “For the public to weigh in now, it’s kind of an evergreen gift.”

Johnson hopes to give onlookers a parting gift Sunday with an improbable Daytona 500 win.

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