The most races Jimmie Johnson has ever gone in his Sprint Cup Series career without winning a race is 19. But do you remember the last time Johnson won?
Jimmie Johnson On Second-Longest Winless Streak Of Career; Is He Worried?
The answer was at Dover in last year’s Chase. His mini-“slump” means Johnson has now gone 15 races without winning, which is tied for the second-longest drought of his career.
Johnson, though, said he’s hardly worried that he has yet to win in 2011.
“I’m sure the question will be asked, and it’s already swirling a little bit, but we’re only six races into the season,” he said. “I took that big trophy home at the end of last year, so I’m not too concerned.”
This is Johnson's 10th full season in NASCAR, and there have been only three occasions where his first win of the year came later than the sixth race: 2002, 2003 and 2008.
Actually, make that four: 2011.
“I feel like we’ve been knocking on the door,” he said. “We’ve had three real opportunities to win and made some mistakes. I’m responsible for two of the mistakes – one at Martinsville and one at California. Looking back, I could have done things a little differently to keep Kevin (Harvick) behind me at California.”
But Johnson said he firmly believed that as long as he continued to run in the top five, “you’re going to have your fair share of wins.”
He also said his drought – which is tiny by the standards of most every other driver – shows how difficult it is to win in the Sprint Cup Series.
“We preach it all the time, how difficult it is to win races and championships,” he said. “I don’t know if people wanted to believe me, especially when we were on our roll. It is very, very tough to do. This year is proof of that to an even further extent.”
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