Jimmie Johnson eyes return to form at Martinsville

Mired in a prolonged slump and now dealing with the aftermath of his longtime sponsor leaving at the end of the season, Jimmie Johnson is facing a set of circumstances unlike any he’s encountered in a career filled with a multitude of race wins and NASCAR Cup Series championships.

It has been 28 races since Johnson last visited victory lane, the longest winless streak of his career, and until finishing ninth a week ago at Auto Club Speedway he had gone 10 races without a top 10, another career-worst stretch. For a driver often nicknamed “Superman,” his recent results are more akin to something Clark Kent would generate.

Amidst a decline in Johnson’s performance accompanied with Hendrick Motorsports going through its own struggles and Lowe’s announcing last week it would end its 18-year sponsorship of the No. 48 team, questions have naturally arisen whether the 42-year-old Johnson may be past his prime and should consider retirement.

To those who wonder, Johnson has been absolute in his response. Not only will he continue to race, he will do so at the customarily high level that’s marked his career.

“Retirement hasn’t been on my mind,” Johnson said. “I want to win. I want to win an eighth championship.

“It’s really my desire to compete and to compete at a high level. I’m not done yet.”

Nevertheless, an unfamiliar air of negativity is emanating around Johnson and the No. 48 team. Skepticism is understandable to some degree considering the results are no longer coming with the same frequency and with Johnson being at an age when a drivers’ skillset often begins to diminish.

If there is a way for Johnson to silence the critics and naysayers it is by winning. And an ideal venue to do just that awaits Sunday when the Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the first short track race of the season, the STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1).

Call it the NASCAR equivalent of comfort food for the seven-time champion.

“I always look forward to racing at Martinsville,” Johnson said. “It suits our team’s style and it’s one of our favorite tracks -- you feel like you have stepped back in time when you walk in there.”

Johnson’s optimism is aided by Martinsville being vastly different than most other tracks on the Cup Series calendar. Aerodynamics is a secondary factor on the Virginia half-mile bullring with a layout resembling a paperclip. Significant as Hendrick still acclimates to a new Chevrolet body style and an offseason reshuffling of personnel that has yet to curb the organization’s recent overall downturn.

“I think there will still be a month or two before we can really see the fruit that this is going to provide for us and see what we can produce working even closer together,” Johnson said. “I still see a lot of growth for Hendrick Motorsports this first half of the year.”

The key to success at Martinsville is striking a balance on when to brake and how hard entering its flat corners, conserving one’s equipment over the long green-flag runs that tend to occur while also avoiding the mayhem that can quickly break out due to the tight quarters and leave cars appearing as if were taken from a junkyard.

Johnson has proven adept at mastering Martinsville’s many nuances. He leads all active drivers in wins (nine), top-five finishes (19), top-10s finishes (24) and his 2,862 laps led is more than double second-best Kyle Busch (1,394).

Ordinarily, such gaudy statistics would make Johnson the heavy favorite to win Sunday. Except the current abnormal form exhibited by Johnson and the No. 48 team, a win doesn’t feel like a realistic possibility despite the sterling record on the historic track that’s hosted NASCAR since just after the end of World War II. These are anything but normal times for the driver and team that once ruled supreme unlike any other in the sport’s history.

“We are chipping away and still working hard,” Johnson said. “The small victories we had last weekend are good signs we are moving in the right direction -- we know there is still a lot of work to do.”