CONCORD, N.C. – With Jeff Gordon’s 2015 graduation from full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, veteran Jimmie Johnson will now step up to take the senior class title among the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
“We will all be looking to Jimmie,” teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “He is sort of the leader of the pack. We kind of took a lot of cues from Jeff when he was in the driver’s seat over the years and we will do the same with Jimmie.”
With a total of 75 wins and six NASCAR Sprint Cup championships to his name, Johnson already boasts an impressive resume as a driver. He won the championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013. He amassed five wins during the 2015 season -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway, both races at Texas Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Dover International Speedway.
“Jimmie is sort of the senior authority and rightly so with all of his championships and everything,” Earnhardt said. “He has done a lot for the company. He is a great guy to lean on, and an awesome guy to be teammates with too.”
Johnson, however, was perhaps a bit surprised upon learning of his new class ranking.
“Learning that I’m evolving into the senior role at Hendrick Motorsports, I didn’t necessarily see that coming,” he admitted. “But it is there and I’ve already seen a small change in things in the way I see my role and what I’m going to be responsible for next year.”
Some of those new responsibilities involve helping the newest member of the Hendrick Motorsports team, Chase Elliott.
“I think he’s a great talent and that’s going to do a really, really, really good job,” he said.
However, he said it might take some time for him to get accustomed to seeing a different face inside the No. 24 Chevrolet SS this season.
“It’s so weird seeing him (No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson) talking to Chase and it’s not Jeff standing there,” Johnson said. “I know I’m going to have a few double- and triple-takes when I see him inside the No. 24 and it’s not the face I’m used to seeing. It’s going to be a slow process, I think, for us all to wrap our heads around it.”
While learning to handle all of his new responsibilities within the organization, Johnson said he’s thankful to have been at Hendrick Motorsports his whole career.
“I still can remember being called the rookie, the young guy, and now all of a sudden I’m the veteran,” he said. “So it’s been a weird transition, but one I feel up to. I feel like I’ve been able to learn a lot from Jeff.”
And over the past couple months, Johnson and Gordon have been discussing what some of Gordon’s roles were within the company over the past two-plus decades at Hendrick Motorsports.
“The discussions he’s had with the department heads and (Hendrick Motorsports owner) Rick (Hendrick) and where things are going,” Johnson said of Gordon’s involvement with the organization. “He has a much larger snapshot of what’s going on. For me, it’s just been 48 (team) and a little bit of 88 (team). So my scope has definitely broadened.”
There’s no doubt that 2016 will be a season of learning as Johnson settles into his new role and also chases his seventh championship, which would tie him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty.
“I guess I’m going to be learning as the year goes on and what it’s like without Jeff,” he continued. “What it’s like to wear the shoes that he has at Hendrick Motorsports, to some respect.”