"We had been chasing that 200th for a while. That win took us way longer than it should have. But I'd watched a lot of others win in these kinds of moments for the company and I wanted one of those."
Jimmie Johnson
Editor’s note: This is the 14th in a 40-part series highlighting 40 of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports to finish its 40th anniversary season. A new installment will be released each day from Nov. 22, 2024 through New Year’s Eve. Votes were taken from Hendrick Motorsports employees as well as representatives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Racing Insights with all unanimous selections being ushered in automatically. The remaining wins were deliberated and decided upon by a small panel.
CONCORD, N.C. - With the way Jimmie Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and the No. 48 team stacked wins and championships over the years, a 16-race winless streak seemed like a decade.
And with a milestone moment hanging in the balance, pushed back with each empty trip to the race track, that pressure only compounded.
So, when Johnson earned the 199th victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Kansas Speedway in Oct. of 2011, few could've guessed the organization would enter Southern 500 weekend at Darlington Raceway in May of the next year still searching for No. 200.
"We were in a deficit as a company," Knaus remembered in an interview this week. "We couldn't seem to break that 199. It was so tough, and we were clamoring to get there. Then we get that and we go for one of our longest losing streaks at the time with the 48. It was really challenging. Those are hard."
Only twice before in Johnson's illustrious career had he gone 16 or more events without a win. The first of those stretches was a 20-race drought across 2002 and 2003 and the second had come in a 21-event winless streak in in the middle of 2011.
All told, Johnson had won just once in his prior 38 starts as the NASCAR Cup Series.
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| RACE FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Date: | May 12, 2012 |
| Venue: | Darlington Raceway (Southern 500) |
| Winner: | Jimmie Johnson |
| Hendrick Motorsports win: | No. 200 |
| Laps led by winner: | 134 |
| Starting position of winner: | 2nd |
| Top 10: | 1. Jimmie Johnson; 2. Denny Hamlin; 3. Tony Stewart; 4. Kyle Busch; 5. Martin Truex Jr.; 6. Matt Kenseth; 7. Carl Edwards; 8. Kasey Kahne; 9. Marcos Ambrose; 10. Joey Logano |
| Did you know? | Johnson would go on to win four more times in 2012 and the following year would win the DAYTONA 500 en route to his sixth NASCAR Cup Series championship. |
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For seven long months, 16 stops on the schedule which included the '11-'12 offseason, Hendrick Motorsports had been chasing 200. But while the Lady in Black has often been Too Tough to Tame for most, she's usually greeted Hendrick Motorsports with open arms. The company's 12 wins in the Southern 500 are the most of any organization by four.
As for Johnson, he'd been a bit hit-and-miss at Darlington. He'd swept two events at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval in 2004 but had cracked the top 10 just once in the four events leading into 2012, a runner-up showing in May of 2009.
But history was meaningless as far as Johnson was concerned. The drought had only intensified his drive and he knew there was no more appropriate time to score No. 200 than that weekend.
"I know at Hendrick Motorsports, there's something weird in the water over there where these monumental moments just happen, especially on anniversary dates and in big races and things," Johnson said in a phone interview this week. "We had been chasing that 200th for a while. That win took us way longer than it should have. But I'd watched a lot of others win in these kinds of moments for the company and I wanted one of those."
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It was apparent early in the weekend that Johnson just might have the car to do it. He put the 48 on the outside of the front row in qualifying and fired off alongside pole-sitter, Greg Biffle. Johnson led intermittently throughout the event, pacing the most circuits with 134.
But no Southern 500 is ever cut and dried and a relatively tame race slowly devolved into chaos as the closing laps arrived.
Bobby Labonte spun out with 70 laps to go with Martin Truex Jr. leading and Johnson showing third. Just nine laps later, the yellow waved again, this time for a Regan Smith crash with Johnson running second.
"A lot of years, we would roll into those (crown jewel) events and it was like, ‘One of these Hendrick cars is rolling out of here with a victory, it better be me.’"
Jimmie Johnson
Knaus knew then that the winning moment had arrived.
Late cautions tend to create more cautions and he was banking on it. So, even three laps short on fuel at the time, Knaus left Johnson on the race track and he inherited the lead as Truex peeled away, headed for pit lane.
"We had a mixed bag of performance at that race track; we were good sometimes and not so good other times but the one thing the 48 was always good at was being a good closer, being there at the end of the races," Knaus said. "We were able to get ourselves in position at the end of the race and Jimmie was very comfortable."
Well, maybe not necessarily during caution laps as the in-car, TV camera depicted Johnson shutting the engine off and on, cruising down straightaways to save every precious drop.
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But as Knaus expected, the field wasn't done crashing. And those caution laps proved vital in saving enough.
Kyle Busch, who'd also stayed out under the last caution, was able to wrestle the lead away from Johnson but the yellow waved again with 52 laps to go when Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger crashed. Johnson snatched the lead back for the final time just a few laps after the ensuing restart.
But the 48 team would be faced with one more hurdle to clear - a green-white-checkered finish after a crash between Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch with seven laps to go. Hard-charging Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin lined up just behind Johnson, however, that quickly turned into a battle for second place as the race went green and Johnson pulled away, putting an end to the organization's quest for its coveted 200th win.
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It would mark a turning point for Johnson as he'd win four more races that season and a championship the following year.
Team owner Rick Hendrick was in attendance to help celebrate.
"It's hard to describe how special that one is, it's forever on the wall," Johnson said. "I was so stoked to get it. And to get the 200th in the Southern 500, a crown jewel event, too, it was awesome."
And those crown jewel victories can be found littered throughout the company's win total with several belonging to Johnson. In addition to having the most Southern 500s, Hendrick Motorsports has also won the most Brickyard 400s (11), Coca-Cola 600s (12) and is tied for the most DAYTONA 500 wins with nine. Johnson, for his part, collected 12 combined victories in those events with at least two in each.
“They stick out,” Johnson admitted. “It’s wild looking back now and reflecting on how hard they were to achieve but in the moment it’s so busy and you get into this rhythm and flow from week to week. A lot of years, we would roll into those events, and it was like, ‘One of these Hendrick cars is rolling out of here with a victory, it better be me.’ It wasn’t arrogance but it was just this legit confidence we had at those bigger races.”