Is Jimmie Johnson on Gordon and Stewart's level now?

#1
615 Vol

615 Vol

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
7,492
Likes
100
#1
The two names I always hear when people talk about the best driver in NASCAR are Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. It seems that Jimmie's success is always credited to his team and equipment and he is never considered in that class. What would Johnson have to do to get in that discussion?
 
#2
#2
If Johnson wins this championship and give him 2 in a row, and the season he's had with 10 wins, you absolutely have to put him in the class as Stewart and Gordon. Stewart only has 2 titles and has never won 10 races in a single season. Considering the competition, 10 wins in a single season is comparable to the 13 Gordon pulled off in 1997.
 
#6
#6
I'm giving more of the credit to Knaus and Hendrick.
In other words the car more than the driver.
 
#7
#7
Honestly i dont see JJ or Stewart on Gordon's level if we are talking a the career level. I think both could get there but Gibbs switching to Toyota is really gonna hurt the next few years. JJ has had two very good seasons but time will tell if he can hold that intensity for a whole career.
 
#8
#8
I know he has good equipment and so did Tony Stewart when he won his two championships and so did Jeff when he won his, they still do. Chad Knaus is a great crew chief, no doubt, but again, so is Zippy and so is Steve Letarte. In fact, Gordon had his down years with Loomis and returned to form with Letarte. I know he won a championship with Loomis but they were still riding off Evernham's success at that point. Matt Kenseth also has one of the best teams and crew chief's in NASCAR and he is one of the top drivers too. My point is that all these guys and going back to Richard Petty have had to relay on the top equipment with a top notch team and crew so why is Jimmie's success still credited to Knaus and his equipment more than Stewart and Gordon? Those guys can't win with lesser equipment either, nobody can, yet they get much more credit for driver's skills while Johnson doesn't. Is Zippy and Letarte riding on their driver's coattails or is Knaus getting too much credit? I think they hit on the perfect combination of driver and crew chief and they just work well together. I think both guys could win somewhere else without each other but will win more together. I also wonder if it will take them splitting up and Johnson winning with someone else as his only way to rank with the greatest drivers.
 
#10
#10
jkell24 said:
I know he has good equipment and so did Tony Stewart when he won his two championships and so did Jeff when he won his, they still do. Chad Knaus is a great crew chief, no doubt, but again, so is Zippy and so is Steve Letarte. In fact, Gordon had his down years with Loomis and returned to form with Letarte. I know he won a championship with Loomis but they were still riding off Evernham's success at that point. Matt Kenseth also has one of the best teams and crew chief's in NASCAR and he is one of the top drivers too. My point is that all these guys and going back to Richard Petty have had to relay on the top equipment with a top notch team and crew so why is Jimmie's success still credited to Knaus and his equipment more than Stewart and Gordon? Those guys can't win with lesser equipment either, nobody can, yet they get much more credit for driver's skills while Johnson doesn't. Is Zippy and Letarte riding on their driver's coattails or is Knaus getting too much credit? I think they hit on the perfect combination of driver and crew chief and they just work well together. I think both guys could win somewhere else without each other but will win more together. I also wonder if it will take them splitting up and Johnson winning with someone else as his only way to rank with the greatest drivers.
Click to expand...

Because people hate Jimmie Johnson.
 
#13
#13
All very good points.
Jimmie is one of the top drivers no doubt. Just hard to make a judgement on driver skill compared to other elite drivers to this point when is car is so much better then everyone else's. Unless they run Nascar like they do the IROC series with equally prepared cars,I guess the matter will always be up for debate.
Here's to better racing next season than this seasons snooze fest.
 
#15
#15
Driver X, Y, & Z when all three are on the same track.

X) 33 wins, 86 top5s, 134 top10s, 2 championships

Y) 20 wins, 80 top5s, 125 top10s, 2 championships

Z) 23 wins, 87 top5s, 127 top10s, 0 championships

You decide.
 
#16
#16
jkell24 said:
The two names I always hear when people talk about the best driver in NASCAR are Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. It seems that Jimmie's success is always credited to his team and equipment and he is never considered in that class. What would Johnson have to do to get in that discussion?
Click to expand...

not drive gordons cars!
 
#17
#17
tidwell said:
Driver X, Y, & Z when all three are on the same track.

X) 33 wins, 86 top5s, 134 top10s, 2 championships

Y) 20 wins, 80 top5s, 125 top10s, 2 championships

Z) 23 wins, 87 top5s, 127 top10s, 0 championships

You decide.
Click to expand...

put them in the old system AS IT SHOULD BE and gordon wins 04 and 07 championship and gives him his 6th..no way he shouldnt have won the title this year. its ludicrus. yeah johnson is great driver and went on a tear but give me a break gordon wins title by over 300 points
 
#18
#18
i think we'll see some kind of rule in the near future that rewards the driver who finishes the regular season in 1st.
 
#19
#19
RENFRO2448 said:
put them in the old system AS IT SHOULD BE and gordon wins 04 and 07 championship and gives him his 6th..no way he shouldnt have won the title this year. its ludicrus. yeah johnson is great driver and went on a tear but give me a break gordon wins title by over 300 points
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more, as I've said more than once in this forum. The Chase is a joke. I'm still trying to figure out how a system that rewards a driver who has a great 10 race stretch is better than the system that rewards a driver who has a great 36 race season... but that's NASCAR.

Throw 1996 in there as well where Gordon won 10 races and somehow finished second behind Terry Labonte and his 2 wins and Gordon already has 7.
 
#20
#20
doozer said:
i think we'll see some kind of rule in the near future that rewards the driver who finishes the regular season in 1st.
Click to expand...
What could they possibly do to reward that driver adequately if he would've remained in first under the old system, yet finished anywhere other than first after The Chase allowed everyone else to catch up and a few guys on a hot streak to pass by?
 
#22
#22
I didn't say you did, but there wouldn't be any point unless they give them the trophy that they earned over the course of the entire season instead of a stretch of what amounts to about 28% of the season.
 
#24
#24
RENFRO2448 said:
not drive gordons cars!
Click to expand...

I think you meant that Johnson would need to drive for someone other than Hendrick to prove himself but Gordon has that Hendrick equipment too and the Home Depot Chevy is not exactly junk equipment either. There have been plenty of races when Stewart pulled away from the field, they've got plenty of horsepower at Gibbs too.
 
#25
#25
As far as the chase; it is ridiculous that the points leader going into the chase has to start the chase as the "second seed" as Nascar put it. That's exactly what happened to Gordon once they added up Johnson's wins. I think that at the end of the 'regular season' or 26 races before the chase they should give a bonus to the current points leader for every 100 points they lead buy. If they gave 25 or 30 points for every hundred points that Gordon led by at that time it would have given him a 75 or 90 point bonus. The problem is that Nascar is trying to turn racing into a carbon copy of the NFL and create a playoff atmosphere. If they're going to do that then they need to give the chase drivers a seperate points system than the other guys on the track like Tony Stewart suggested. They should also move the summer Daytona race to the last race of the season so that they finish where they started and plus the drama of a big points change that could happen easier at Daytona. Johnson couldn't have just played it safe if they were in Daytona that last race or the field would have left him IMO.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top