NASCAR star Johnson looks to rebound from worst finish of career

For a man who has spent a good chunk of his NASCAR career at the top, six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson surprisingly doesn’t do well with heights.

So when he went 550 feet above the Strip on Thursday on the High Roller — first with fans who won a contest and then with the Las Vegas media — Johnson’s attention was occupied enough that he didn’t spend much time looking at the pavement below.

Being on the High Roller was apt, with Johnson knowing what it’s like to experience the highs and lows of a racing career.

He certainly has had more highs than lows, but last season was more the latter, with Johnson finishing a career-worst 11th in the standings. It was the first year of the new elimination format in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and Johnson thought the system played into his hands because he typically does well in the final 10 races.

“I know a lot of people want to say they’re trying to Jimmie-proof the championship,” Johnson said once he was safely back on ground. “I completely disagree with that. I really think this format plays into the (No.) 48’s hands. In the years we’ve been the champion, we’ve won a lot of Chase races. We’re the winningest Chase team that’s out there, so this format could be really useful for us. We just need to do our part and have fast cars.”

He will begin pursuit of his seventh championship Feb. 22 in the Daytona 500. Two weeks later on March 8, Johnson will compete in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

A seventh championship would tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the most career Cup titles.

To get there, some personnel changes in the engineering department were made at Hendrick Motorsports. Kenny Francis, who was Kasey Kahne’s crew chief since the end of 2005, was hired as Hendrick’s vehicle technical director. Johnson likes the idea of having someone in charge who knows what it’s like to call the shots on race day.

“I think the mindset’s going to change a little bit more in our engineering department, get a little more crew chief-centric,” he said.

The biggest announcement to occur at Hendrick was that this would be Jeff Gordon’s final season.

Johnson, who is from near San Diego, credited Gordon for clearing the way for drivers from outside the South to compete and win in NASCAR.

“I had an idea it was happening sooner than later, but it was still hard for me to hear it,” Johnson said of Gordon’s impending retirement. “I was still shocked.”

Gordon almost won the championship last season, finishing sixth.

Johnson didn’t get that close. He made the Chase and was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.

“I look back at how we responded as a team at times, and we didn’t handle things correctly,” Johnson said. “I’ve always said that I learn more from mistakes, learn more from that kind of experience than success. (With) success, you can pat yourself on the back and you can go on about your day and you know you did everything right.

“The moments you really learn is when you’re faced with adversity. So I look at ’14 as a good year for us where we got some medicine we needed, and it’s going to make us hungry for ’15.”

Though he wouldn’t blame the new format for his struggles, Johnson doesn’t appear to be particularly enamored with it, either. He could not remember what each segment of the Chase is called, and he will readily admit the old system, which was based on total points in the final 10 races, benefited him.

“Why would I want any other system?” Johnson asked.

But NASCAR isn’t bringing back the old system, and Johnson maintained he can win under the new format.

“It’s just a different animal,” he said. “I love nine out of 10 tracks in the Chase (Phoenix being the exception), and I think that works really well for me.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.