NASCAR Rocks

Roger Federrer beat Rafael Nadal this summer to win his fifth consecutive championship at the All England Club, tying only Bjorn Borg in the feat. In 1949, the Yankees began a winning streak that ended only after 5 consecutive World Series wins, in ’54.
And now, Jimmie Johnson stands on the verge of winning Hendrick Motorsports five consecutive Cup wins in a row, an achievement no driver has achieved in the modern era. The last time this feat was accomplished was way back in 1971 by racing legend Petty himself. In that same year, Bobby Alison also pulled off the same feat.

But since then, in the 36 years of racing that followed, no one has been able to get past or even equal this achievement. Until now. Even Petty thinks Johnson can pull it off, because racing is streaky.

“You get on these rolls. Jimmie Johnson is on one of those rolls and when you get on them, even if you make mistakes, you still seem to win,” he said. “It’s like fate.”

Johnson himself seems more focused on the bigger picture, the concern is to win the championship, first and foremost. After winning the pole position for Sunday’s final race of the season, Johnson said he is going to keep the race simple.

“I’m going to try not to do anything stupid, run in the top three or top five to win the championship,” he said. “I’m going to drive comfortable. I’m hoping that we can leave here winning a fifth race in a row, but we’ve got to take the race as it comes and be realistic.”

He did however add that he is surprised to be contending for a second consecutive championship and five consecutive race wins in the same event.

“Every championship battle I’ve been in, the final race, there’s always been some type of drama, and we’re trying to prepare for that,” Johnson said. “I never in my life thought that I would be in this situation.”

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