FORT WORTH, Texas — They say everything is bigger in Texas. Last weekend, Texas Motor Speedway played host to one of the biggest names in NASCAR history, Jimmie Johnson.
After winning seven NASCAR Cup Championships, Johnson changed gears and moved to Indy Car racing last year. His results were modest with an average place of finish of 21st. Johnson's best finish was 17th in the final two races of the season. However, there was a caveat. He had never competed in Indy Car prior to last year and he was only driving in road course races.
Recently, Jimmie finished 6th in his Indy Car oval track debut, and it had everything to do with the oval experience from his NASCAR days.
"We knew going in, oval racing would help us," Jimmie said after the race. "Today it got us into the competitive mix."
Jimmie entered Sunday's race with over 11,500 competitive laps under his wheels at Texas Motor Speedway. Nearly more than the next three drivers in Sunday's race combined.
"Once we hit the halfway point in the race, I really could sense and feel the car and it really became second nature and off I went."
The Indy cars are more powerful than the NASCAR Cup cars, and Jimmie says the sweet spot in getting peak performance out of the Indy Car is smaller as well. He says racing ovals this year will help him have more success this season.
"I do you feel like the ovals reduce the amount of variables. They just give me less things to have to worry about. So it removes a lot of that and I can get into a rhythm sooner. I can sense and feel the car sooner. I still have to figure out (how to handle) traffic (on the racetrack) but I feel like I will get into much more familiar cadence on the oval track than what I've had on the road courses."
An interesting side story, at Texas Motor Speedway, victory lane is named in honor of Jimmie. He won their seven times in his NASCAR days. A sign over Victory Lane shows Jimmie's signature. When the track ordered the sign, it was delivered with the signature of Jimmy Johnson the former Dallas Cowboys coach. A new one was quickly made with the correct autograph.
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