After progress during Detroit race weekend, Jimmie Johnson has chance to thrive at Road America

Nathan Brown | Indianapolis Star

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Jimmie Johnson’s 48 hours in Detroit were a testament to the strides the 45-year-old rookie is making just two months into his IndyCar career. What’s better is the Chip Ganassi Racing driver may be entering this weekend with his best opportunity to succeed to date.

Equipped now with a personal driver coach and coming fresh off a test earlier this month at Road America, this weekend’s IndyCar stop, and a stint this past weekend in Detroit he thoroughly revitalized from Friday to Sunday; there’s realistic reason to expect to come out of Wisconsin with his best result yet.

“I had a great progression throughout the day and started to really feel comfortable in the car,” Johnson said of his test at the permanent road course near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin the first week of June. “That (day), things just clicked and really took off right away.

“I’m really excited to race on that track. It’s been one I’ve always wanted to race since I was young.”

It’s one that, in particular, should suit Johnson. It'll serve as a breath of fresh air, following the tight, slippery, bumpy concrete jungle he contended with on Belle Isle, yet still managed to show stark improvement, despite his weekend being bookended with spins.

The first came in Friday’s practice, the results of a brake bias issue, according to Johnson. Still, he managed to keep the car off the wall – the same couldn’t be said for fellow rookie Scott McLaughlin, who crashed five laps into the lone practice and continued a string of his worst three finishes (20th, 19th and 20th) in a very young IndyCar career.

Johnson managed to run more laps than all but six drivers during that session, yet lagged nearly 5.5 seconds behind the session’s fastest driver (a fastest lap of 1:22.7353, compared to Will Power’s 1:17.2768). Additionally, the CGR rookie fell more than 1.5 seconds behind the second-slowest, McLaughlin (who again ran a fraction of the session), and nearly two seconds off A.J. Foyt Racing driver Dalton Kellett, who Johnson has previously out-paced in qualifying.

The brake bias issue aside, Johnson labeled Belle Isle the hardest he’s ever competed on.

“It reminds me a lot of Darlington a long time ago (in NASCAR), before it got resurfaced, with how little grip there was and how close you needed to run to the walls,” Johnson said Saturday morning. “I don’t have a great sense for sliding these cars yet, so to slide out there within an inch, I don’t have that yet. I’m leaving six inches, and that in all the turns adds up to quite a lot of time.”

Of all the tracks he’d prepared for thus far, Johnson said the simulator work he’d done ahead of Detroit turned out to be the least-helpful. In comparison, Johnson was nearly 1.5 seconds off the fastest one-lap time in the field after his first practice of the season overall, at Barber, and less than 2.5-seconds slower than the speediest driver during the lone St. Pete practice.

But the leaps he made over the following two days harkened to praise team owner Chip Ganassi lavished upon Johnson at a small media gathering two months ago at St. Pete.

“He’s a racer,” Ganassi said. “He gets race craft.

“And he works as hard as (Scott Dixon). He’s like another (Dixon), or Joe Montana, These guys that win championships, they bring a little something, those intangibles, something you can’t teach or even define.”

More on Jimmie Johnson's IndyCar journey:

Last Saturday morning, Johnson was within 3.5 seconds of pole-sitter Pato O’Ward, having cut more than 3.5 seconds off his fastest practice lap from the day prior (1:19.0944). In addition, Johnson jumped from nearly two seconds behind Kellett to more than a half-second clear of him (1:19.6697) while running in the same qualifying group. Early in the race, though, Johnson suffered a failure in his throttle pedal sensor and had to take a lengthy pit stop to make the repair, throwing him out of any sense of rhythm in a race that already lacked it with a pair of red flags. In the end, he finished 21 laps down.

Sunday would see the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion spin again during the final 20 laps of the race, but also once again save the car from suffering any damage. He finished 21st in a race littered with issues for those in the back – Oliver Askew’s mechanical failure (24 laps down), Romain Grosjean’s brake fire (13 laps down), Dalton Kellett’s stray wheel nut (nine laps down) and Max Chilton’s damaged front wing on the first lap (two laps down) made up those Johnson managed to edge.

By the end of the weekend, Johnson managed to run his fastest lap during Race 2, more than three-tenths of a second quicker than his qualifying mark and just 1.3 seconds slower than the field’s fastest lap overall (Colton Herta, 1:16.3434 vs. 1:17.6158). That fastest one-lap time in-race also edged Kellett and Ed Jones, and it came within two-tenths of McLaughlin, Sebastien Bourdais, Alexander Rossi and Santino Ferrucci.

“That’s just Jimmie, really,” his teammate Scott Dixon said earlier this week of Johnson’s continued improvements throughout the Detroit weekend. “I think it’s just more time in the seat. Detroit was going to probably be one of the most difficult (races), just for the sheer fact of how difficult that track is and trying to get up to speed. It’s a track you need a lot of confidence to try to generate tire temp and grip.

“I think he was going to run 15th or 16th, which is tough to do these days, especially at a track like that (before his Race 2 spin).”

What Detroit boasted in low-grip, low-speed, high-risk corners, Road America brings nearly a 180. The Wisconsin track includes straightaways where cars can top upwards of 200 mph without walls that make drivers feel as if they’re tearing through a wide hallway. Johnson has said earlier in his preparation that the high-speed corners have been what he expects will take the most time.

But given the speeds at which we’ve seen Johnson acclimate, that recent test day should pay high dividends. What’s more, he’ll be racing against a couple greener drivers in NASCAR Cup series rookie Cody Ware and ex-Formula 1 veteran Kevin Magnussen, who will be making their IndyCar debuts Sunday. They go on top of Askew, jumping into another spot substitute role for the injured Rinus VeeKay, and fellow true-rookies Grosjean and McLaughlin.

It stands to reason that if Johnson can keep his nose clean, and if Sunday’s race includes some attrition in various forms, he could have a shot to turn in a result that tops his best (Barber, 19th).

As his right-hand man, Johnson also welcomes new Ganassi driver coach Scott Pruett, who was introduced last weekend. Johnson noted that, along with the team’s full-time driver coach and decorated IndyCar legend Dario Franchitti, Pruett is one of the few in the racing world who has raced open-wheel, stockcars and sports cars at a high level. With that, comes a unique understanding of the language Johnson was used to speaking during his NASCAR days, as well as the one he's trying to master in IndyCar.

Pruett’s assistance is solely Johnson’s. The two-time CART series race-winner will be on the No. 48 road and street driver’s radio, help with his race prep during event weekends and lend a hand with his mid-week competition prep. As Johnson explained, while trying to be a sponge and not being afraid to ask any and all questions to continue his IndyCar crash course, he felt he’d begun to “monopolize Dario’s time.”

“Dario’s really specific to the car and the track,” Johnson said. “And he has four drivers to worry about. Scott’s now more involved to free up Dario so he can spend time with other drivers.

“We’re trying to put as many people around me that I can pull and learn from.”

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.

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