Luck is a Driver’s Best Friend…

…and consistency too – consistency is always good.

If you ask some around the sport, the spoiler has had a big impact. The Gibbs cars are surging, RCR has finally gotten their competitive edge back and the Hendrick cars aren’t, well…winning. As great as this story line is and as simple as this is to explain why HMS hasn’t been great (and by ‘hasn’t been great’ I mean why they haven’t won a race) since NASCAR implemented the change, it doesn’t really tell the whole story.

Take Jimmie Johnson, everyone’s favorite target. What makes/made the #48 team so strong is their consistency and their ability to put together absolutely flawless performances (hence the four championships). In the last two seasons Johnson and team 48 only had two DNFs. That is remarkable. In the first 12 races of this season though, Jimmie has had three.

Even still the team’s performance has been pretty good. Since the spoiler was implemented he’s led 386 laps and finished in the top-10 in four of seven races. Of the other three races, Johnson was wrecked in two of them, and finished 16th on Sunday after a speeding penalty late in the race likely cost him the win.

Even without a trophy this past weekend, Johnson still has three wins to his credit and will be set up very nicely when the Chase rolls around. Still, what I see is a team not affected by the spoiler, but a team that has been affected by unfortunate incidents and flawed performances.

To my larger point, the #48 team has been a victim of bad luck and mistakes. What were the odds that AJ Allmendinger would go shooting up the track at Darlington, and of 42 other guys, it was Jimmie Johnson who happened to be perfectly positioned to have his car destroyed? And since when does Jimmie Johnson get caught speeding on pit road? It’s these little things, some within their control and some not, that are costing this team wins (not the spoiler).

Johnson isn’t alone this season either. We’ve seen small mistakes and bad luck cost Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton wins. Even Kyle Busch has lost out this season.

The moral of this story is, sometimes luck is not on your side. And bad luck coupled with mistakes can make you and your team look really bad. This is exactly where Jimmie Johnson is right now. From here on out their championship hopes and the hopes of their fellow competitors will rest on just how flawlessly they can run.

Having luck, and having consistency are keys to success in this sport, perhaps more than any other. Seldom though is the team and the driver that can put these things together. But when everything clicks, magic happens, and winners are born and championships made.

As they say, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Related posts:

• Jimmie Johnson Back? Ha! He Never Left!
• Standings If There Had Been No Chase: Part 1
• The Chase Isn’t Disappointing (For Me At Least)
• Is Jimmie The Driver You Love To Hate?
• Jimmie Johnson Wins the Championship…Oh Wait the Season Isn’t Over

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