Will Johnson’s dominance end with pressure of being a dad?

Jimmie Johnson will go down as one of NASCAR’s greatest, whether you like him or not. He’s won four straight Cup titles, making him the only driver in NASCAR’s history to do so. Johnson will face stiff competition from his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., as well as the rest of NASCAR for his fifth straight Cup title, but he also faces a new competitor this season; being a dad.

Earlier this month Johnson, 34, and his wife Chandra, announced they’d be first-time parents in July. Chandra and Jimmie have been married for just over five years now, five of Johnson’s best seasons in the sport.

Johnson and his wife Chandra will be welcoming a new addition in July. It won't be another trophy though

But will having a kid on the way change the way Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus go about their everyday business? “There’s no telling what type of experience being a parent is going to be,” Johnson said last week. “I know I have Chani's full support to chase my career and do what I need to.”

He continued, “I can say the outside things surrounding what I do in the car, it’s going to be a lot easier for me to say no and turn that stuff away so I have more free time. If I manage my time in the right way, I can stay focused on what I need to.”

Basically, Johnson is saying to the field, ‘watch out, this won’t slow me down’. And that should scare every driver in the sport that has seen Johnson’s dominance in person the last few seasons. One man who has seen his life slow down a little since having a child during the 2007 season was Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s teammate.

David Newton of ESPN.com wrote on Jan. 7, “Gordon will tell you being a father is the greatest thing that's happened to him, greater than winning four championships. He’ll tell you changing diapers and sleepless nights haven’t affected his ability to drive the least bit, although I suspect a nanny lightened the load. He may be right. But facts are facts, and Gordon had four titles before fatherhood and none since.”

Gordon, pictured here at Indianapolis last July, has not won a title since the birth of his daughter in '07

While Newton points out that most of the champions in the past decade weren’t fathers (including Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart along with Johnson) the consensus in the media seems to be that if anyone can overcome the obstacles of being a dad and a driver, it’s probably Jimmie Johnson, a man referred to by his teammate Mark Martin, along with numerous others, as “Superman”.

“I remember when I was getting married,” said Johnson. “There was a big comparison on drivers before marriage and after. And clearly after being married things have gotten a lot better for me. I can’t say that’s been hurtful for me.”

Some refer to his relationship with his crew chief Chad Knaus as a marriage, and it has been one of the best in the business. But will the possibility of rule changes and changes to the car (to be discussed here at a later date) also throw Johnson a curve? He doesn’t think so.

“Anytime that they shake up the rulebooks, it helps us out,” Johnson said. “I can adapt to a car as well as anyone. Chad can adapt to adjustments and finding what it takes to make that work as well as anyone. I’ve always looked at rule changes as an opportunity for us.”

It’s an opportunity that might only be slowed down by Johnson’s time away from the track. “If we’re going to dream big, let’s do something that’s never been done,” Johnson added. If a newborn Johnson can’t throw Jimmie off, I really doubt anyone or anything can.
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