Jimmie Johnson: Longtime crew chief questioned my commitment | Forward Progress

0:00Our yoga instructor challenged us to find inner peace. I found it faster than anyone. After four seconds, I stood up and screamed, I found Nirvana! I win! They asked me to leave. I guess they don't respect winning. Bet365 does, though. New customers get$150 in bonus bets just for betting$10. Namaste, losers. Bet365. Winning is everything. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. 201 plus only. Must be physically located in Illinois. TNC's apply. In-app only. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal.

0:41Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. Hey, it's Thursday, which means we're coming at you with a short feel-good story from a past guest. Hope you enjoy the clip. This week, Jimmy Johnson.

1:14The seven championships that you won, what role do you think the fact that you had a lot of consistency among people that worked for the team played into the success that you guys had? For me, it is the foundation. I've only driven for a couple. team owners. Sponsorship-wise, there's just a couple through my entire career. 17 years of marriage. I am the one that wants and needs a stable environment. So to drive for Rick Hendrick for all those years, to have Chad Knauss at the helm for all those years, that was the best environment for me to succeed. Why do you think the relationship with Chad worked?

1:52Our hunger together was unmatched by anyone else in the sport. And honestly, through the years, we changed the sport in so many ways due to our desire and work ethic. And also, we should unmatch not just at the time, but in history, right? Testing was such a part of our success, and that's going to the racetrack and spending a day or two there to learn the track, update the car, bring, you know, engineer new ideas for the car. And many drivers and teams want to do the bare minimum of testing. And at Hendrick, we had the resources to test all the time. and Chad and I literally would. It made our communication better.

2:30It made our team better. We certainly found and engineered more tricks to the car, made the cars faster, but, and that was our sauce. We would test and practice and try over and over and over, and we both wanted it. How was the relationship unique? We quickly had so much in common that a friendship, more than a work relationship started, like a friendship started. He became my third sibling. Like we truly have that connection like brothers. I mean, I hear enough stories about him that I can understand he can be a reasonably difficult individual. That's fair. I think the mistake we both made at the end of our time together was maybe not evolving enough within our relationship to the new us.

3:13And when times got tough, Chad reverted back to the crew chief that he was when we first started. Which was what? Micromanaging, you know, explaining where I was making mistakes, what I needed to do, how I needed to work on it. And what are you thinking when he's doing that? I mean, don't you want to tell him to like F off? I did. And that was kind of the start of the decay over probably a five or eight year period of time. And he and I both so wish we could go back and correct that because now looking back on it, it was a defense mechanism for him and he was only doing it because he cared. And I just got tired of hearing it.

3:48So I started firing back and then I would just start in the car while racing instead of being focused on the job. I would start thinking about what the hell I was going to say to him. Your dad was saying he was a spotter and he was literally working right next to Chad as Chad would be destroying you on the radio. And he's like, it was just so uncomfortable. People were like, how can you let him talk to you that way? But the trust we had for one another, I would say 80 % of it, it was just a brutal truth. And honestly, even though it hurt, even though it pissed me off at times, that brutal honesty is what made us get better.

4:27And just at the end, if we could have handled it in a different way with one another, we could have stayed together through the end of our careers and potentially got the eighth. Was there a moment or an argument that took place where you just knew in your head at that point, this is done? We just won the championship. We come back, start the 2017 season. and that really, really got under Chad's skin that I wanted to be in Aspen and not in Charlotte. And things started to get personal then. And him questioning where my heart was with the team and the time and effort I wanted to spend to be with the team was really kind of that starting fracture point.

5:06How did you guys repair it? We didn't, sadly. But you're reasonably close again now, right? Even though it was tough, we were still very honest with each other through the breakup and through the next chapter for both of us. And, you know, that honesty and respect and bond that we have just kind of worked its way through. And now we're at a spot that is really amazing. I'm running in the IMSA series and some endurance races in the IMSA series. Mr. Hendricks involved and Chad is involved as well. And we're working together again. So it's come full circle and it's really just been out of the respect for one another and the honesty that we've had.

5:43You mentioned a guy that helped you both in working through it. A therapist of some capacity, right? It was very little reflection and very little finger pointing of, you said this. No, no, you did that. It was like, it's a mess. This is how we're going to get better. And it really helped us for a while. And I would say as far back as probably 2013 is when we really had some professional help. And it got us to winning the championship in 2016. And then things kind of unraveled from there. But it was a big help. And a lot of things learned in that moment has helped me just with life in general, my personal life.

6:23How so? I always felt like there was work Jimmy and home Jimmy. And I quickly realized that we are who we are. You know, there are different stressors on each side, but we all process, analyze, handle, react in the same way. It doesn't matter if it's personal or professional. And that's something that I thought, no, I'm just mad at work. I don't bring it home. Yeah, right. I don't overreact just at work on the radio with Chad. Yeah, you know, I'm overreacting here. My personal life is... You don't wash your jersey during a win streak. You don't switch seats when your team's up big. And you definitely don't shave during the playoffs.

6:59When things are working, you don't change them. That's why when you drink Jägermeister, you drink it ice cold. Anything else? Well, that'd just be bad luck. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all. Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister liqueur, 35 % alcohol by volume. imported by Mass Jägermeister, U.S. White Plains, New York. You thought this was your run club era. Turns out, it was more of a thinking about run club era. The good news? Someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on Depop. Just snap a few photos, and we'll take care of the rest.

7:37They get their race day fit, and you get a payout for trying. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Deepop, where taste recognizes taste. Are there tools that you learned or developed through the therapist that you found really helpful? Awareness, listening, and I'm sure I can still be better at that. I'm sure Shani would agree. Do you think she could tell a noticeable difference in you after you started going? I think so. So, I mean, she lived through, you know, all of those emotions. And they were all extreme from extreme frustration to extreme elation and championships.

8:20And she'd be in the bus waiting for me. I'd come back from a Friday practice. We're terrible. And Chad and I are fighting. And this is wrong. That's wrong. All of a sudden, Sunday afternoon, we're in Victory Lane holding up a trophy. And we figured it out. So just the emotional extremes that took place. She witnessed it all and has helped me navigate a ton of that. She gets far less credit than she ever deserves for really helping guide me through all of that stuff. She was the brunt end in dealing with those emotions from week to week, month to month, year to year. But she definitely would say that the professional help did have an effect.

9:01And then certainly professionally and personally and applying those things to my personal life. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week and every week sharing long-form interviews on Mondays and shorter uplifting stories on Thursdays and then trending clips on Fridays. We'd love to hear from you with ratings and reviews. Do you prefer the longer podcast episodes or our shorter ones? Excited to get your take. Thanks again for tuning in.