Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the sixth-winningest driver in the sport’s history, Jimmie Johnson, has turned 50.
Since making his Cup Series debut in 2001, Johnson, who intends to continue racing part-time for the foreseeable future, has served as an inspiration to many, not least 2023 champion Ryan Blaney. Commemorating the longtime Hendrick Motorsport star’s birthday, Team Penske’s Blaney revealed the importance of Johnson in his career, and how he’s long aimed to emulate the 83-time race winner both on and off the track.
“I love Jimmie Johnson. He is not only, in my book, one of the best race car drivers that have ever done it, he’s also one of the best human beings that has ever walked the earth,” Blaney said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Like, just a very genuine guy, incredibly funny, incredibly fun to hang around with.
“And racing around him was just like, I don’t know, it was one of the most special things,” he added, going on to say, “I got to race with him for a handful of years, and was in the race when he won his seventh title in ‘16, and that was just super, super amazing.
“So racing around him, it was just like racing around an urban legend. Growing up the years where he won five in a row was… I was in my early years, I was 11 years old or something like that.
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“And seeing him go through this for five years was pretty spectacular and amazing. And just being around him, you felt like you were walking kind of on, like, holy ground when you’d stand next to him.”
Blaney labeled Johnson “one of the best racers that I’ve ever seen through my eyes,” complimenting his “respectful” demeanor. The 31-year-old admitted that both on track and off, he has long worked to emulate his “persona.”
“When I was a kid, and it’s like, ‘How do you not want to be like that guy?’” Blaney said. “He’s just dominating the sports. And then how he carried himself outside the car was just unbelievable.”
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But while Blaney’s admiration for Johnson is obvious, this hasn’t stopped the two from clashing during their careers. In 2019, Blaney spun Johnson at Watkins Glen, with the former going on to finish fifth while the latter crossed the line in 19th.
A back-and-forth between the two followed, with Johnson particularly angered by the situation, claiming Blaney was “nervous or scared” during their post-race discussion, via NASCAR/NBC.
“He came down on me. I apologized to him right then and there, even though it was his fault,” Blaney said of the incident. “I have a lot of respect for Jimmie – or had a lot of respect – that’s why I kind of let him chew my ass out for a minute, minute-and-a-half or whatever he did and I didn’t go back into him, especially when he put a finger in my face.
“Then his comments after we got done talking pretty much threw all that out the window. That respect is very little.”
Ultimately, they settled their differences the following week over a couple of beers, with Johnson explaining, “Ryan came and knocked on the bus Friday night and showed up with two beers in hand and we sat down and talked about it,” as per FS1.
“I wish it could have happened earlier and sooner. It would’ve saved us both probably some grief, but this stuff happens in racing. We’re not the first ones to disagree on what happened on track and we won’t be the last.”