Jimmie Johnson "couldn’t believe the disrespect" while racing NASCAR Trucks

On Friday, 50-year-old Jimmie Johnson made his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start in 17 years. He qualified up front, led a couple of laps, but a couple of mid-race spins derailed his day before mechanical gremlins put him back to 30th.

The seven-time Cup Series champion is the most successful NASCAR driver of the 21st century, and is known for his fair style of driving, almost always keeping things clean on the track.

Changing with the generations

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Johnson hasn’t been full-time since the 2020 season, and though he remembers being criticized by veteran drivers when his career started, he suspects there is a ‘generational element’ to the racecraft discussion.

When asked in a Saturday press conference about how the on-track respect has degraded in recent years Johnson replied: “I feel like it’s more of a generational element. I assume there is a point in time where the generation behaves differently. But when I came in, it was the era of pointing people by, and I got my butt chewed by numerous guys even in the Busch (now O’Reilly) Series, that I raced them too hard. And I was like, really? I’m here to race. But as time went on, I realized that when I was going forward and had a chance to pass them, they could make life really tough on me and if you were respectful of one another [you could] just work together.

“That’s completely out the window now. I think stage racing and all of these other elements where the car performance and air disadvantage, you can defend a lot more and it’s kind of created this culture. But I wear two hats with my ownership hat. I want the sport to be vibrant and healthy and chaos brings eyeballs. So I’m kind of torn.”

Shocked by the ‘lack of respect’

Jamie McMurray crash

Despite that, Johnson was still shocked by the way everyone was racing from the drop of the green flag on Friday, and noted that he is seeing a similar issue on the local tracks where future stars are making their name.

“But yesterday I just couldn’t believe the disrespect that everybody had from the jump,” said Johnson. “I mean, just gouging each other nonstop and I was up at the front racing away and we were pointing each other by, and I was like, this is old school Cup, this makes sense. The way the fuel cycle worked out I entered mid pack and I look around and I saw these trucks all twisted up, and I thought they had hit the wall, and I guess maybe some did, but it was all from bashing into one another on the track.

“And then I got turned around twice, just last second lunges into areas that nobody should have been. So, it is what it is. When I look at my Instagram feed or my twitter feed and see the local short tracks and behavior there, man, it’s just wild. So we’ll see where it goes.”

Johnson will also be competing in the Cup race on Sunday, with plans to make the 2027 Daytona 500 his final start in the top level of NASCAR.