What’s Happening?

Dynasties are nothing new to sports. Everyone knows about the New England Patriots and the Golden State Warriors runs that shaped their sports landscapes forever. NASCAR dynasties are no different, with Richard Petty in the 60s, Dale Earnhardt in the late 80s-early 90s, and Jeff Gordon in the late 90s. However, one dynasty that people still talk about to this day is NASCAR’s most recent. The Jimmie Johnson Dynasty. From 2006-2018, the No. 48 team had the NASCAR Cup Series at their fingertips and took full advantage. So, let’s dive into the No. 48 Dynasty, NASCAR’s last dynasty.

• Jimmie Johnson raced full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2002-2020. During that span, he won 83 races and a record-tying seven championships, including five in a row from 2006-2010. He holds multiple records and is considered as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time.
• Johnson’s dynasty can be broken into three parts: the prime, the middle, and the end. The prime was from 2006-2010, the middle from 2011-2014, and the end from 2015-2018.
• The run the No. 48 team went on was truly historic and may never be seen again in the history of the sport.

The Prime: 2006-2010

Typically, with a dynasty, there is a beginning, middle, and end. This is also true with the No. 48 team. What’s crazy is that the beginning was so dominant that it’s considered to be the prime years of the No. 48 dynasty. From 2006-2010, there was only one champion: Jimmie Johnson. After two runner-up points finishes in 2003 and 2004, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus broke out in 2006 to win his first championship with five wins and 24 top-10s. The team took that title run and built on it to win the title for the next four years in a row. Johnson’s five straight championships are a NASCAR record that still holds to this day. He is the last driver to win back-to-back championships in the Cup Series, and no one has come close since then. His stats during those five years are listed below.

During this five-year span, Johnson averaged seven wins, 16.2 top-fives, 23 top-10s, 1,531.2 laps led, and a 10.86 average finish. Those stats alone would be championship-worthy for one season. To average that in the span of five years is unheard of in today’s NASCAR. To think, this was just the start of JJ’s run to NASCAR immorality. What better way to begin a dynasty than with Johnson’s run from 2006-2010?

The Middle: 2011-2014

Johnson’s run was finally ended in 2011 when Tony Stewart won the title in a tie-breaker with Carl Edwards. 2011 marked the first time Johnson finished outside the top five in points, finishing sixth in the standings. He still won twice and led over 1,100 laps during that season. 2012 looked to be Johnson’s sixth championship, but DNFs at both Phoenix and Homestead derailed him to a third-place points finish. He won five races and led over 1,700 laps in 2012 but lost out to Brad Keselowski for the championship.

2013 was a new era for NASCAR. It was the first year of the Generation 6 car, replacing the Car of Tomorrow that ran from 2007-2012. Despite this, it was a return to the top for JJ and the No. 48 team. Johnson put together one of his best seasons in 2013 to beat out Matt Kenseth for the championship. His 2013 stats are shown below.

2014 was a weird year for the, at the time, six-time champion. He wouldn’t find victory lane until the Coca-Cola 600, the 12th race of the season. While he did win four races, he had career lows in top-10s (20) and average finish (15.3). This culminated in his exit in the Round of 12 and for the first time, a finish outside the top 10 in points, finishing 11th. If a bad season for JJ included four wins and 20 top-10s, that shows the standard the team had set. But were the cracks starting to form for the No. 48 team?

The End: 2015-2018

Following a disappointing 2014 season, the No. 48 team needed a comeback. 2015 looked to be just that, with five wins and an increase in top-fives and top-10s. Despite leading only 558 laps (his worst since 2005), he was still a favorite for the title before mechanical issues knocked him out in the Round of 16. Back-to-back disappointing years made fans wonder if the No. 48 dynasty was coming to an end?

Come 2016, the team needed a bounce back. After two disappointing years, they needed to get back on course. So did they? The simple answer is yes but with some quotations. Johnson won two of the first five races of the year before going quiet for the remainder of the regular season. Then, the No. 48 team turned on the jets, winning three races in the Chase, including the season finale at Homestead, to win their record-tying seventh Cup Series championship. Rick Allen said it best. “We may never see this again in our lifetime.”

So why the quotations? 2016 marked the first time Johnson had fewer than 20 top-10s in a season (16). And that win at Homestead happened because fellow Championship 4 drivers Carl Edwards and Joey Logano came together on the second-to-last restart, opening the door for JJ to win the Cup. It is considered by many to be the weakest of his seven championships. Regardless, JJ came out on top.

2017 was poised to be another typical Jimmie Johnson year. But it was in reality that the downfall became public. Despite making the Round of 8, Johnson posted career lows in top-fives (4), top-10s (11), laps led (217), and average finish (16.8). Sophomore driver Chase Elliott looked more consistent that season than Johnson despite the latter winning three races. Little did anyone know, those would be the final wins of the seven-time champions’ career.

2018 marked the end of the dynasty. Johnson made the playoffs but was bounced in the first round and once again set career lows. He finished the year with two top-fives, 11 top-10s, only 40 laps led, and, for the first time, failed to win a race. He finished 14th in the standings, his lowest at the time. After 2018, Johnson and Knaus were split after 17 years of working together. Knaus went to the No. 24 team, while Johnson initially got Kevin Meendering before Cliff Daniels replaced him mid-year. 

From 2006-2018, Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and the No. 48 team were near unstoppable. They won seven of the 13 championships and 65 races. This was against legends such as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Tony Stewart, just to name a few. With today’s playoff format and elimination rounds, the chance of someone replicating this run again is slim to none. It was a time unlike any other and still remains to this day, NASCAR’s last dynasty.

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