Last year, Cliff Daniels took over the role of Crew Chief for NASCAR veteran Jimmie Johnson. Johnson is set to hang up his boots very soon, and he wants to go out on a high note.
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Unfortunately, lady luck has not smiled upon him lately, even though he is battling hard to make the playoffs.
Speaking to NBC Sports, Daniels said, “I’m not even asking for things to exceptionally go our way. I’m just asking for them to exceptionally stop going against us. When that happens, we’ll be OK.”
Sadly for the seven-time Cup champion, he is still vying for a playoff spot ahead of this weekend’s Michigan doubleheader. Last year, he missed out on a playoff berth and could potentially repeat that feat for the second consecutive year.
How bad was the situation for Jimmie Johnson?
Looking at Johnson’s run of form, he collided with Chris Buescher at Darlington and crashed on the final lap of the stage. In another incident at the Coca-Cola 600, he managed to finish in a fine second place until his car failed post-race inspection.
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Luck deserted Jimmie Johnson yet again when Clint Bowyer gained five spots in 11 laps at Atlanta to seize 12th in the standings. As a result, Johnson lost a favorable position in the random draw.
However, the biggest blow came when he tested positive for COVID-19 and missed the Indianapolis race.
After a seemingly endless streak of misfortune, Johnson found himself trailing teammate William Byron by 25 points. The two are battling for the final playoff spot with six races left before they begin.
In light of this, Cliff Daniels told NBC Sports, “We’re going to keep marching forward in what we have built into the car in terms of being able to pass, have good pit stops and good restarts and a good strategy.
“The tough part is when we get up to the front we may not have quite the raw potential built into the car, so we’ll have to duke it out with them and that puts even more emphasis on executing those restarts and pit stops to keep our track position.”
SOURCE- NBCSports- NASCAR
