Jeff Gordon’s former crew chief labels Jimmie Johnson as the Michael Jordan of NASCAR

Jeff Gordon’s former crew chief labels Jimmie Johnson as the Michael Jordan of NASCAR

Michael Jordan and Jimmie Johnson

Seven cup championships, 83 cup race wins, and 374 top 10s, the list of Jimmie Johnson’s achievements in the premier stock car racing championship is long. In just 18 years in the cup series, he produced performances many drivers before and after him envy. Johnson, who retired from the full-time role in 2020, is returning home. He will run part-time next season as an owner-driver with Petty GMS Racing.

Johnson is tied with Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt in championship wins. The man who made the No:48 iconic has the edge over the other two regarding the GOAT conversation; he drove at the peak of fame and competitiveness of the NASCAR cup series. He dominated races when any driver with a good car had a shot at winning. He won races when aggression was the definition of the sport.

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In the sporting world, few athletes are considered the greatest of all time. When it comes to Basketball, Michael Jordan is the GOAT; if Golf, the title goes to Tiger Woods; according to Johnson’s former rival crew chief Steve Letarte, he is the Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods of NASCAR. Letarte was the crew chief of Johson’s HMS teammate and fierce rival, Jeff Gordon.

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“It seems very easy to take any sports figure and find a stat that argues the alternative, but a few breakthroughs that, and you can’t get to. The Michael Jordans, perhaps Kobe or Tiger. Jimmie Johnson is kind of that guy in NASCAR. I challenge any stat person to find anything factual to try to break down what he built up. Man, it’s hard to do,” Steve Letarte said.

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Steve Letarte and the entire HMS crew were clueless about Jimmie Johnson’s talent when Jeff Gordon urged them to sign him

Jeff Gordon made the call that changed his life and legacy forever when he demanded Rick Hendrick sign Jimmie Johnson. Gordan won four championships before Johnson came aboard and never saw the trophy ever again. He finished P2 twice behind Johnson in the Championship. Steve Letarte had similar tools and technologies at his disposal as the No:4the No:48 crew, but the driver was a level above them.

Letarte revealed that he had zero clue about Johnson’s talent when discussing his entry. He said, “I was at Hendrick Motorsports long before Jimmie got there, and when Jeff Gordon got us together in a room and talked about him bringing Jimmie on board, no one in that room that I know of had any idea how unbelievable that driver was going to be,”.

Johnson was never a top-level driver in the Xfinity series, but Jeff Gordon saw something that Letarte never did in him. Letarte said, “He just hasn’t shown anything that I saw in the Xfinity [series] races on Saturday that made him this sought-after talent. But Jeff was in a race with him, and it was so clear to him how talented [Johnson] was. It was just one more example of how the drivers on the racetrack see so much more than us,”.

Letarte pointed out that Johnson redefined a NASCAR era as Dale Sr. and Gordon did. He said,  “Then Jimmie came in, and it became clear right away how unbelievably talented and driven he was. And much like everyone, I feel like Dale Sr. set the standard, and then Jeff Gordon changed the approach; I think Jimmie Johnson came in and changed the approach again, and he kind of redefined the era of the sport,”.

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