The simple life helps propel Johnson to greatness

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- True to his Southern California nature, Jimmie Johnson has friends who live only to surf or ski, bumming around waiting for the next set of big waves or the next patch of fresh powder. The reigning Sprint Cup champion is fascinated by that sort of existence, of floating through life solely in search of adventure, driven by nothing more than weather patterns and the tide. And with his stubbly beard, unruly hair and easy disposition, you can completely see it, too -- Johnson living out of a Chevy van, plenty of cold beer in the min-fridge, a Channel Island long board or a pair of Rossignols strapped to the roof.

It will never happen, of course, not now with four NASCAR championship trophies on the mantle and a wife and child back home. But just the fact that Johnson is intrigued by such a lifestyle tells you all you need to know about a driver who this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway will try to extend his unprecedented streak of consecutive titles to five. The most dominant champion of his era also happens to be the most uncomplicated.

Henry David Thoreau would have loved Jimmie Johnson, a living testament to the power of simplification. Personally, the native of greater San Diego is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type who defuses controversy immediately and directly, who is stunningly affable for an athlete with his resume, who lets adversity roll off his back like his No. 48 car rolls through the corners at a race track. Professionally, he's eliminated much of the clutter so many other drivers deal with, eschewing Nationwide starts and team ownership, scaling back personal sponsorship deals, and narrowing his focus to those few things that matter most.

It's difficult to argue with the results. Johnson succeeds because of his inherent natural talent, because of his Hendrick Motorsports team, because of his relationship with crew chief Chad Knaus. But he's also self-aware enough to not get in his own way.

"I think for a large part of my career, I had to be everywhere and I had to do everything to be noticed, and man, that wears you out. You run thin," said Johnson, 15 points behind Denny Hamlin entering the season's final race. Kevin Harvick, the only other driver with a chance at the title, is 46 behind the leader.

"In some cases you're worried about making everyone happy, and really not doing what's right for yourself. Especially now that I have a family, it's much easier for me to be like, nope, this is what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. I've not been one that's through my career been good at being in the middle of things. I just don't enjoy it. Harvick does a great job of it, and it doesn't seem to affect his performance. He can be in the middle of some heated stuff, and he's still on it. We all have different make-ups and handle things different. I over the years have found a rhythm that works for me and I feel good about, and I continue to go that way."

Taking a cue from teammate Jeff Gordon, Johnson learned early in his NASCAR career to not let controversy linger. If he gets in an on-track dispute with another driver, he's on the phone, usually the next day, to try and put it behind them so it won't affect the next race. He doesn't read NASCAR-themed news stories, he doesn't watch NASCAR-themed programs on television. "I ... just choose to live in my little bubble, my little world, and do my thing. It's worked for me," he said. Sometimes that approach only enhances his aura of invincibility -- as was the case after last week's event at Phoenix, when Johnson sat outside the media center waiting on Hamlin to finish speaking before heading inside.

Johnson said he just didn't want to hear what his rival had to say. Others claimed he was playing a head game. Either way, it was another method of staying above it all, of eliminating outside stimuli, of honing his focus to a single, uncluttered point.

"He does a good job of that," Knaus said. "I mean, I guess the more you're in this sport, the more you learn to become numb to what's written and what's published and what's put out there. And Jimmie, along with the majority of the guys on the team, we honestly just don't read what's written. We don't look at the TV shows. We don't take part in a lot of that stuff just for the simple fact that it's just grief and a lot of propaganda. There's a lot of people that enjoy the drama, but we don't really get into it a whole lot. We don't get into the he-said, she-said stuff. We just let our actions speak for what we can do on the race track, and that's the way we leave it."

That's not to say Johnson doesn't have distractions -- he plays golf, he has a regular fitness regimen, and he's used tasks like building a crib for his four-month-old daughter to help take his mind off the Chase. But those are things he has chosen for himself. Compare that to before his championship run, when Johnson felt the pressure to build his brand outside the car, and said yes to almost anything that came his way. No more.

"Before my first championship, anything that came along, I was trying to do it, trying to build my brand. Then after I won a championship, I was like, I have a brand. Why do I need to do X, Y, and Z?" he said. "Big contracts with [Rick] Hendrick, and you start to think, do I really need to spend this extra time and effort to represent a sunglasses company or some headache medicine? No, I don't. So over time, I've really tried to simplify things. I've enjoyed that balance. On the personal side, especially now with my daughter, that was kind of a thought-out process [where] before we had children, I really needed to slow down on all the extra stuff and just do my job at [Hendrick] and have the rest of the time for my family. I'm real glad I had that approach, because I've had some great quality time at home, and I look forward to having more."

Again, there are parallels to Gordon, who years ago beat the drum to bring a then-unknown Johnson to Hendrick. The organization's original four-time champion reached a moment in his career when stepped away from the then-Busch circuit, away from the old International Race of Champion series, away from things like being an in-car reporter for television networks. He's had outside interests like business and real estate, but like his one-time protege, over time Gordon came to realize that enough was enough.

"Especially when you start to have a family, I think it really kicks in, because you look at how valuable your time is, how important it is to spend time with your family," said Gordon, who has two young children. "You can go out there and work and work and work and work to try to capitalize on opportunities while they're there, but there comes a time when peace of mind and relaxing and enjoying your time becomes important. I think when you're young like most of us, you think, let's take advantage of it. As you get a little older, you start thinking, what's more important, and just being a little more efficient with your time."

Few drivers are more efficient than Johnson, a stickler for preparation who watches video and studies data and arrives at the race track already in the loop on what Knaus and his No. 48 team are planning for the car. That tactic is most effective in a week like this one, where Johnson's relatively uncomplicated life revolves essentially around team, family, fitness, and chasing that fifth championship. Leave it to the sport's greatest driver to make an often Byzantine pursuit seem simple. Johnson might just find time for those slopes and that surf after all.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.