Before the threat of wintry weather made its way to the Charlotte metro area, a special version of Jimmie Johnson‘s No. 48 Chevrolet savored the Thursday sunshine outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The Superman version of his Hendrick Motorsports ride sat alongside teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Batman-themed car. Both looks will race in March at Auto Club Speedway as part of a movie promotion.
 
Johnson has already made his mark as a stock-car racing superhero with six premier-series championships, second only to the seven titles each for legends Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. But the last two seasons, stunted by a new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff format, there’s been a snag in Superman’s cape.
 
The quest for a seventh Sprint Cup crown — his first in the new-look postseason system — begins anew for Johnson next month at Daytona International Speedway. On Thursday, the final day of the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour, Johnson answered questions about why six championships came in rapid succession in the old format and why he’s faced only early exits since the new elimination-based system dawned in 2014.
 
Is it bad luck, star-crossed circumstance, or is the new Chase simply Jimmie-proof?
 
“I don’t have a good feel for this championship battle, period,” Johnson said when asked if the change in format left him with a sour taste. “We haven’t made it to the final four. I had such a feeling and almost like a road map with the previous Chase — what to think and where to be.
 
“It’s really tough. It’s so circumstantial. It really is circumstantial and that’s the hardest thing about it. … Not only do you have to worry about yourself, there’s so many other factors that play into it, so there is some element of rolling the dice, but at the same time, you better be on your game and take advantage of the opportunity when it comes up.”
 
Johnson opened last season with a victory in the season’s second race, adding three more wins in the spring before hitting a slight summertime lull. Crew chief Chad Knaus said that Johnson and Co. had turned its momentum around in prepping for the postseason until a broken rear axle seal ended the No. 48 team’s run in the first round of the Chase at Dover International Speedway.
 
Rather than attribute the misfortune to something vague like fate or luck, Knaus chalked it up to a mere $5 part failure, one that the team could learn from and move past.
 
“We addressed it. I’d love to say that whoops, it’s just one of those things, but the fact of the matter is everything can be avoided. Everything,” Knaus said. “We learned a little bit from that, and that’s what it is. That’s what racing is. You go and you push things to the limitations and when they fail, you address them and then you go to work on the next weak link.”
 
The quick elimination may have cast a minor pall on Johnson’s 2015 campaign, but it remained a year that most teams would covet. Though he led the fewest laps (558) in a season since 2005, Johnson prevailed in the final month of the season at Texas Motor Speedway to bring his win total to five, capping his ninth season with at least five victories.
 
“Five wins, hard to ignore. I mean, that’s a great year,” Johnson said. “The weirdness of being eliminated in that first bracket was tough for us, and then the following race in Charlotte, we had an oil pump failure that took us out. We had some trouble late that we didn’t anticipate having, but it was still a good year. Statistically, not our best year by any means. Laps led was way down. We still found a way to get to Victory Lane and I think that made us proud as a team that yeah, we weren’t the dominant car, but we’ll fight for it and find ways to get to Victory Lane.”
 
One more victory in 2016 would place Johnson among elite company in the sport’s history. The six-time champ sits at 75 career wins, just one behind Dale Earnhardt on the all-time list.
 
The chance to join Earnhardt and Petty with another historic championship at season’s end would give team owner Rick Hendrick an even dozen. But the veteran car owner acknowledges the treacherous nature of the postseason format, even as he contemplates the potential power of Johnson reaching title No. 7.
 
“Many times. I think about it all the time,” Hendrick said. “It would mean a lot. We’ve got 11 of them now and we’ve got more than anybody, but I’d like to see one of our drivers break that record, too, and Jimmie’s the guy that can do it. He’s right there. He’s got six and he’s got a lot more in him. The format’s a lot tougher than it used to be, so it’s harder to win that many, but we’ll see.”
 
A new reduced-downforce aerodynamic rules package may play into Johnson’s favor this season, allowing him to showcase his driving ability. Plus, his team returns largely intact with measures being taken inside the four-car Hendrick organization to collaborate more closely.
 
There’s just the matter of the newfangled Chase.