Dale Jr.: Rooting for Jimmie to get seventh title, tie father – Nascar

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Jimmie Johnson just got the biggest endorsement in NASCAR: from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“To be honest, yes I am rooting for Jimmie to get this championship,” Junior said in “The Dale Jr. Download” posted on Dirty Mo Radio Monday afternoon, which coincidentally was Earnhardt’s 42nd birthday. “I believe he does deserve it after everything he has put into the sport.”

A seventh championship for Johnson, a Hendrick Motorsports teammate of Junior, would tie the No. 48 driver with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most championships ever won by a driver.

“I’m real excited for Jimmie,” Junior said. “He’s chasing that seventh championship to put him up there with Richard and my father. He wants that so badly. We’ve had a few conversations about that, and I know how much that would mean to him.

“He is one of the greatest drivers this sport has seen. Obviously to win five championships in a row is undeniable, and the arguments are undeniable that he is one of the greatest. He ranks right up there with the old man and anyone else you want to bring into that conversation.”

In February, Johnson got his 76th career premier series race victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, tying Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list.

Junior, who finished second to his teammate that day said, “Knowing Jimmie Johnson and the way he operates, Dad would have loved Jimmie. How can you not like Jimmie? He’s just a good guy who never stepped over the line with anything he’s ever said or anything he’s ever did.”

Johnson got his 77th win, passing Earnhardt’s record, three weeks later at Fontana. He now has three wins on the season and is locked into the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with his Charlotte victory.

For this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Junior predicts that the No. 24 of Chase Elliott, another Hendrick teammate, will make it to the Round of 8 as well despite a rough day at Charlotte. He led 103 laps but finished 33rd after winding up in a wreck just after a Lap 259 restart with fellow Chase driver Austin Dillon and several others.

All the Hendrick cars looked good at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Junior said. The No. 88 was piloted by Alex Bowman, who wrecked early and finished 39th in the Bank of America 500. Earnhardt said he plans to attend all of the remaining 2016 Sprint Cup races except Phoenix.

“I knew and said many times during the summer that I knew when the Chase came around we would rebound and be strong,” Junior said in the podcast. “And we have. It makes me excited to get back in the car when I do.”