SPORTS USA TODAY z FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 z 3C
In a span of a week, Jimmie Johnson
spearheaded a midseason crew-chief
change and then confronted a driver
who later indicated that if Johnson
wanted to fight, they could fight.
What in the name of Jimmie Johnson
is going on?
The seven-time Cup champion very
well could miss the playoffs for the first
time since NASCAR initiated a postsea-
son format in 2004 — that’s what’s go-
ing on.
Four races remain in the regular sea-
son, and Johnson literally sits on the
bubble this weekend at Michigan Inter-
national Speedway tied for the final spot
with Ryan Newman.
Even last year, his final year with
longtime crew chief Chad Knaus, where
Johnson made the playoffs despite go-
ing winless, it didn’t seem as much of a
three-alarm fire (Johnson’s words) as
the 2019 season. Crew chief Kevin
Meendering was replaced last week by
Cliff Daniels, Johnson’s main engineer
from 2015-18.
Daniels, who decided at the end of
2018 to come off the road, rejoined the
team in June at Sonoma Raceway and
provided pace, structure and feedback
that Johnson desperately needed.
“The communication, knowing what
Jimmie likes — he was Jimmie’s lead en-
gineer — so I think it gave Jimmie some
comfort,” Hendrick Motorsports owner
Rick Hendrick said. “Kevin is one of the
smartest guys in the garage, but you
can’t replace time and years together,
and I think that’s all Jimmie wanted.”
Johnson has spent much of the sum-
mer in Colorado, but he went to the Hen-
drick shop in North Carolina last week
to talk to Meendering, Daniels, the team
and media about the change.
“Emotionally, it’s tough,” Johnson
said. “There’s no way around it. If you
look at my personal life and dating and
just everything, I’ve had long-term rela-
tionships. This isn’t something I’m com-
fortable with.
“But, in my heart I just felt like we will
get back to our competitive ways faster
and sooner with Cliff in that position.”
Johnson, who won five consecutive
championships from 2006-10 then add-
ed two more in 2013 and 2016 — all with
Knaus on the pit box — didn’t shy away
from his role in the decision to change
crew chiefs.
“It certainly starts with upper-man-
agement and discussions there,” John-
son said. “This one was a little different,
where we could sense and tell fromsome of the crew guys that it was some-
thing on their minds, too. So, honestly, it
was more of a group decision than an in-
dividual decision.
“I certainly had to approve and had a
big role in it. But I’m also scared to make
big decisions like that on my own.”
Johnson owns 83 career Cup wins
but is currently riding an 81-race winless
streak that ranks more than three times
as long as his previous winless streak of- And since that last victory on June 4,
2017 at Dover International Speedway,
the 43-year-old whose contract with
Hendrick runs through 2020 has only
recorded six top-five finishes in the
equivalent of two seasons of racing.
He will own he is a part of the prob-
lem, but Johnson also believes he is part
of the solution.
“I still feel like I’ve got it,” he said. “I
still feel like I’m doing my job in the car.
... A year from now, I might have a differ-
ent opinion of myself and might say,
‘Hey, I don’t have it, so I’m handing the
wheel over to a young guy and the let
someone else have a shot at this thing.’
“But the amount of time and work
and effort I’ve put into this, my heart
and soul [are] in it, I’ve never worked so
hard in the last five years to try to stay
on top of my game.”
Some might say he’s grasping for
magic that has disappeared forever. He
got into a heated discussion with Ryan
Blaney after Blaney turned him Sunday
at Watkins Glen. Johnson admitted that
his perilous points position added to the
frustration.
“He is stupid, he just drove through
me,” he said about Blaney’s actions and
their discussion. “I don’t know what he
was trying to say [to me]. His lips were
quivering. He was scared [expletive]
over there.”
Blaney’s response: “He said I was
scared? Yeah, OK. He can think that. Did
I turn away? No, I didn’t turn away. If he
wanted to go, we could go.”
Johnson needs to put any feuds be-
hind him as he competes Sunday for his
second career win at Michigan (3 p.m.
ET). He will rely on the youngest crew
chief in the Cup garage to get him back
to form.
And what if he misses the playoffs?
“Emotionally, if it happens, it hap-
pens,” Johnson said. “I know that I have
given it my all. It won’t bother me as
much as some of these other streaks
have bothered me.
“You live and learn. I had a hell of a
run for a long time. We’re trying to re-
build and get back and I do feel like we
can get back on top of the sport again.
It’s just going to take a little time.”Bob Pockrass is a Fox Sports NASCAR
reporter. Follow him @bobpockrass.Bob Pockrass
Guest columnist
Special to USA TODAYJimmie Johnson, left, talks with his team owner Rick Hendrick during May’s
Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.JASEN VINLOVE/USA TODAY SPORTSKANSAS CITY, Mo. – The bar for pro-
gress at USA Gymnastics is low, given
what a raging dumpster fire the feder-
ation has been for the better part of
three years now.
But new CEO Li Li Leung’s answer
Thursday to a question about Simone
Biles’ searing criticism of the many peo-
ple who failed her and other athletes
was heartening, the first sign that may-
be, just maybe, there is a path forward.
“Historically, our organization has si-
lenced our gymnasts, and I am 100 per-
cent supportive of giving our athletes a
voice. I think our athletes should be able
to say what they feel and be comfortable
doing so,” Leung said during a 45-min-
ute meeting with media at the national
championships.
“I understand that we have let down
many athletes, we have let down Si-
mone, and she needs time to heal from
that. If voicing her concerns and her
feelings is one way to do that, I am com-
pletely supportive of that.”
Again, the bar is low. But consider
that, at last year’s nationals, then-CEO
Kerry Perry responded with an incom-
prehensible word salad when asked a
similar question, unable to convey even
the slightest bit of empathy for Biles and
other survivors of the horrific abuse that
occurred under USA Gymnastics’
watch. Any sign of humanity is an im-
provement and, hopefully, a step toward
erasing the ruthless attitude that fos-
tered the culture that allowed a predator
like Larry Nassar to thrive.
Leung acknowledges there is a long
way to go, equating her job with a mara-
thon and estimating that, exactly five
months in, she is still on Mile 1. Nor has
she been without missteps. Her reason-
ing that she was spared Nassar’s abuse
because of the presence of her coach
was tone deaf, and the quick U-turn on
her first significant hire when it became
apparent that little to no vetting had
been done was embarrassing and inex-
cusable.
But Leung has owned the mistakes,
which is more than the other three peo-
ple who had the job in the last 2^1 ⁄ 2 years
can – or did – say. She also has been vis-
ible and accessible, unlike Perry, who
might as well have been a ghost for how
little interaction she had with, well, any-
one. While the pending lawsuits limit
what she can do, Leung has been in
communication with survivors, and she
said Thursday that she hopes to sit
down with Biles after nationals.
Most encouraging, Leung has not
sugarcoated or tried to spin USA Gym-
nastics’ failings. Those went well be-
yond Nassar, who is serving an effective
life sentence for abusing 300-plus girls
and young women, often under the
guise of medical treatment.
One thing that’s become clear in the
sexual abuse crisis plaguing the entire
Olympic movement is that the youngage of many elite athletes and the isolat-
ing nature of their training can be a toxic
combination. Coaches and administra-
tors wield an inordinate amount of pow-
er and influence, while the single-mind-
ed focus required of athletes shrinks
their opportunities for social growth
and development beyond the sport.
As a competitive gymnast through
college, Leung experienced that first-
hand. In explaining why she is hiring
someone to be in charge of athlete well-
ness as part of her leadership team,Leung spoke of attending school for the
bare minimum, and missing out on
prom and homecoming.
“I didn’t have a normal childhood, nor
did I have a normal high school experi-
ence,” she said. “I think I’m pretty gener-
ous when I say this: I went off to college
with the maturity level of probably a 13-
year-old, and that did not set me up for
success. ... Having spoken with so many
other gymnasts, I know this is a struggle
for them as well.
“I feel this position is so important in
terms of the vision of where I want to
take the organization, being responsible
and obligated to develop our athletes
holistically to best set them up for life
beyond the sport.”
A small thing, perhaps, but it shows
Leung understands it’s not enough to
reach a settlement with survivors, shuf-
fle a few deck chairs and do some slick
rebranding. A wholesale cultural
change, where athletes are treated as
partners and people rather than cogs in
a medal-minting machine, is the only
way to ensure no one will ever again feel
the betrayal that Biles and her fellow
survivors do.
It won’t come easily, with success
measured in years rather than weeks or
even months. And nothing will ever be
good enough for the crowd that simply
wants to burn everything down, with lit-
tle thought -- or care -- for what comes
after.
But for the first time in three years,
there is a flicker of hope in the dumpster
fire flames.Nancy Armour
Columnist
USA TODAYNew USA Gymnastics president and
CEO Li Li Leung welcomes Olympic
champion Simone Biles or any other
member of the sport speaking out. APKANSAS CITY, Mo. – This year, Na-
tional Book Lovers Day falls during the
USA Gymnastics championships, and
no competitor is more excited than Mor-
gan Hurd, the gymternet’s favorite
bookworm.
Hurd, who endeared herself to the
gymnastics community while winning
the all-around title at the 2017 World
Championships with elegant lines and
her trademark pair of glasses, is a huge
fan of young adult fiction. She even re-
ceived a congratulatory tweet from Har-
ry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
Though she’ll be competing Friday,
the day on which book lovers annually
celebrate, Hurd dished
on some of the best books
she’s read this year be-
fore the national champi-
onships began.
“I’m in the middle of
The Girl With All the Gifts
... and it is verygood,” she
told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday,
adding that she recently reread one of
her all-time favorites, I’ll Give You the
Sunby JandyNelson.
Even with a rigorous training sched-
ule, Hurd finds time to read, and she
brought a couple books with her to the
competition.
For those who want to follow along at
home, The Girl with All the Giftsis M.R.
Carey’sscience fiction novel. She alsopacked The Perks of Being a Wallflower
to reread.
If your reading list is still a little light,
Hurd tweeted a video of her personal li-
brary. It features award-winning young-
adult novels like The Hate U Give, It’s
Kind of a Funny Storyand One of Us is
Lying.
Nelson, Rowling and John Greentop
Hurd’s list of favorite authors. She plans
to reread Green’s first novel, Looking for
Alaska, before watching the Hulu adap-
tion this fall then wants to tackle the
Game of Thronesseries.
She has said in the past that she has
loved to read since middle school. She
told ESPNW she prefers physical books
to e-readers and that reading is kind of
an escape from social media and a wayto relax during meets.
“I like that I can forget about what’s
happening in the real world and transfer
to a different one,” Hurd told ESPNW. “I
don’t really watch TV or sports other
than gymnastics. I’d rather read my
books.”
When she isn’t turning pages, Hurd
will try to continue building toward the
peak she hopes to reach at the 2019
world championships in October. She
feels she’s about halfway there now and
is “super motivated” going into the na-
tional championships.
“I feel like I really just want to go out
and prove that I’m still in contention,
that I’m just getting started,” she said. “I
haven’t peaked yet, and I just want to
keep climbing up.”Bookworm gymnast shares her favorite novels
Tess DeMeyer
USA TODAY
HurdPressure mounts on 7-time champ
Small signs of progress at USA Gymnastics