One of Johnson’s biggest takeaways from his rookie season is learning to manage the long schedule, which nearly doubles for 2021 as the Outlaws looks to return to a normal 90-plus race season.
Not only was he and the team traveling to new places they had never been, but they also had to learn to live with each other for about 10 months straight.
Johnson compared living on the road with his crew like marriage and admitted there was tension within the group at times, especially when they were running bad.
“You all have to live in the same spaces and travel together,” he said. “Honestly, that’s been the biggest hurdle. We’ve always done that on a smaller scale, running the 360s (sprint cars). Everybody’s emotions have been masked with everything going on this year, too. I think the biggest thing for me is that. Is making sure the team is functioning together and working as a team and knowing just how tough it is now. I knew it was tough, but I thought going into 2020 that we could be competitive and run upfront.
“It opened my eyes that we had a whole lot of work to do to get better.”
The team brought in a couple of crew chiefs throughout the year, which helped take some burden off of Johnson, who was making the calls on what to change with the car, but also showed him that he knew what he was doing.
They also caused a bit of stress within the team, he said, as the chemistry wasn’t there.
Johnson won’t have an official crew chief for 2021 but said crew member John Ivey will have an expanded role. He’s worked with Johnson since 1998 and returned to working on a car full-time for the first time in 20 years this season.
He’ll start the 2021 season Feb. 5-7 at Volusia Speedway Park for the 50th DIRTcar Nationals with the same car he ended the 2020 season with but will have three brand new cars waiting to guide him through his sophomore year.
And while there is still a lot for him and the Two-C Racing team to learn, Johnson is confident they’ll be at the competitive level they expected to be this year.
“Do I feel like we can come out and run for a championship? Probably not,” Johnson said. “But we can definitely come in and be competitive where we just weren’t competitive this year. It stems from the stuff we had wrong. As a driver, I feel like I can get the job done.
“Todd and Kelly (Carlile, owners of Two-C Racing) have given me all the equipment to do it.”