LONG POND, Pa. - Jimmie Johnson had been plucked from NASCAR's farm system to drive for team owner Rick Hendrick with a résumé so average, the team wondered if it made the right call on the California kid.
Until Johnson could join Hendrick Motorsports in late 2001, he plodded along for a second-tier team on the brink of closing, having flashed only the occasional spark of future stardom.
His early 2001 results hardly seemed worthy of a teammate about to be paired with Jeff Gordon, who had won three of his eventual four Cup Series championships by that point.
"The real concern was, had we made a good decision?" Hendrick Motorsports mainstay Ken Howes said.
Howes, who has spent more than three decades with the organization, had worked as a crew chief and was assigned to help the rookie driver with his learning curve at the top level of NASCAR. Johnson went out for a test session in one of Gordon's Chevrolets, found the power in a car that suited his driving style and humbled the doubters in his camp.
"I came home and reported back,'" Howes said, "and said, 'Guys, stop worrying. It's going to be OK.'"
Johnson made the first start of his Cup Series career at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 7, 2001, and on Sunday at Pocono Raceway, he'll earn one more slice of NASCAR history when he becomes the 30th driver to make 600 career starts.
Over the first 599, he has blazed through a career that stamps him on the short list of all-time greats: Johnson has a record-tying seven season championship, 83 wins, 35 pole positions, 224 top-five finishes and 348 top-10 performances.
Who knew this was possible in 2001?
"If anybody at that time stood up and said, 'Hey, this guy's going to win seven championships,' they'd probably send you to a drug test," Howes said. "Your hope was that he had talent, he would gain experience and go on to become a good competitive driver. Win some races each year and kind of start there. Perhaps challenge for a championship."
Through a confluence of events for Johnson that included a bold meeting with Gordon and splendid timing when the organization decided to expand to four cars, he was the chosen one at Hendrick Motorsports despite one win in 72 career starts with Herzog Motorsports.
"I was in my own weird mental space of wondering if I was ready for Cup or not," Johnson said.
With Howes as crew chief, Johnson got a test run for three races in 2001.
He raced with a heavy heart in his debut in the wake of the death of his best friend, fellow racer Blaise Alexander. Alexander was killed that weekend in an ARCA race. What should have been a complete celebration turned into a period of mourning. Johnson has since honored his friend with a decal of Alexander's initials on the back of his Chevy.
As Johnson pulled off pit road, the "this is it" moment hit him as he was surrounded by NASCAR greats that included Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace.
Johnson had one mild concern - not to wreck Gordon
"One thing I was instructed to do was not interfere with Jeff Gordon or get in his way at all," Johnson said, chuckling. "We're in the race. They're coming to lap me, and I spun out directly in front of Jeff. All I could see was that flaming orange hood that he had on his car missing me by a couple of inches. I damn near took him out."
Gordon won his final championship in 2001. Johnson finished 39th, 25th and 29th in his brief stint under Howes.
"He told me, 'We're just running three races. When you have your real team, your full team around you, I promise everything is going to be just fine,'" Johnson said.
Promise fulfilled. For his first full season in 2002, Johnson was paired with crew chief Chad Knaus, and they won the pole for the Daytona 500. The No. 48 team won for the first time nine races later on April 28, 2002 in Fontana, California.
"Winning that first race, I could finally take a deep breath and be like, OK, I'm going to be here for a little while," Johnson said.
The relationship has thrived at a Hall of Fame level to this day - even through some precarious times - and Knaus recently signed a two-year contract extension.
"I started this with him," Johnson said, "and it would be amazing to finish this with him."
It's easy to spot when most athletes are finished. The fastball doesn't pop in the 90s anymore. The knees are shot on the 30-something running back. But the decline is harder to gauge to the naked eye in racing. The results and lap times don't necessarily tell the complete story on an aging driver.
Johnson, 42, is grinding through the worst season of his 17-year career, with no wins and only two top-five finishes in 20 starts. On top of that, Hendrick Motorsports - with Johnson, Alex Bowman, William Byron and Chase Elliott its drivers - just hit an ignominious milestone, going one year without a victory. A chunk of the blame lands at the wheels of Chevrolet, which unveiled a Camaro clearly not ready to race with the big boys at Toyota or Ford. Chevy has just one victory this season, with Austin Dillon winning the season-opening Daytona 500
"It's hard to just pin it on the body itself," Johnson said of the Camaro. "We know from an engine standpoint and also from a chassis standpoint there's lot of things to do. I don't think it's all in one spot. But (aerodynamics are) king, especially at the speeds we run."
Howes admitted the Camaro has provided challenges.
"The short version is, it just wasn't what we thought it was going to be," he said. "Jimmie is not having a very good year. I just put it back on us. I think way too much of him. He's still young enough, he's fit enough, he still has the energy and the want-to."
Johnson, married and with two young daughters, has remained encouraged his team can turn its season around.
"I still love to compete, I still love the process," Johnson said. "That's how I keep showing up each week optimistic and excited and bring everything I can to the team. But age has brought perspective. I look back on those young years and realize, wow, that was just a really special place and time, and I hope I can recreate it once again."
If he can regain his spot atop the standings beyond this season, it will come without career sponsor Lowe's on the hood. Johnson has placed calls and sat in pitch meetings for potential sponsors to replace the departing corporate giant, but nothing firm has materialized.
Johnson, mired in the longest losing streak of his career, will call the shots on retirement. He's not ready for that yet, though he is intrigued by the idea of joining former teammates Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the broadcast booth.
"There's a lot of other racing I want to do. I want to get back into some off those off-road vehicles I used to race. Sports car racing," he said. "I don't know where it would take me. The booth is an option."
This weekend, he is focused on winning at Pocono and joining Richard Petty, the only Cup Series driver to earn a victory in his 600th start.
Do we hear 700?
"That's in the window," Johnson said. "That's a possibility, for sure."
He paused, then asked about the record for concurrent starts. The answer: Gordon at 797.
"I think that's safe," he said, laughing. "I don't have seven more years."
There's a 600th start in sight, though, a drive toward a record eighth title that fuels him, and more time to show his critics there's again no reason to worry about Jimmie Johnson.