Justin Johnson will enter the 2018 IceBreaker at Myrtle Beach Speedway in a new ride, with hopes that he can help shake off some of the bad luck he had last season.
Johnson will compete in a PRW Chassis prepared by Jason Stanley and owned by Robert Tyler. Stanley and Tyler competed together in a handful of races last year including the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway where Jake Crum won the pole driving for them and competed up front all race long.
For Johnson, it was an opportunity to move back to a big spring car which he competed with for Frank Deiny’s FDJ Motorsports where he had a lot of success in the 2008-2011 era. Johnson won two track championships at South Boston in 2009 and 2010 driving for Deiny.
“I have always liked the feel of a big spring car,” Johnson told Race22.com. “Driving for Tommy [Lemons] last year, I could never really get comfortable in his cars. Tommy likes a free-er car than I do and we could just never seem to get the setup where I needed it to be or like I was used to. Going back to that will be a good change for me.”
Johnson said it’s bittersweet not to be driving for Lemons and his Jumpstart Motorsports team.
“Tommy and his family and his team are second to none,” Johnson said. “They really have a great program over there and we had so much fun together.”
Johnson is excited about working with Stanley and getting behind the wheel of one of his cars.
“Really looking forward to driving their car,” Johnson commented. “Jason is one of the most out of the box thinking crew chiefs out there today. After talking to them and knowing what they were about, knowing they were strong at the races that counted last year, I knew it would be a good fit for me.”
Team owner Robert Tyler agrees with Johnson’s assesment of Stanley’s outside of the box thinking.
“Jason is a young Chad Knaus I think,” Tyler said of his young crew chief. “He’s all business. I don’t have to chase him down like some others who are off talking to other teams. He’s there for one reason and that’s to win races. Working with him for two races last year with me driving, I figured out fast what he’s about. Every adjustment we got faster.”
Stanley, who is a Texas transplant who moved to North Carolina due to the decline in asphalt racing in his home state, is currently preparing a brand new car. They’re putting it together now with plans of debuting it at the IceBreaker in just over three weeks.
“We’re building a brand new car,” Stanley stated. “We’re going to Myrtle Beach ready to compete for the win. I know we’ll have the car to do it and I know we’ll have the driver to do it. Justin is always up front and I know he can wheel a car.”
Stanley is very confident in what he and his team and new driver can accomplish. It’s the success they had last year that led to Tyler wanting to continue the program this year, but step aside as a driver and fill the car owner role.
“Our success last year led us to going full time this year,” said Tyler. “We had 11 guys who contacted us to get to drive this car after what we accomplished last year but we selected Justin because of what we know he can do behind the wheel of our cars.”
All three know that the key to success with this new venture is to get off to a fast start.
“Gotta get out of the gate fast at Tri-County with the $10,000 to win,” Tyler said. “That one is circled on our calendar because of how Jason’s cars have performed there. We’re going to Myrtle Beach to get our feet under us and get used to one another but we think we can have a chance to compete for the win right away.”
Tyler says Roger Johnson from Performancenter and their new PRW Chassis will be very important to the success they have.
“PRW is instrumental in our program,” Tyler continued. “We looked at other chassis companies but none of them offered us the support that Roger (Johnson) and his guys will give us. We’re looking forward to representing them this season and hopefully with a lot of success.”
Johnson and the team will also be running the full CARS Tour schedule together as well as the season ending big races. Johnson, who’s won track championships before, says the CARS Tour is the place to be.
“Right now with all the tracks, they’re all trying to get on the same page but NASCAR has lost a lot of respect from the teams and drivers,” said Johnson. “For a sanctioning body to let the rules get so messed up and engine packages get so far from where they were is just not a good situation. Everything was done with little racer input.
“CARS has done a better job at making the racers feel like they’re wanted and they make you feel appreciated. There’s no favortism and everyone is on the same page and you know what to expect from the rules from track to track. It’s also a lot of fun traveling and going to new tracks and seeing where you stack up against the best drivers not just at their home track.”
Johnson and the JTS Built w/Robert Tyler Motorsports team is ready to put the long winter behind them and see what a season brings.
