Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Jimmie Johnson: 'He ranks right up there with the old man'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has no issues with Jimmie Johnson possibly running down a seventh NASCAR Premier Series championship that would tie Johnson for the most of all time with Earnhardt’s late father and Richard Petty.

In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.

Earnhardt revealed on his weekly podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, that he is pulling hard for Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, to run down the record that dear old dad has shared with Petty since winning his own seventh title in 1994.

“I’m real excited about Jimmie,” Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast. “He’s chasing that seventh championship that would 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. I think that he’s one of the greatest race-car drivers this sport has seen.”

Junior made it clear that he thinks Johnson is right on par with his father in terms of talent. He also said he thinks Johnson’s legacy deserves to be considered on par with his father’s and Petty’s as well.

Johnson won five titles in a row from 2006 through 2010, and claimed his sixth in 2013.

“Obviously to win five championships in a row like he did is unbelievable, and the argument is undeniable that he is one of the greatest,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He ranks right up there with the old man and anybody else you want to put in the conversation.

“To be quite honest, yes, I am pulling for Jimmie to get this championship. I believe he does deserve it after everything that he’s put into the sport. I think that it would be good for him to go ahead and win that championship.”

Johnson won last Sunday’s rain-delayed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to claim his third win of the 2016 season and clinch advancement into the Round of Eight in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs. It was the 78th win of his career overall, two more than the elder Earnhardt registered in his long and storied career that was cut short when he died in a last-lap accident in the 2001 Daytona 500.