“There’s Nothing Wrong With Bill Elliott”- Legendary Team Owner Junior Johnson Once Defended Awesome Bill From Dawsonville After Poor Run of Form

Bill Elliott is best known for being the 1988 Cup Series champion. In addition to that, he has been voted as the Most Popular Driver on 16 occasions. However, there was a time when he underwent a dry spell in his career. This coincided with his stint with Junior Johnson and Associates, where he had a decent start in 1992, but tapered off in later races. Obviously, the team was bitterly disappointed, but Johnson was still keeping the faith.

He told the Daily Express, “Bill should be able to drive anything there. But when I got back after surgery I found the cars were so messed up I don’t see how he drove ’em. They didn’t work anything like they were supposed to. There’s nothing wrong with Bill Elliott. The problem must be somewhere else.” Meanwhile, Elliott raged, “I don’t feel very good about things. We’ve tried so much stuff and changed so much stuff that we don’t know what might be wrong. Hell, I’m at the point right now where I just don’t know what to do. I’m pretty disgusted by the whole deal.”

READ MORE: “I Was Still Pissed”: 30 Years Since Legendary Moment, Bill Elliott Admitted He’ll “Never Forget” What Dale Earnhardt Did to Him

What contributed to the poor form of Bill Elliott?

One of the biggest reasons is possibly when Johnson fired crew chief Tim Brewer. After Brewer’s departure, Johnson hired Mike Beam to partner with Elliott. Unfortunately, it seemed like the two were just not clicking, and it was affecting their performance on the racetrack. To say that Bill Elliott was running out of patience would be an understatement.

All of this had taken place in the 1993 season, where Elliott failed to win a single race. The best that he could manage was 2nd at the Richmond Raceway. Sadly, the Elliott-Beam partnership didn’t really click in the 1994 season, despite a win at Darlington. From a fantastic 2nd place in the championship in 1992, he could only muster 8th and 10th in 1993 and 1994.

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