Around Iredell Sports

2007 Nov-13

Johnson headed to big finish

By Mike Mulhern

PHOENIX - Jimmie Johnson was positively beaming Sunday night, but trying hard to keep it under control, because he still has another 400 miles to race and another seven days to endure before the Nextel Cup season ends.

But his victory Sunday in the Checker Auto Parts 500, in a sprint-away from Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle down the stretch, was probably the decisive race of NASCAR’s championship chase, and it played out in front of a sellout crowd of about 130,000 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Over in another part of the garage, Jeff Gordon - Johnson’s teammate and close rival in the title chase - was stunned and shocked.

This has been one of Gordon’s best seasons, and when Sunday dawned, he was just 30 points behind Johnson and ready to race at a track where he had won just a few months ago. But by the time the sun had set behind the Estrella Mountains, Gordon was 86 points down, and saying “It’s over.”

Johnson, who is good friends with Gordon - they sometimes vacation together with their families - was just about as shocked, not just with his fourth straight victory or his now-solid points lead but with the surprise that Gordon, despite an amazing 29 top-10s in 35 races, was fading away in their title battle.

“We all knew it was going to be a great chase, and competitive chase, and that you would have to win races to be champion. But none of us expected this,” Johnson said. “So it’s hard to really understand.

“Through the team meetings we had, we felt Jeff would get some points back on us here. So I can imagine the frustration. They’ve been running well and strong. They haven’t had terrible races. We’ve just been on a roll that’s unheard of.

“We’re going to take full advantage of it and try to do it one more time.”

Johnson might well make it five wins in a row Sunday at Homestead-Miami.

“We’d love to win at Homestead,” crew chief Chad Knaus said. “We’ve never won there. The car we’re taking is the same car we won with in Atlanta, same car we won with in Texas. It’s a pretty phenomenal race car.

“Before we went to Loudon (for the start of the chase), I said we needed an average finish of 9.0 to have a championship. That was way flipping off base, obviously. But this team responds to pressure. Jimmie responds to pressure. We’re just peaking at the right time.”

And keeping cool about it all, how?

“I’m just trying to keep it simple and not get caught up in things,” Johnson said. “Like last week: disappearing, vacation for a couple days, not reading or seeing any highlights on TV, nothing. I was completely out of the loop.

“I hope I can do that this week. Then show up, keep it simple, get in the racecar and go.”

Johnson is making it all look easy. But he has been in championship contention in all of his six seasons on tour, so he understands how to deal with things.

“We’ve all learned, as the years have gone by and we’ve become more experienced in this deal,” Johnson said. “When you’re a new team, going through the experience - success and all that - it’s tough to keep it simple. That’s what experience has done for us: We’re able to keep it simple. And we’ve got to do it one more weekend.”

But that certainly doesn’t mean “stroking” to the title. Johnson and Gordon have run roughshod over the competition, combining to give car owner Rick Hendrick wins in the last six races.

The key numbers- Johnson and Knaus will win the championship if they finish at least 18th Sunday, no matter if Gordon wins and leads the most laps.

“I need every point,” Johnson insists. “No telling how things are going to go in Homestead. And I know how good Jeff Gordon is. If we put our guard down and don’t try to score maximum points, we’re going to get beat. That’s just how good he and his team are.”

However Johnson and Knaus have simply been better, and a bit lucky too. “We’ve been in the right position - we’ve had a race land in our laps, in Atlanta,” Johnson said. “We got one right this week; we got one right last week (at Texas). We’re just rolling.”

Knaus said: “We’re not doing anything different than anybody else.”

Of course he’s right. It’s just that Johnson and Knaus have made no mistakes, and their rivals have.

Johnson and Knaus, and Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte, have been scoring points in the chase at record pace, but their rivals, except for Clint Bowyer and Gil Martin, have lost all track.

“Quite frankly, the biggest reason we’re successful in the chase is the work regimen we have at Hendrick Motorsports,” Knaus said. “The time off we’re able to give the crew, to get rested, and the work ethic Jimmie has.

“The last three years we’ve been understanding the balance - how to give ourselves a break mentally so we don’t get into a stress situation. We’re having fun, and there’s not a lot of stress. And as long as you’re doing the best you can, you feel good inside, and the stress doesn’t build up as bad.

“And I think we’ve got a little magic, too, right now.... When everything’s going right, and your driver is switched on, and your team’s switched on, and the engine’s going right. ...

“It seems like ‘This can’t happen.’ We’re just fortunate to be here and take full advantage of it.”

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