Jimmie Johnson won't approach final three Sprint Cup races any differently
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson leads the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings heading into Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
With a commanding lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and just three races left in the season, it might seem easy for Jimmie Johnson to let his guard down and coast to a fourth straight title.
Think again.
Despite holding a sizable 184-point cushion on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin entering Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Johnson isn’t engraving his name on another championship trophy just yet.
Sure, the odds are strongly stacked in favor of the El Cajon, Calif., native claiming an unprecedented fourth straight crown in NASCAR’s top series.
But Johnson knows that anything can happen. And he’s therefore not taking anything for granted.
“[I’m] really just treating these races as if they were other races, any other race,” Johnson said on a national teleconference this week. “I know it sounds stupid and corny and almost predictable, but it's the truth. I mean, the way we have prepared to this point has led to the points lead that we have and the race wins that we've accumulated over the year, and we need to do more of the same.
“From my standpoint, studying my notes from the previous races, working with the engineers, understanding the setup that we're taking, understanding what we're trying to qualify and what we're going to try and race trim, and being up to speed on all those potential changes that we can work on and understanding what we're hoping that they will do, that's all part of it.”
Johnson dodged a major bullet by finishing sixth in last Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, where he avoided two major crashes in the last five laps. Martin and Johnson's fellow teammate Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, were involved in the latter accident and lost considerable ground to Johnson in the standings.
While Martin is a distant second, Gordon now sits an even heftier 192 points back in third. Both had hoped to cut into Johnson’s lead at Talladega, the track in the Chase where the defending three-time champ appeared the most likely to falter.
He didn’t.
Texas, a 1.5-mile oval more typical of the majority of tracks where the series competes, doesn’t pose as big of a risk for Johnson. The same is true of the series’ last two stops – Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
None of the remaining tracks is as treacherous as Talladega, one of only two venues on the schedule where horsepower-reducing restrictor plates keep drivers bunched in tight packs and thus increase the chance of getting caught up in a wreck.
“I think this weekend will be a lot easier for me than Talladega because I'm going to be working on things that actually make a difference,” said Johnson, who scored a win at Texas in fall 2007 and finished second to Gordon there in April. “At Talladega, there was a lot of free time for my mind to worry because the rules are so specific, and there's not a lot you can think about from a driver's standpoint. But this weekend it should go fast.
“As soon as we get in the car, [we’ll] be focused on how the car is handling and adjustments that we need to make right on through the race. I'll just try to fall into all of that and just live and breathe the race car as much as possible so that my mind doesn't think about outside things.”
Although the upcoming tracks seemingly don’t present the hazards of Talladega, Johnson isn’t exactly resting easy. That’s because he knows that trouble can come in forms other than wrecks.
“I don't want to open my mind up to too many things and let my guard down and I make a mistake,” he said. “The same for the team. We still have a lot of pit stops that could be costly. If they lose their focus, they would miss something on the race car.
“From a mechanical standpoint and a handling standpoint, we really need to keep our heads down and treat this as if we were behind and chasing so that we cross all the T's and dot all the I's.”
Johnson has room to be less than perfect over the next three races, however. He needs to finish only 10th or better in each to lock up the title. The 34-year-old can finish poorly and still claim the championship if Martin doesn’t win all three races and lead the most laps en route. Johnson could even clinch the title a week early if he leaves the Nov. 15 race at Phoenix more than 195 points up on the driver in second place.
But if there’s one thing Johnson has learned from his title runs the past three seasons, it’s to not get too comfortable. Just because he can still take the title without setting the woods on fire over the next trio of outings, don’t expect Johnson to suddenly go into conservation mode.
“We're showing up to win races,” said the driver who has recorded six of his 46 Cup victories this season. “Finishing 10th isn't as easy as it sounds. … It is a tough field of cars out there, and we need to be on our game. So with that in mind, we're going to race as hard as we can these next two races and see what happens for Homestead and see where we're at.
“Then at that point, I think, we can look at more of a specific strategy. But with three to go, we need to race these next two as if we're behind in the points and get every point that we can.”
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22 responses to "Jimmie Johnson won't approach final three Sprint Cup races any differently ". Post a Comment.
juniegirl said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 10:57 AMThat's right, nothing new or exciting about this very lucky driver.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsstarbraintree said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 12:25 PMI cant stand Jimmie Johnson he is boring, he is vanilla blah blah blah and I cant stand Chad Knauss either he is a cheater blah blah blah and I cant stand Rick Hendrick either he is a felon blah blah blah
Report as Abuseall they do is win and win and win.
everybody is in trouble because he wont wreck his car if he doesnt like it and he wont drive thru his pit he will just win #4
boring boring boring unless your a JJ fan
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» Confirm Abuse Reportpsdf250 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 1:56 PMI guess that means he'll sandbag and then try making his move with a few laps to go.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkarnevil9 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 2:09 PMIts good to be King!! Roll 48 Roll!!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSJB24 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 4:06 PMThere no way JJ would come close to being a 4 time champion if Dale Earnhardt was alive.Today racing is boring compared to the day Jeff Gordon race for his 4 titles.Drivers told to not race the points leader hard is stupid.It been a boring racing season.JJ should of been docked points for his cheating this year.He been treated with kid gloves.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjdxenterprises said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 4:35 PMI hear what you are saying # 5, but racing today is NOTHING like when Sr was alive. The cars are different, the rules are different, the tracks are different, the drivers are different....and on and on... The only thing that is the same is the family the money goes to.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportminkee2 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 5:35 PMI don't remember reading anything about NASCAR catching anyone on the #48 team cheating--did I miss something? Or are you just one of the "ABJ" group? Jimmie and Chad race smart as well as racing very good. Nothing wrong with any of that. GO JIMMIE!! 4-IN-A-ROW!!
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» Confirm Abuse Report4EVER3 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 6:34 PMKeep on track for 4 in a row!!Don't let up.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportOldschoolNASCAR said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 7:27 PMMINKEE2,You didn't miss a thing. People who don't like Hendrick or any of its members look at things like NASCAR warning the 48 team that they are too close to tolerances, as they cheated. They didn't but haters will still look at it that way. NASCAR didn't want to be put into a position to determine the championship based on their call. Now watch how many posters will be jumping on this comment. By the way I AM NOT a JJ fan.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 9:35 PMI am not a JJ fan either, but I do like the guy. BUT not enough to see him win ANOTHER championship SO SOON. Would MUCH prefer Mark to win it.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjerryswiatek said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 9:43 PM#9 I won't jump on your comment, nothing there, but I agree with and have numerous times #1 and #2 the guy is blah, and I never seen luck like that, Maaaaaan! I mean like wrecks he always just gets bye even when he is in the line of fire, caution flags have worked for him both ways almost always, Its just weird.
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» Confirm Abuse Report444T8 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 10:14 PM#5 Food for thought: I just wonder if Dale Earnhardt would have been a 7-time champion if Tim Richmond were around the same amount of time.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAndi said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 10:45 PMBelieve it or not, they do have bad races, the thing is, it just seems that it always happenes BEFORE The chase, like they get it out of their system. Here's some examples: Crashed in Dega in April with like 8 laps to go, ran out of gas 3 times, got a speeding penalty at the altanta spring race, and something else happened there, spun in the spring race for Richmond & fall atlanta race, where he even spent time in the garage for the broken axle, freaky deal with the lugnut at Bristol in august, where he was having one of his better runs there.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportoldfilmless said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 11:03 PMI get so tired of the JJ haters moaning and groaning about how JJ has destroyed NASCAR because... he is doing exactly what a race car driver is suppose to do-- win.
Report as AbuseThey say they are going to leave, go to football or something else, yet the next week they are back, complaining and whining once again. Come on people, live up to your word --- LEAVE and don't come back. The rest of us will be happier.
On JJ... what makes you think if the old system was put back in place he would suddenly be a failure? The 48 team sets up their entire year based off the current system (chase). If that changed, they would change. They are good and deserve everything they are doing.
To answer #12... no, SR would not have gotten 7 if Richmond had been around. Sr was a better bully than he was racer, if he couldn't beat them FAIR he would just knock them off the track and say "rubbin' is racin'" -- all the rednecks would hoot and holler and off they would go. Yet, people say JJ cheats every time he wins a race. Let's face it folks, people hate JJ because he is NOT a redneck, he can actually put together complete sentences!
Oh yeah, he knows how to drive a race car too.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportannmyers said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 11:51 PMHey, Scene Daily, did I say something wrong?
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» Confirm Abuse Reportannmyers said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:32 AMIt must be official. I've been banned because I can't stand Jimmie.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkarnevil9 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 7:17 AMSimilar to what #7 wrote. Did I miss something? I don't remember reading anything about Earnhardt winning 4 straight Cup titles.Or the 48 car getting caught cheating this year. I guess SJB24(#5) has better info than the rest of us.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkarnevil9 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 7:23 AM#14, you nailed it. 1.People dislike the #48 because he can actually speak. 2. Earnhardt was vastly over rated. 3. #48 is a class act.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgooly1313 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 11:00 AMok #5, i really shouldn't waste my time on you but since i have nothing else to do before i pack my bags for texas let me give it a try. If Dale Sr were still with us, he would be in the same boat as the rest of todays drivers. Being told how to race and what to say by not only nascar but the big boys. yes, i'm talking about the racing gods with which no one could compete without. SPONSORS. I hate to bring you out of the dark ages into the modern day of racing but that's life. Vanilla drivers are a creation of them both so put the blame where it belongs. next, yes jeff has four championships but were they in a row? enough said. next, the only one warned about racing against chasers was keselowski and that was not about racing hard, just be aware of who you are racing against. i do agree that was stupid BUT that was montoya. jj wasn't in that conversation so why don't we leave it that way.
Report as Abuse#12 - good question, wish we still had them both and could have seen that situation raced out.
#13 - THANK YOU!!! guess the jj haters were too busy trying to figure out what non substantiated junk they were going to post on monday to notice that.
Lastly - I keep asking and none of these jj haters can answer but i'll try again. what has the 48 team done this year that was cheating? I haven't heard a word. Where are you getting your info and why don't you share some actual facts with us instead of gibberish.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsstarbraintree said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:54 PMHey #11 when i made post #2 i was being facetious
Report as Abusemaking fun of some of the hings that i have read on these posts, I am a JJ and Chad fan and it would be great to see them win 4 and then someone else have a chance. and to all of you bible thumpers lighten up, just because a person has a different opinion than yours does not make them a"HATER"
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMtclimber said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 8:16 PMHey you all should read the Sports Illustrated article on Capt Vanilla. Very good article.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRainier said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 10:34 PMThat was a good article. Anyone who doesn't like him should read it.
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