Johnson, No. 48 team ready for another run at the championship

Jimmie Johnson sounded relaxed and at ease Tuesday, contentedly discussing the events he's involved in for his foundation.
   
The Hendrick Motorsports driver is already in California, participating in a series of events before racing in this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. He took a break to talk to reporters on a national teleconference, a conversation that covered his charity work, his Chase prospects and his team's performance.
   
Johnson was in his hometown in El Cajon, Calif., preparing for a Jimmie Johnson Foundation golf tournament today. But that wasn't all he and his wife, Chandra, were doing while in the area.
   
"Today is a special day for us," he said. "We are heading out to the build site where we are building four homes with Habitat For Humanity through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. It's an exciting day. My wife and I are all dressed up and ready to have a good day."
   
Johnson was also planning an auction of the helmet that he created featuring several charities and which he will wear in Sunday's race. The money raised will back those groups.
   
As far as this weekend's race goes, all Johnson needs to do is finish 40th or better in to clinch a spot in the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup and get a shot at his third straight championship.
   
Johnson enters the race fourth in the standings, with two wins this season. But he has not been as dominant as in some past seasons. Part of that is because of the difficult adjustment to the series' new car.
   
Johnson says that he thinks that his Chad Knaus-led team is catching the competition. He says that it has been confusing because one sees individual teams, not organizations, taking the lead. For example, Kyle Busch has eight wins for Joe Gibbs Racing, while teammate Tony Stewart has none and Denny Hamlin has one.
   
Now Johnson thinks he is catching up to the field.
   
"Some weekends I feel like we have a dominant car, and other weekends I feel like we're a fifth-place car or even a 10th-place car," he said. "With the strong team that we have, we seem to be able to rally back and get finishes out of it. So I still think that we may be behind, and especially where we want to be. We want a nice cushion, and we want to be well ahead of the competition, and without a doubt, we are not there.

"We are on par, if maybe just not a little bit behind, right now. We have been testing already this week and been working as hard as we possibly can to find more speed and to better understand this car. Every time we are on track, we learn something, and we can apply it.
    
"I'm excited for this weekend's race, and we were a little smarter yesterday in the test session that we had, and hopefully [we can] bring that out to California this weekend."
   
Johnson says the team has needed to adjust over the course of the season. Crew chief Knaus had to shift gears and find new things to make the car work.
   
"We showed up at Vegas and Fontana at the start of the season with what we thought was the best downforce package on the planet," he said. "California went well -  we were slow all weekend but went with the 24 [of Jeff Gordon's] setup, and it ran well. Then we went to Vegas with the latest, greatest moves, and the stuff we thought was going to work based on the old car, and we were not even in the same race. We were out there seven-cylinder class, it seemed like. That has been the hardest part to find out where to work, and that's what we've done all season long."
   
Johnson says that Knaus has had to adjust his thinking and find new things that work.
    
"There is not anyone smarter than Chad, but the way he has thought about setting these cars up and what we have done in the past does not work with this new car," he said. "We are trying to find the right direction in the right areas to turn him loose and let him work. There are not any big areas anymore. It's a lot of small areas, and we are now, I feel, getting the rhythm of this car and understanding what to work on."
   
Still, in the 10-race Chase, Johnson believes things could equalize. Last year, he broke out in the Chase, winning four consecutive races late in the segment to take the title. Can he do it again?
   
"It's a lot closer to equal to what we have now, so I think it's a great opportunity," he said. "We get into the final 10, and it's great tracks for myself and the 48 team.
    
"You look, Bristol wasn't a good one for us, and then whatever was before, I guess Michigan, those two races, and even parts of Michigan we were the fastest car on the track, but it's amazing how momentum shifts from week to week. We were not on the radar last week. You look at the weeks before that, the win at Indy and what we have done at Pocono, we have a lot of forward momentum and progress with this race team, and I feel like we are one of the guys to be considered a favorite in the championship and look forward to getting started."

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Jimmie Johnson