Points leader Johnson going for 4 wins in a row

By SceneDaily Staff Report
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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Not only is Jimmie Johnson gunning for his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship, he will be trying for his fourth consecutive Cup victory this weekend.

Johnson has won the last three races to grab a 30-point edge over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the Nextel Cup points standings. Should Johnson win at Phoenix, where he's never won in eight starts, he would join Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin and Gordon as the only drivers to win four races in a row in the modern era of NASCAR.

"I think that we've been on quite a roll here, and going to victory lane does something for the crew and the shop that you couldn't do any other way," Johnson said. "When you go to victory lane, there's just a buzz that goes through all of Hendrick Motorsports and really on the 48 team."

Johnson's three wins came after Gordon won two in a row. Gordon has finished third, seventh and seventh in the last three races, but Johnson simply has been better.

"We have momentum going our direction right now, but it's only 30 points," Johnson said. "If you look at the last two weeks, I've been able to make up roughly 60 points. Jeff hasn't had bad races the last two events. He's had strong he finishes. So it's not like he's had bad nights.

"I can finish 10th, he can win, and I'm back in second. So we have a lot of work ahead of us and are happy to be in a position to race for the championship. With good race tracks coming up for us, good race cars in the lineup and momentum from the victories, and our guys are showing up hungry every week, we're trying to get as many points as we can."

Johnson has never finished worse than 15th in eight races at the 1-mile Phoenix track. He has three top-five and six top-10 finishes there, including a fourth in April.

In the seven final 10-race segments of the season, Johnson has won 12 times. That's more than a third of his career total of 32 victories.

"I think tracks have something to do with it," Johnson said. "There are good tracks that we see in the spring and fall, and that has a lot to do with it. ... We just show up and we do the same job every week that we always do, but there are certain tracks that we are better at."

Mentioned Drivers: Bill Elliott

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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