Monday, October 30, 2006

Getting in position to win a Nextel Cup Series championship hasn't been a
problem for Jimmie Johnson. Sealing the deal, on the other hand, that's a
whole other matter. Since coming into the series as a rookie in 2002,
Johnson has finished the season in the top five in the point standings every
year. Two times he finished series runner-up, including a scant eight points
behind Kurt Busch in the inaugural Chase for the Championship in 2004.
"Looking back at the past few seasons of the chase, we felt we maybe gambled
at the wrong time and tried to develop parts and pieces for the car and
set-ups at the wrong times," Johnson said. "This year I really think we
really stuck to a good plan and developed our stuff at the right time."
Johnson's team has the appearance of a fighter exploding out of the corner
after getting knocked down with a few left hooks in the first two rounds.
After a few bumps in the road early in The Chase, Johnson is back in
position to win a title, 41 points behind leader Matt Kenseth with four
races left, including Sunday's Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"Obviously, with the slow start we had, I'm happy about it," Johnson said.
"We've been knocking on the door for a championship for five seasons, and
hopefully, this will be the year for us." Johnson will start Sunday's Bass
Pro Shops 500 in third place after rain washed out all of Friday's on-track
activity. The field will line up by points, putting Matt Kenseth and the
rest of The Chase field out front for Sunday's race. Today's on-track action
calls for two Nextel Cup practice sessions, the Crown Royal International
Race of Champions season finale, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Easy
Car Vehicle Service Contacts 200. The weather forecast for today is
favorable with partly cloudy skies and little chance of rain. Getting in
place to win a title hasn't come easy for Johnson, who entered The Chase in
second place. After damage dropped him to a 39th-place finish in New
Hampshire to start the Chase Johnson found himself in ninth place, well
below his accustomed position of no worse than third up until the start of
The Chase.

After a finish of 13th at Dover improved him to eighth, a chance for a big
points day vanished two weeks later at Talladega where last lap contact
between he, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Brian
Vickers sent Johnson to a finish of 24th.

Since then, the No. 48 team has caught fire similar to the early-season
fashion when it won two of the first three races to start the year. A finish
of second at Lowe's Motor Speedway followed by last week's win at
Martinsville moved Johnson up to third in the standings.

"The luck and the way things have gone have really made this an interesting
and crazy chase for all the competitors," Johnson said. "We made good
changes we're we need to be. We were let back into this deal in a weird way
and it's time to go."

At Lowe's, Johnson was beat to the finish line by Kasey Kahne. Kahne's
eighth in The Chase for the Championship, 99 points out of first place.
Before the Nextel Cup trophy is hoisted in Homestead, Kahne expects Johnson
to have a say in who the champion will be.

"He's right there. He can definitely come in and take away," Kahne said. "At
Charlotte we won just off of having a better racecar. He started out with
the lead after the final stop and I passed him and drove away."

Johnson getting back into the heat of The Chase couldn't come at a better
time for he and his team. He ranks fourth among active Nextel Cup drivers
with an average finish of 11.8 at AMS and won the Bass Pro Shops 400 two
years ago.

Atlanta's 1.54-mile quad-oval configuration is very similar to Lowe's Motor
Speedway and the next track on the schedule, Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson's
won five points races at Lowe's in addition to a pair of Nextel All-Star
Challenges.