CUP: Is There A Likely Johnson Successor?

Sprint Cup

CUP: Is There A Likely Johnson Successor?

Jimmie Johnson leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by 36 points...

Mike Hembree | Posted October 14, 2010 Charlotte, NC

J.J. Henry, (Left) PGA Tour Pro, and Jimmie Johnson, (RIght) driver of the #48 Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet, while competing in a three-hole golf skills challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

The spin of nature is right on time. Autumn leaves are changing, and Jimmie Johnson is in first place in the Sprint Cup standings.

He’s been there for two straight weeks and shows no signs of going anywhere else. It’s near the end of the season, after all, and Johnson and his cohorts simply assume their rightful place is on the high perch. To see him in another spot at this point in the season would be an anomaly.

Now, with only six races left until the 2010 champion is crowned, there’s a logical question: Can anybody beat Johnson?

Kevin Harvick, one of the Chasers chasing Johnson, said Thursday he assumes the second- through five-place drivers (Denny Hamlin, Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart) still have a shot at Johnson entering Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I think you look from fifth forward now unless somebody just really goes on a tear,” Harvick said. “I think that’s where it’s at now.”

The second-place Hamlin trails Johnson by 36 points. Harvick is 54 back, Gordon 85 and Stewart 107.

Harvick said his plan is to continue to be consistent and hope to be in a position to challenge Johnson in the final weeks.

“As you look at it from a driver’s standpoint right now, we’re kind of doing our own thing,” he said. “I don’t care what they [Johnson’s team] do or how it’s done. We’ve got to score the most points we can.

“Obviously, they’ve been good in the Chase. The 1-2-3 part [Johnson’s finishes the past three weeks] is pretty typical if you look at what they’ve done in the past. We have to keep our stuff at single digits [finishes] and make no mistakes. That’s our strong suit – not making mistakes. If that’s going to be enough – we won’t know that until Homestead.”

Kyle Busch, virtually out of the championship hunt after troubles last week at Auto Club Speedway, said Johnson and his team are “week in and week out the guys who legitimately have a shot to win [races]. We legitimately have a shot at a top 10. We could hit a top five now and then. And we’re not running second or third all day like they are.”

As for Johnson, he says he’s taking nothing for granted.

“There’s so much racing left,” he said. “Texas [a crash at Texas in the Chase last year left him with a 38th-place finish] is a great example of what can happen. I think the Chase is going to come down to Homestead. If push comes to shove and we get to Homestead and we need to race for the win, we’ll have what we need there.

“You have to go play the game. I got to go run the race.”

Does Johnson think he can be beaten? “I’ve grown to believe that anything can happen,” he said. “Even though we have a big gap over sixth and fifth, at Talladega we could all be in a wreck and Tony [Stewart] could leave there as the point leader.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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