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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Johnson A Strong Third At AMS
Jimmie Johnson had his best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish since Loudon, New Hampshire...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 06, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Jimmie Johnson is chasing NASCAR Sprint Cup title No. 5. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The sleeping giant woke up Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson, the four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion snapped out of a very decidedly un-Johnson-like funk at AMS with an excellent third-place finish behind Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the Emory Healthcare 500.

It was the first time Johnson finished better than 10th since he won back-to-back races at Infineon Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.

And after the race, it was clear Johnson was relieved to put together a solid race after a series of subpar performances.

“We have had some problems on the mile-and-a-half, two-mile tracks and tonight with the setup we brought and the way we worked on things, (it) seemed we could adjust the car and improve throughout the night and be there at the end of the race,” said Johnson, who clinched a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

More than anything, though, Johnson was relieved to simply post a good, solid finish after being snakebitten for most of July and August.
VIDEO: Last Lap Cup - Atlanta Tony Stewart wins at AMS. (Image: SPEED)

“I feel like we are going down the right path,” said Johnson, who moved up two spots to seventh in points. “You know, I know that we have run better than our finishes show over the last few months. We have had a bunch of incidents, on top of running bad at a few tracks, I can't deny that. But I'm excited to clinch. I just don't want to go into Richmond and worry about racing my way through that and so that's a huge relief for myself and this team.”

The highlight of Johnson’s night at AMS was a tremendous three-way dice for the lead with Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards late in the race. The battle ultimately was broken up by a caution for Brad Keselowski’s spin on Lap 296. Kahne suffered a flat tire on a subsequent restart, but the fight looked like some of the epic battles Johnson and Edwards waged in 2008, when they finished 1-2 in the title battle.

“I think we put on a good show,” Johnson said. “I wish that last caution didn't come out. There's no telling who would have won that thing. Maybe all three of us would have been a big wad and someone else would have won, but it was going to be a lot of fun.”

All in all, even though he didn’t win, Johnson was pleased with his night.

“It's a big confidence booster,” he said. “Might sound crazy, but for myself, for Chad (Knaus, crew chief), to be in the heat of the race in the end when pit stops counts, the adjustments count, strategy counts, that's the stuff you need to be on your game with during the Chase. And to get a good race here to be in that moment and to feel the pressure, is something we needed. That pressure is fun to have and it was a familiar excitement inside of me.”

That familiar excitement, as Johnson put it, is what’s gotten him four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. And if it’s back, there’s no telling what he might do this time around.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: EMORY HEALTHCARE 500 - ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PDF > UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: EMORY HEALTHCARE 500 - ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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