CUP: Johnson Pleased/Friday Cup Notebook

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Pleased/Friday Cup Notebook

Three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson said he’s ahead of last year’s pace...

Tom Jensen | Posted June 26, 2009 Loudon, NH

Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS team are up for a fourth Championship this year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

ON SCHEDULE Jimmie Johnson started 2008 in a deep hole and the team was able to steadily improve to test their way out of it, with the California native going on to win his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This year, Johnson said he and the rest of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS team are well ahead of where they were at this time last year in terms of performance. What he’s less sanguine about are some of the mistakes he and the team have made.

“Yeah, I'm real happy with the speed in the cars,” Johnson said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “Unlike other years, we've made more mistakes as a team. Again, like last week I got nailed for speeding on pit road. I've made plenty of mistakes like that this year. I've crashed a couple of cars that I shouldn't have. Pit stops are really in our rhythm now but we've had a couple of hiccups along the way.”

On balance, though, Johnson said he felt he and his team would be ready to go for a record fourth series championship once the Chase for the Sprint Cup rolls around. “I think we've missed a few opportunities to win races,” said Johnson. “At Michigan we were leading the race and ran out of gas; at Pocono we were in really good position there; I look at Phoenix where Mark (Martin) won earlier in the year and we had some issues we overcame there and we were the fastest car but didn't pull it off. We lost that race because of mistakes we made. So I think we can be better than where we're at, but I'm very happy to see the progress. We've been cleaning up things over the course of the year and I think we're going to be just right when the Chase starts.”

HAPPY BOY Earlier this season, Kasey Kahne was visibly grumpy when discussing the sub-par performance of his Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Chargers. But as Kahne’s performance has picked up, so have his spirits. And after winning on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., last weekend, Kahne’s mood at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday was positively ebullient.

“We’ve made huge gains throughout the season with the car and the engine,” said Kahne, who broke a more than year-long winless streak at Infineon Raceway last week. “I’ve felt like the last month-and-a-half, we’ve been very competitive. To go out and get a win (at Infineon) like that is just a ton of momentum and confidence for everybody. We had a lunch at the shop this week with all the employees who played a huge part in our victory last week and everyone’s excited and looking forward to this week.”

Also buoying Kahne’s spirits was the fact that teammates AJ Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler finished seventh and 10th, respectively. “We had three cars in the top 10 which is awesome for Richard Petty Motorsports. I think that gets all the teams excited and all the people excited. We look forward to it. I think it’s going to be another good weekend. We want to just keep improving and keep making sure that we have the points to get in the Chase when it comes around.”

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Tom Jensen

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