CUP: Johnson Putting Pressure On Foes

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Putting Pressure On Foes

Jimmie Johnson took over the points lead at Southern California on Sunday...

Tom Jensen | Posted October 12, 2009 Charlotte, NC

Jimmie Johnson took over the point standings with a win at California Sunday. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

If there is any consolation to be had among the 11 drivers trailing Jimmie Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup it can only be this: Twice, a driver has made up more than 150 points in the final six races of the season.

It first happened in the inaugural Chase in 2004, when a driver was 247 points behind after the first four races, and went on to make up 239 of those points in the final six races before finishing second to Kurt Busch.

And in 2006, the eventual Sprint Cup champion was 156 points out with six races to go and came back to win the title.

So the good news for the 11 is that huge point gaps can be overcome.

The bad news is, the guy who made up 239 points in 2004 and overcame a 156-point deficit to win the title in 2006, was the same guy: Jimmie Johnson, the same man who took over the points lead with a dominating victory at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have proven they can come from way behind in the Chase. And they’ve proven they can seal the deal over the final few races. And that has left many of the other Chase drivers scratching their heads.

With just four races complete in the Chase, exactly half the field is more than one full race behind Johnson. In fact, 12th-place Brian Vickers is more than two full races behind.

Juan Pablo Montoya, the surprise third-place man in the points and the only driver with top-five finishes in all four Chase races, is trying to stay philosophical about it.

“We're doing our best,” said Montoya, who has two third- and two fourth-place finishes in the four Chase races. “We're enjoying ourselves and we're racing hard of the we've got great race cars, you know. There were four or five Hendrick cars and us racing today in the front. So to be able to do that is huge. … We're doing the best we can. If it's good enough, it's great. If it's not, we’ll move on. There is another year.”

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon is in the same boat.

“When we get to Homestead or finish out in Homestead, if you're best isn't good enough, then you know, you work harder over the off-season and see what you can do to improve it for next season,” added Gordon, who is fifth in points after consecutive runner-up finishes at Kansas and Southern California.

For his part, Johnson isn’t about to declare victory. Yet.

“I mean, we love where we're at,” Johnson said after Sunday’s victory. “We love the fact that we're in the points lead. We've got maximum points today. But I don't want to go there. I don't want to think about those things. If we are in the hunt come Homestead, come Phoenix, it's going to be the thoughts, the emotions, all of that is going to be so heavy on all of our shoulders that it's going to be a tough grind.

“But right now it's so early enough to where we can kind of brush it off and say ‘OK, we did what we needed to.’ Let's go to Charlotte. As we get closer to the end, there is no doubt it's going to ratchet up. But right now we did all we could today.”

And that’s why the competition is rapidly falling behind.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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Tom Jensen

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