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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Johnson Shys Away From Hatefest
Jimmie Johnson qualified fourth for the Food City 500...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 19, 2010   Bristol, TN
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, walks in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
At Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, the operant word is “hate.” Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards hate each other and so do Edwards and Kevin Harvick. Tony Stewart hates the media. All of which suits Jimmie Johnson just fine.

You remember Johnson, right?

Four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, looking to win his first race at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend? And if he somehow manages to do that, it’ll give him 50 Cup victories and tie him with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 10th overall in the history of the series.

While many of the protagonists in the Cup garage spent Friday at BMS talking about all the bad blood that exists today, Johnson stuck to his usual routine. He was fourth in the day’s only round of practice for the Food City 500 and fourth in qualifying, too. Even though he’s never won at Bristol, as he is most every week, Johnson is someone the others will have to watch.

But if the media is looking for controversy out of Johnson, chances are good that they’ll be sorely disappointed. As always, he’s avoiding the kind of hornet’s nest that so many other drivers seem to step in.

Asked about the rough and tumble methods Keselowski has employed, Johnson insisted he was never like that. “That's just not my style,” Johnson said. “I want things to be smooth on the outside so all I have to do is worry about my race team and driving my car. That's why I took my time in really dishing things out and getting started in this sport and making sure I didn't have all this other stuff to focus on.”

Of course, Johnson did have some pretty good role models when he entered the sport, tough guys who helped teach him the ropes and show him what worked and didn’t.

“Coming in, my eyes were wide open,” said Johnson. “I'm racing against Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton and Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace and I don't want to ruffle their feathers; they are the veterans of the sport. And that was my approach.”

Certainly, though, it isn’t the only approach young Cup drivers have taken, as Keselowski, Kyle Busch and some of the other young guns of the sport have demonstrated.

“Other guys come in and look at that same group of guys and say, ‘I'm gonna crush 'em. I'm gonna turn them around. I'm gonna rub fenders with those guys. I'm not going to take anything from those guys.’ And it's just different styles,” said Johnson. “Everybody handles it differently. I'm very proud of the route that I have gone.”

Johnson admits the squeaky clean image hasn’t been especially popular with fans.

“A lot of people have criticized me and say that I'm too boring because of the route I've taken,” said Johnson. “So, at the end of the day I look at four championships and hopefully working on a fifth and hopefully I've made some good decisions.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.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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