CUP: Johnson Still Leader Of The Pack

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Still Leader Of The Pack

Kyle Busch should be one of Jimmie Johnson’s toughest challengers this season...

Tom Jensen | Posted January 11, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Kyle Busch narrowly missed the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2009. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets he races will almost certainly be different this year.

The NASCAR rules package will be modified, with more aggressive driving expected to be permitted

He and his wife have their first baby on the way.

But unless and until anyone can figure out a way to dethrone him, four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson is still the man to beat in 2010, especially when it comes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. At least that’s what the guys working hardest to knock him off his perch believe.

“He's the standard,” said Denny Hamlin of Johnson. “He's got all the pieces of the puzzle with him right now. Crew chief, team, talent, reliability. All those things is what you have to have in the Chase. That's what they've just done over the last four years. They put it all together. When you have all that, and nothing changes year to year, no personnel changes, it's hard to beat.”

Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, concurred.

“When the time counts, especially in the Chase, they're able to throw it down and beat all of us and score the most points in the final 10 races,” said Busch. “Even though I don't think he started in the No. 1 spot this year, he still was able to battle through there, leading the points after the third or fourth race. Just kind of took it from there.”

Hamlin and Busch are expected to be among Johnson’s stiffest competition in what might be NASCAR’s most wide open season in years.

The sanctioning body is meeting with drivers this week and hammering out a new rules package expected to include the first significant aerodynamic modifications since the new-generation race car was introduced in 2007, as well as relaxed restrictions on bump drafting and the out-of-bounds lines at the superspeedways in Daytona and Talladega.

But regardless of how the final rule package shakes out, the challengers are keeping a close eye on Johnson.

Carl Edwards won a series-high nine races and was runner-up to the No. 48 Hendrick team in 2008 and after a disappointing year last season, wants to get back at chasing Johnson.

He has no illusions about the task at hand though.

“With the way that the 48 team (Johnson) performed, and even the 5 team (2009 runner-up Mark Martin) for that matter, it's two goals: Make the Chase first, then be the best you can be in it,” said Edwards, pilot of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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