CUP: Johnson Takes It To The Field

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Takes It To The Field

Jimmie Johnson is known for attacking the competition...

Tom Jensen | Posted November 15, 2009 Avondale, AZ

Jimmie Johnson leads Mark Martin by 108 points in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup. (Photo: Getty Images)

There are a lot of keys to the success of Jimmie Johnson, who is on the precipice of a record fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Hendrick Motorsports, the team Johnson drives for, is the most successful in the sport over the last 15 years or so.

Chad Knaus, crew chief of the No. 48 Hendrick Chevrolet Impala SS, is regarded as the best in the business.

Johnson has a formidable set of skills in his own arsenal as a driver, with a smoothness some have likened to David Pearson to the ability to get up on the wheel like Cale Yarborough when the race is on the line.

But the real secret to the overwhelming success of Johnson and his squad may boil down to a single, simple word: Attack.

That’s what the team does best, and it seems the stronger the pressure on Johnson and the team, the more they respond. It was that way at Texas Motor Speedway in the fall of 2007 when Johnson nearly wrecked trying to run down Matt Kenseth, who he ultimately beat in one of the best races in recent memory.

And it was that way at Atlanta Motor Speedway during last year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, when Johnson made a kamikaze run to come from the end of the lead-lap cars to finish second to Carl Edwards in the race’s closing laps, a performance that stunned Edwards.

It was that way again at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, where Johnson led all but 75 of 312 laps to crush the field in the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.

And the real kicker is that every one of Johnson’s competitors seemed to know it was coming after he crashed on Lap 3 a week earlier at Texas and finished a season’s-worst 38th.

“Any time that Jimmie is down is not usually because of performance, it's usually because of an incident like you had last week,” said Denny Hamlin, who finished third behind Johnson and Jeff Burton on Sunday at PIR. “There was no doubt in my mind they were going to come this week and make a statement. Obviously leading all the laps pretty much and winning the race sends a statement out there that he is the best, that they're not going to be denied this year. The only thing that was going to keep him from winning the championship this year was bad luck.”

Attack. That’s how this team rolls.

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Tom Jensen

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