Chasing Jimmie: Contenders Fading Fast

CONCORD, N.C. -- For the past two days, one driver after another took the podium in the press room at Lowe's Motor Speedway and made his case that NASCAR's Chase for the Championship was far from over. Sure, Jimmie Johnson had taken the points lead last week and looked every bit the postseason form that won him the previous three Sprint Cup championships.

But the Chase wasn't even halfway over yet, we were reminded. And no way could anyone maintain a finishing average less than five in the most pressure-packed time of the year.

Turns out, it's all wishful thinking.

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With his victory late Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Johnson became the first to win three of the opening five races of the 10-race Chase playoff. His average finish is an unworldly third place and he's turned a 12-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin into 90-point runaway as the series heads to Martinsville, Va. next week.

We might as well rename this Chasing Jimmie Johnson for the Championship.

Johnson's incredible run to a historic fourth consecutive Cup title is hardly Saturday's most shocking outcome. He's done this before.

The biggest shakeup in the championship came from the biggest surprise in the championship, Juan Pablo Montoya, whose title run was derailed with a 35th-place finish courtesy of a chain-reaction fender bender on an early race restart.

Montoya entered the race in third place -- the only Chase driver with top-five finishes in the first four races -- and was running strong early in the night. On a restart about a fifth of the way into the race, Clint Bowyer's Chevy checked up, Montoya got into the back of it and of all things, the driver directly in front of him in the standings, Martin, hit Montoya's car in the rear.

The contact relegated Martin to a 17th-place finish -- his worse of the Chase. But Montoya's No. 42 Chevy got the worst end of it and he went two laps down at one point. Worse still, he dropped from third to sixth in the standings, 195 points out.

"There was not much we could do, we worked as hard as we could, we did all we thought was possible and here we go, the best we could do is 35th,'' said Montoya, who was philosophical and subdued after climbing out of car.

"We made the Chase, up to today we had four Top 5s in a row, what's bad about it. We actually surprised everyone, including everyone on our team we were doing such a great job.

"Even today we had a faster car than the 48. This happens. It's one of those racing things that happen and you've gotta just move on. If you're expecting to have 10 clean races, then you're dreaming.''


If so, Johnson hasn't woken up yet.

He topped every practice speed chart, won the pole position for Saturday's race and took the trophy. His crew chief Chad Knaus considered it a perfect weekend -- the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was best of every session on track.

When race runner-up Matt Kenseth was asked about competing against that kind of dominant car this weekend, he joked, "I think you have to lead every lap to have a perfect weekend, so he's still got some work to do.

"Seriously though, ever since those two guys [Knaus and Johnson] got together they've been the team to beat.''

And the challenge they have now -- a good challenge to have -- is convincing others that this championship isn't over yet. They are emphatic, genuine and serious when they talk about the work still ahead.

"There's no need for anyone to get too excited yet,'' Johnson said. "We're optimistic and have a lot of good tracks coming up, but also some danger too.

"One flat tire, one mechanical. ... one Talladega. ... 90 points is gone. I'm not trying to downplay where we're at, but there's a lot of racing yet.

"You never know what's going to happen. I feel very good racing for the championship if we don't have any problems. But we don't want to get too emotionally wrapped up in this thing and let our guard down.''

Or as team owner Rick Hendrick put simply, "I don't think you can have enough points, it's just too early.''

The good news for Johnson and the bad news for the rest of the field is that the series moves to the .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway next weekend. It's the lone short track in the 10-race Chase and for everyone else it's considered a wild card. For Johnson, who has won five of the last six races there, it's almost a gimme.

And so NASCAR's most underrated champion ever now must face a new criticism. There are ridiculous rumblings that his success somehow hurts the NASCAR product. That watching a master on top of his game is a bad thing.

Johnson can't win for winning.

"I'm just out there doing my thing,'' Johnson said.

"I don't think we've been stinking up the show. Everyone tunes in to watch Tiger [Woods] win, they watch [Roger] Federer do his thing on the tennis courts. I think a lot of people are watching and rooting us to win a fourth. The rest of them. ... I don't know.''

There's still plenty of time to win them over. And plenty of reason.