Johnson confident ahead of Pennsylvania 500
Saturday, Aug. 01, 2009
AP
Driver Jimmie Johnson works with his crew in the garage at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., during practice for the NASCAR Pennsylvania 500 auto race, Friday, July 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
LONG POND, Pa. – Jimmie Johnson won seven races last season and his third consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship.
Right now, with six races left before the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Johnson already has three wins, is second in the series standings and has nine top-five finishes in the first 20 races.
And guess what?
Entering Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway (2 p.m. Eastern, ESPN), Johnson believes his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team is better at this point than it was last year.
“We’ve been more consistent with speed in the car all season long,” said Johnson, who will start second today after qualifying was rained out. “We didn’t have to play catch-up.
“That stuff is tough on the team, mentally, and tough on myself. So, we’ve had the speed; we’ve just been making small mistakes and we’ve had some things not go our way with fuel mileage and things late in the race.”
In fact, given those bad-luck circumstances, Johnson believes he could have as many as five wins already this season.
Five wins? That news certainly doesn’t bode well for his competition this season.
Asked if it might be a little scary for his competitors to hear such bravado, Johnson replied, “I hope it is. The more I can make them worry about the No. 48, the better off we’re going to be.”
Johnson and his team are good already.
He won his third Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, holding off Hendrick teammate Mark Martin over the final 24 laps for the victory.
Johnson’s work brought a boat-load of praise from Martin, who called him “Superman” while congratulating him in Victory Lane.
“Trying to beat that guy is like trying to beat Superman,” Martin said Friday at Pocono. “You know why, look at the results they get.
“From the sheer number of successes they’ve had to the incredible comebacks that just are almost beyond belief. They certainly rebound consistently better than anybody in the series for several years now.”
Johnson agrees.
“I can see that in times when we do it really well, it’s amazing what we can accomplish,” he said. “And I see other times when we don’t and I understand why we don’t.
“Sometimes, we beat ourselves down and get frustrated and we don’t allow that style that we have to come out and never give up and let these long races work in our favor to adjust on the car and get it right.”
Johnson said he thinks he and crew chief Chad Knaus veered away from that philosophy earlier this season but feels confident that is behind them now.
“There are long races in the Chase and a 10-race stretch – it only sounds like 10 races, but 10 races is a long period of time,” he said. “It takes its toll.”
Of course another championship would put Johnson in an exclusive category in NASCAR. No other driver has won four consecutive championships. The challenge to accomplish that feat has not been lost on Johnson or his team.
“There is a reason why nobody has won four in a row,” he said. “It’s not easy to do.”
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