It's hard to downplay a 'perfect weekend'

With three wins in five Chase races, a 90-point lead midway through the 10-event shootout and three straight Sprint Cup championships to their credit, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team could start working on their Las Vegas acceptance speeches already.

They’re not.

And don’t even suggest to Johnson and his team that the second half of the Chase for the Championship is a formality, despite the fact second-place Mark Martin trails by 90 points, third-place Jeff Gordon is 135 points behind and the rest, well, they’re half a lap or more behind.

“It’s a nice lead, but there’s no need for anyone to get excited,” Johnson said early Sunday morning after winning the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“There’s a lot of danger out there. We just need to be smart.”

By danger, Johnson means there’s a trip to Talladega in two weeks, a place where cars and points race could flip upside down.

But there’s also a trip this weekend to Martinsville, a place Johnson has dominated. He has made 15 career starts at Martinsville, has six wins, 11 top-10s and he’s finished out of the top-10 just once.

If his challengers are going to cut into his lead, they’ll probably have a hard time doing it at Martinsville.

Matt Kenseth, who finished second to Johnson, isn’t in the Chase, but he’s seen this movie before.

“Whenever it counts and it’s crunch time, they do this,” Kenseth said. “They’ve done this every year for the last four years, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise to anybody.”

Johnson’s victory Saturday night didn’t come easily. He didn’t dominate the race, which was led at various times by Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Kenseth and Gordon.

Johnson was always close, though, and over the final 40 laps, it was clear he was the man to beat. It looked as if both Kahne and Gordon might do it, but ultimately neither was close when the checkered flag fell.

It capped what crew chief Chad Knaus called a “perfect weekend,” something he’d privately wanted to accomplish for years. It meant posting the best time in both practice sessions, winning the pole and the race.

Johnson wasn’t aware of the goal until Knaus mentioned it on Saturday.

“We haven’t quite made it, ever so it was kinda cool,” said Knaus, who said the team had come close twice.

If there’s a secret to Johnson’s success – beyond pure speed and driving talent – it’s been the team’s ability to avoid trouble.

“We’ve been fortunate over the last couple of years that we haven’t had a significant failure in the Chase,” Knaus said. “But it’s very, very possible.”

Juan Pablo Montoya entered Saturday in third place in the points, but his car was damaged when Martin bumped him from behind on a restart. By the time the race was over, Montoya had fallen to sixth in points, his Chase hopes severely damaged.

Johnson, meanwhile, has an average finish of 3.2 in five Chase races.

“One flat tire, one mechanical problem, Talladega ... and that 90 points is gone,” Johnson said. “I’m not trying to downplay where we are, but there’s a lot of racing left.”

Car owner Rick Hendrick isn’t taking anything for granted.

“We have Talladega coming up,” he said. “I don’t think you can have enough points.”