Getting better isn't always enough

HAMPTON, Ga. – Jimmie Johnson’s continued assault on the Sprint Cup series can be taken in various ways: a bore to fans without a taste for history, or with an appetite for some variety; a demoralizer for his peers.

But driver Jeff Burton is using Johnson’s four straight titles and two wins in three races this season as learning opportunity. And by Burton’s estimation, everyone has a lot to learn right now.

“My approach to it - and it hasn’t been as successful as I would like it to be - but my approach to it is that I need to focus on (Johnson) just from the sense of learning, but the only way we can beat them is for us to do our job better,” he said on Friday before practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I can’t control the way they do their job. I can control the way I do my job.”

It’s not that Burton has struggled. He’s been a major part of a three-pronged Richard Childress Racing revival, finishing third at California and standing seventh in points. Burton said he will remain placid as Johnson-is-ruining-the-sport hysteria builds in the garage. Johnson is currently fifth in driver points.

“I’m around a lot of people - not just my team - that the last two weeks have just flipped out,” Burton said. “’How did he win that race? He’s lucky, (makes me mad).’ I’m not that way, I’m honestly not.”

“I look and it and I say they got a lucky break at Vegas and they took advantage of it. They made the right call and you can really look back and see that they didn’t really have the best cars in those two races when it looked like they needed to have the best cars and they still found a way to win. I don’t think that’s luck, I think that’s skill and they’ve done a hell of a job doing it. We just have to be better.”