NASCAR Cup Series

Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus look like champions once more

Published Jun. 29, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

Hey, hey. Guess what? Superman’s back!

A lot of us where wondering where and when Jimmie Johnson would break out of his “slump” – and after the results from the past two weekends, we know it is here and now. That No. 48 car was darn good this week at New Hampshire, from the time it came off the truck through all the practices. Even though the team had a miscue on pit road, it was able to overcome it and reestablish its dominance by the time the checkers flew.

Anybody who has any questions as to what it takes to win a championship just needs to rewind and examine this weekend because Johnson and Co. offered a pretty good example.

Now, I’m not diminishing Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick, five-time race winner Denny Hamlin, or anybody else. But boys, this is where the Chase for the Sprint Cup kicks off in just a few months, and our four-time defending champion looked very impressive. And if it’s true that Team 48 was experimenting the last few weeks when its results went down a notch, woe be on everybody.

There were several drivers who looked good on Sunday, but when it came down to decision time, Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus looked like a genius. Until other teams start figuring out how to beat Knaus, the No. 48 team has a big advantage.

I just think this weekend we got a pretty clear picture of what the championship battle is going to look like the rest of this year – and it’s going to go through that No. 48 shop. You are going to have to beat those guys on their own terms – and that’s not going to be an easy task.

This is the good part of the sport right now. Johnson is good, but his title rivals all get a chance to evaluate where they are at and figure out what they have to do to get better for when the title battle truly begins.

Harvick really summed it up best: We can be a top-five race car, which is great ... if you want to be second best.

You’ve got to be able to win races, you’ve got to be able to beat Jimmie Johnson at his own game – and the last two weeks he’s been simply the best. A road course may not be part of the Chase, but he’s never won on one before. Now he has, and it shows that he is still working to get better as a driver. Instead of just saying, “Oh, we’re in the top five, no big deal,” Johnson went out and learned to be a better road-course driver. That shows that despite all his wins and championships he’s still hungry.