NASCAR Cup Series

Johnson back to championship form

Published Oct. 9, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Jimmie Johnson yelled, “Let's drink some champagne” as he took the checkered flag.

But his focus is really on the six-pack — the Sprint Cup six-pack.

Although Johnson entered the weekend having weathered a 21-race winless drought — the longest of his career — he dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

“I can't say that I've known the number or thought about a number,” Johnson said. “I look at this year, and there's probably three or four opportunities to win that come to mind that we just didn't take advantage of, and that's on everybody's back. I've messed up, we've had pit-road issues, we've had a lot of little things go wrong, and we've had a lot of second-place finishes that should have been wins.

“The competitor in all of us, we've known that we've been close. So yeah, we want to win and we want a lot more wins to start the Chase (for the Sprint Cup) for bonus points, but it's been more about missed opportunity than really a number of races that we haven't won. I'm shocked that 21 is the longest. I didn't realize — that doesn't sound like many races to me.”

A victory this decisive can help a driver forget a lot.

Johnson led seven times for 197 of 272 laps to earn his second win at the track and his 55th career victory, tying him with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time win list.

What’s more remarkable, however, is Johnson reached that milestone in just 357 starts. It took Wallace 642 races when the field wasn’t nearly as competitive as it is today.

And Johnson also became the first driver to win 20 races during the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

So how could anyone rule him out of title contention?

“I think he should just pack it up,” Carl Edwards said with a grin. “It’s over, he is too far back (laughter). “I don’t know. He is going to be tough, I think.”

Sunday’s win combined with Johnson’s second-place finish last weekend at Dover International Speedway elevated the No. 48 team from 10th to third in the title race in two weeks. He trails Edwards by four points after the No. 99 Ford finished fifth, which separated Edwards from a tie at the top of the standings with Kevin Harvick, who finished sixth.

But with six races remaining in the Chase, Johnson is well aware that “a lot can happen.”

"We've got a very strong group of guys, and we've been knocking on the door all year long,” Johnson said. “We got beat in some cases, and we beat ourselves in others. Today we went out there and did a great job and got the Chevrolet to Victory Lane. We did our part, and we'll see if we can do it six more times.

“We're doing the right things. I'm sure this is a huge, huge step in the right direction. But six races, a lot can happen. I don't want to get overly excited. We have to go race for this thing week after week."

Considering that the Sprint Cup tour next rolls into Charlotte Motor Speedway — the venue the five-time champ used to refer to as “our house” — don’t be surprised to see another commanding performance from Johnson.

He has six wins, 10 top fives and 14 top 10s in 20 starts on the 1.5-mile track. Then he's strong on the Chase races coming up. Johnson won the last race at Talladega Superspeedway, in the spring. He boasts six wins at Martinsville Speedway in 19 starts and an average finish of 5.6.

Although Johnson has just one win at Texas Motor Speedway, the No. 48 team is always a factor. And while Phoenix International Raceway is considered a wild card, no one can develop a new set faster than this crew. And then there’s Homestead-Miami Speedway, one of just three tracks on the tour where Johnson has yet to win.

For the past five years, winning the season finale hasn’t mattered when it comes to deciding the championship. Johnson just had to be good enough — and he always is.

Up in smoke

Jeff Gordon took a tremendous hit in his drive for five championships.

With two laps remaining in the scheduled distance of the race, Gordon’s engine let go entering Turn 1 while running 15th. Gordon finished the day 34th, his worst finish since the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when an accident dropped him to 36th. Gordon lost one position in the points and is 10th in the standings, 47 points behind Carl Edwards.

Gordon first reported seeing smoke after the fourth caution when he dropped from fourth on the restart to the last car on the lead lap within a few circuits. He asked the crew whether he’d made contact with another car. Although the team initially believed the smoke was coming from a tire rub, it turned out to be graver than that.

“That restart Tony Stewart took me three wide, all the way down to the apron, and we were on old tires, and that just ruined our day right there,” Gordon said. “He did what he had to do, it messed us up, but right after that we start getting smoke, we thought it was tire smoke, but it wasn’t; it was under the hood. Obviously it ended our day.”

Take the lead

Carl Edwards dropped from second to eighth in the opening laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 and fell as far back as 25th before taking a gamble to finish fifth and separate himself by one-point over Kevin Harvick for the lead in the Chase standings.

When Jeff Gordon’s car blew up two laps before the advertised finish, the No. 99 team opted to pit for tires, restarted 10th and gained five positions in two laps.

“I feel grateful,” Edwards said. “That was very, very bad at the beginning of that race. I cannot thank my guys enough for sticking with it and working hard all day. I cannot believe we finished fifth. It feels like a win.

“That is the most we have done with a car that wasn’t capable of winning ever. I am really proud of my guys. We made good adjustments, and I just cannot believe from the way the day started to finish like that is spectacular.”

Edwards acknowledged the team chose the wrong front suspension setting for the car. He realized he had a problem as soon as “they dropped the green” flag. Edwards fell off the lead lap when Jimmie Johnson passed him on Lap 179, when the No. 48 had a seven-second lead over the field.

After the crew made “bigger than normal” adjustments during pit stops in the race, and with the benefit of returning to the lead lap during the fourth caution, Edwards was able to battle back from 17th with 47 circuits remaining in the race to score his 15th top-five finish of the season, the most on the tour.

As soon as the race ended, Edwards conferred with crew chief Bob Osborne. With another intermediate track facing the No. 99 team at Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend, Edwards didn’t want to make the same mistake with the setup that could have proved costly in Kansas.

“(Charlotte) has been a little difficult for us,” Edwards said. “We have been very hit-and-miss there. I do feel like our run in the All-Star race and 600 earlier this year will be something we can build on. We have a baseline strategy with the setup, and we will go use that and hopefully it will work out better.”

Still standing

Brad Keselowski continues to keep swinging for the fences.

While many felt the driver was a long shot as a wild card entering the Chase, Keselowski jumped to fourth in the points standings with his third-place finish at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

Crew chief Paul Wolfe played the strategy game again when he elected to keep the No. 2 Dodge on the track during the fifth caution to gain track position. Keselowski jumped from seventh to the point on Lap 241 and led four laps before Jimmie Johnson passed him. Although Kasey Kahne was also able to get by the Blue Deuce, Keselowski scored his third top-five finish in the Chase.

“Another solid day for us,” Keselowski said. “It just makes you kick yourself for last week at Dover (International Speedway) for having the trouble that we did. We’ve had top-five cars each and every week. We’re executing very well as a group and as a team. The things that we can control, we’re doing very well. I’m proud of everything and our efforts.

“I think Jimmie went in the garage and stole my (race-winning No.) 22 Nationwide car from yesterday today because there was nobody gonna run with him all day. His car was just way better. To get a third place out of this, if it wasn’t for the power steering last week (at Dover), we’d probably have the points lead. Those failure, those troubles, they’re going to come the 48's way, and when it does, we’ll be there.”

Numbers game

2: Wins by Jimmie Johnson is the fewest in any of his 10 seasons.

6: Cars retired by Lap 38.

21: Top 10s by Carl Edwards, the most on the tour.

26th-place: Finish for Austin Dillon in his Sprint Cup debut.

197: The most laps led by Jimmie Johnson at any intermediate track other than Charlotte.

Say what?

After NASCAR threw the yellow flag on Lap 205 when Jimmie Johnson had a 12-second lead over Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt said via radio, “They shouldn't be throwing those phony yellows during the Chase.”

Say what? Part II

Matt Kenseth was just one of the drivers who took exception to Austin Dillon pushing Kevin Harvick around the track during a caution as the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet cut off his engine to conserve fuel. “I can't believe that NASCAR is allowing this again,” said Kenseth, who finished fourth. “They have to change this rule.”

Say what? Part III

NASCAR spokeswoman Kristi King said 99 percent of the problem they had with Harvick was that "he was not maintaining speed and the pace of the car, which, under the rulebook, you have to do at all times. We'll continue to look at it this. (It) is the second time it's happened in the Chase. I'm sure we'll talk about it this week in the competition meeting."