Times wires
CONCORD, N.C. - There's a theory that Jimmie Johnson is to blame for what ails NASCAR.
Falling television ratings are because the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion kills the suspense by winning all the time. Attendance at races is down because Johnson is boring and lacks the strong personality of colorful drivers from the past.
Johnson doesn't buy it.
"Well, I know that I'm not the reason for those things, and I sure as hell know I'm not vanilla," Johnson said.
He entered Saturday night's race at Charlotte in a familiar position: leading in the Chase for the Championship standings. He's won the title every year since 2006.
"We need more drama in our sport," Charlotte Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith said Saturday. "I was joking it would be great if Jimmie came out of the car and slapped somebody. That would be drama."
It's not Johnson's style, but he insists he's a lot different from the young driver who started in NASCAR's lower series.
"I went from being like a C-level driver in Nationwide and through all the other things in my career, to drive for Hendrick Motorsports to having success early," Johnson said. "At the end of the day, I want to be a professional and do my job. And some people formed opinions then, and it's unfortunate that if it still lingers around because I think I've done plenty to show that I'm far from vanilla."
But you'll rarely see Johnson mix it up on the track, call out drivers or NASCAR officials, or make provocative comments. And his dominance comes as NASCAR is concerned about falling ratings and attendance.
"We don't know why. And it's not just our sport; it's all sports, and it's all television," Johnson said. "It's not me, and I know that. So I just kind of chuckle about it, and if people want to spend time talking about it, they can."
Talladega shots: The trip to Talladega in two weeks could be critical in the championship race, perhaps the last chance for Carl Edwards to get into contention.
That's tough to accept for Edwards, who is no fan of the restrictor-plate races.
"Points should not be awarded at Talladega," Edwards said. "In a fair competition they shouldn't be because it's so random. It's just a treacherous race."
Edwards was involved in a last-lap crash last year in which his car went airborne and nearly cleared the safety fence. He escaped uninjured, but it was a reminder of the dangers of wrecks at those speeds with cars bunched up because of the restrictor plates.
"It's such an emotional roller-coaster throughout the day, and it's just not fun when it goes like that," Edwards said.
But sitting seventh in the standings, Edwards acknowledged that a strong finish at Talladega and a wreck that takes out Johnson or others could change the dynamic of the Chase.
"Man, I have a love-hate relationship with that place," Edwards said.
Going greener: NASCAR will move from unleaded fuel to an ethanol blend in all three of its national series beginning next season. NASCAR chairman Brian France touted the switch to Sunoco Green E15 as another step by the auto racing series toward environment-friendly practices.
"This is the most visible thing that we can do to let our partners and our fans know that NASCAR is taking a slow, steady march as an industry," France said.
The E15 blend is a mixture of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline. It is a clean-burning, high-octane motor fuel, and the ethanol portion is produced from renewable resources that Sunoco will get from the Midwest. The blend will replace Sunoco 260 GTX.
Dueling the NFL: Track owner Bruton Smith says NASCAR should push start times for Sunday races back an hour to 2 p.m. to better compete against the NFL. "If people want to tune in and watch football - and every game seems to be about the same - by 2 o'clock maybe they're tired of it and then they'll come over and watch a real sport," he said.
