Johnson knows no lead in safe in the Chase

¦In NASCAR, driver championship points were like the old Italian lira. Dozens, hundreds, sounded like a lot — but what could they buy?

Right now in the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship standings, there are nine drivers who are more than 100 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

There are five who are more than 150 points back.

With just seven races left in the season, it appears that the sifting process is well under way. It would seem that the 2007 Chase, if not distilled down to a three-driver field, would certainly have three favorites right now since only two drivers are within 14 points of Johnson.

One need only to look back one year to see that is not that case.

When the Cup series left Kansas Speedway in 2006 and headed for Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Jeff Burton had a 69-points lead over second-place Denny Hamlin and a 165-point lead over eighth-place Johnson.

People were beginning to smile over the thought of a class guy like Jeff Burton finally getting his hands on a Cup championship.

In mid-November, in the autumn darkness of the infield after the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was not Jeff Burton who was left to kiss the Cup. It was Johnson, the guy who was left for dead after Kansas, the guy who was 165 points back when the field took the green flag at Talladega for race No. 4 of the Chase.

Jeff Burton ended up seventh in the final standings, 247 points behind Johnson. That’s a swing of more than 400 points in seven races.

Johnson was asked this week whether he gave up hope at this time a year ago.

He never gave up, he said, but he did go through some suffering.

“There is no doubt that things were getting tougher and tougher and the frustration was building, especially when it’s (caused by) bad luck,” Johnson said. “When you’re running well and having bad luck, I think it is a type of frustration that’s more intense.”

Clint Bowyer, who is third in the Chase right now, 14 points behind Johnson and eight behind second-place Jeff Gordon, knows a bit about not giving up in the context of NASCAR’s points system.

His name was scratched off the contender list when the Chase started, and he was only 60 points back at the time.

“I think everyone counted us out when the Chase started,” Bowyer said. “We were the 12th seed, and I think the majority of the media and the critics saw us as just that — the 12th seed — nothing more. It’s been very satisfying to be able to win a race and run up front these last three weeks. We’re becoming a better race team and I think we’ve proven that we belong here.”

Not that Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Bowyer would want to change places with those who are more than 100 points behind them this week.

“Yes, definitely,” Johnson said when asked whether life is better this year. “We’re in a good position. I’ve been in the middle of things going on on track that could have easily taken me out or have put me in a bad position in the points, but we’ve just kept a good steady grind going on and are getting the results. So life is much better. It’s still intense; it’s just in a different way. But I have a much more positive outlook in this Chase than last year.”

Johnson’s job now is to keep the lead he has built.

That can be problematic. Especially with Talladega up next — and especially in a sport in which points are like a devalued currency.

“A hundred points, as you know, can come and go pretty quickly,” Johnson said. “It just takes a 30th-place finish and that gap is gone. You’re ever comfortable. Maybe Jeff Gordon was with his 300-point lead at the end of the regular season, but we all know that things can really change fast in our sport.”

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