Jimmie Johnson is assured a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup as long as he starts Sunday's race at California and next Saturday's race at Richmond. Credit: Autostock

Johnson aiming to hit the ground running in Chase

FONTANA, Calif. -- Jimmie Johnson says he's learned a lesson from his Chase experience last season.

It's all about peaking at the right time.

	Credit: Autostock
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"With the testing we've done and the testing we're getting ready to do, I feel we will catch back up," said Johnson.

After starting the season with seven consecutive, top-eight finishes, Johnson has just one such effort in his past six starts, a fifth at Watkins Glen International last month. Regardless of that, Johnson still is assured a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup as long as he starts Sunday's race at California and next Saturday's race at Richmond.

Johnson says even if the finishes haven't shown it lately, his team will be ready for the Chase.

"We simply haven't tested," Johnson said. "We're trying to strategically test at tracks that are going to benefit the whole Chase.

"We're also doing it early enough to where we can go home and look at the data and really learn from it."

Last year, Johnson started the chase relatively slowly. He was 11th at New Hampshire in the opening race and 10th at Dover in the second event. Things really took a dip after Dover. Johnson was 37th at Talladega and 32nd at Kansas.

The No. 48 team then won four of the season's final six races -- and lost the championship by a scant eight points.

This year, Johnson is expecting a faster start thanks to a new attitude.

"Last year, we tested too close to race time and weren't able to get the full benefit from the test session," said Johnson. "This year, we've got a little better plan and are leaving ourselves some more time to get prepared.

"On top of that, our teammates have follow-up test sessions at some of the tracks, so we're really laying it out right."

Speaking of teammates, Johnson is hoping that at least one of his Hendrick Motorsports mates joins him in the Chase.

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"It looks like there will be at least four Roush cars -- maybe even five if things work out for those guys -- so I need all the Hendrick help in there I can get."

Of course, all the help in the world won't matter if Johnson gets caught up in someone else's mess -- as happened to Kevin Harvick last weekend when he found himself in the middle of the Dale Jarrett/Ryan Newman incident at Bristol.

Johnson knows that could happen, but doesn't know that there's any solution to the issue.

"That's what you have when you still have all 43 cars on the track while a championship is taking place. It's just one of the risks that go with it. We need to be out there. We need to be racing. It's one of the risks you take. It's part of it."