Johnson: Don't expect a conservative effort for title

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The record book shows that Jimmie Johnson clinched his first Nextel Cup championship by placing ninth in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway one year ago.

It doesn't accurately document the drama he had to avoid to get there on the final day of the 36-race season.

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Johnson, who goes for back-to-back titles Sunday in the final race of the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup in yet another Ford 400, enters this year's event needing only to finish 18th or better no matter what his closest pursuer does. Johnson's current 86-point advantage over Jeff Gordon makes this seem like the biggest lock in sports since, well, Michigan over Appalachian State in college football or Kentucky over Gardner-Webb in college basketball.

That's not to say that Johnson is poised to slip up and go down like those Goliaths did recently. But upsets can, and do, happen in sports. From time to time, so do miracles.

You don't have to tell Johnson. He realizes that nothing is for certain entering Sunday's event -- and all he needed for the latest reminder was Friday's final Craftsman Truck Series race, when Mike Skinner lost a wheel and his grip on the season championship 74 laps into that event.

In racing, stuff happens. Johnson admitted he has been thinking about what bad luck might possibly befall his heretofore very fortunate No. 48 Chevrolet team. But he said that and his current position will not deter him from running an aggressive race.

He obviously didn't hold back in qualifying, winning the pole to put himself out front and in prime position to lead at least one lap. If he leads one lap, his threshold for clinching the Chase drops to a 19th-place finish or better; if he leads the most laps, all he has to do is finish 21st or better -- and that's all based on Gordon doing the best he can, which would mean Gordon would have to win.

"It certainly is a different race for us, but I really feel that if we try to do anything different, we're going to make mistakes," Johnson said.

Qualifying well, he added, should serve to "make life a lot easier to get track position, and get a good pit stall pick, and get into the race and do what we've been doing -- keeping in mind that there is a certain spot where we need to finish, and pushing the envelope in certain situations may not be the smart thing. But leaving Phoenix [after a fourth consecutive win last week] on the roll that we've been on, in my heart of hearts, I feel we can have another shot at winning the race."

Fellow Chaser Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet, said Johnson's approach is sound. He can't drive not to lose the championship, because that's exactly how he could lose what already seemingly is his, according to Burton.

"How many football games have we seen get blown away because they're playing prevent defense?" Burton said. "I think you've got to press and there is a big difference between being 100 percent and 98 percent. There is a big difference. When you start trying to be 85 percent, that's when you get in trouble.

"But Jimmie is a really good driver and Chad [Knaus] is obviously a really good crew chief -- and it's probably more nerves for them than anything else. If they just go out and execute the way they've done most of the year, they'll be fine." (Continued)