Mid-year struggles aside, JJ plays Chase like a champ (cont'd)

As a result, Gordon and Johnson were penalized 100 points and their crew chiefs, Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus, were fined $100,000, suspended for the next six races and placed on probation until the end of the year.

That proved to be a speed bump for the No. 48 juggernaut. After finishing 21st at Bristol in August, Johnson's 10th finish outside the top-10 in 24 races, he flipped the switch for the stretch run.

With little fanfare before his entry to Cup and now with back-to-back championships, David Caraviello says Jimmie Johnson may be the sport's most impressive discovery.

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Johnson was mired in sixth place exiting Thunder Valley but was solidly positioned to be one of the 12 drivers in the playoffs. He took solace in knowing that the Chase would give him an opportunity to race for the title.

"I'm optimistic what the future has for us," Johnson said before California. "I feel that my team's matured, I've matured as a driver, and we should be in this position for many years to come -- in the position of fighting for a championship -- and that's all can you ask for."

Johnson won at California and Richmond and entered the Chase with momentum on his side -- and the points lead, thanks to a change in the Chase system that rewards drivers with 10 bonus points for each victory during the first 26 races.

Johnson entered Richmond sixth in points, 420 behind Gordon -- but he left the Cap City 20 points ahead, based on six victories compared to Gordon's four. And as one of only two drivers who had made the Chase in each of the past four seasons, Johnson was geared for another title drive.

"The pressure and intensity really ramps up in the final 10 [races]," Johnson said. "Your whole season, everything that you've done, was to get in position to race in those 10 races, to make the Chase.

"The one thing that I've learned is you look at it on paper and you think, 'Ten races, that's a short period of time.' But when you're living it day-to-day, that's a long 10 races. It's two, three months of racing. So it's long, and you've got to set a pace that you can maintain and keep. And I think that's something that the 48's good at doing."

During the 10-race Chase, Johnson finished 14th twice (Dover and Charlotte) but also strung together four consecutive wins. After finishing sixth at Loudon to open the playoffs, Johnson was tied with Gordon for the points lead. Gordon took the lead after Dover and had built up a 68-point bulge after Charlotte.

It proved to be short-lived. Johnson began his win streak at Martinsville and eventually wrestled the points lead from Gordon after Texas, Johnson's third victory during the streak. After winning at Phoenix the following week, the penultimate race in the Chase, Johnson had an 86-point advantage and Gordon conceded in Victory Lane. "It's over," the four-time Cup champion admitted with Homestead on the horizon.

"I don't want to act like it's our championship yet," Johnson said after Phoenix. "We have a nice margin in the points right now. But 400 miles, that's my goal. I have to run 400 more miles, and we'll get nuts after that."

Needing to finish 18th or better in the finale, Johnson big-picture raced and never mounted a serious challenge to winner Matt Kenseth (all the while keeping Gordon within sight and at arm's length) and settled for a seventh-place finish -- and a second consecutive Cup championship.

"We outscored and earned more points [6,723] than any other year. Jeff, being in second, earned more points [6,646] than any other champion in the Chase," Johnson said. "So we really had to go out and race for this thing and fight for it.

"That's why we kept that perspective, and tried to keep ourselves in line and not let our minds get ahead of ourselves. We needed to go out there and get the job done.

"I feel last year we were very proud of what we did, and this year we're even more proud of what we've done to be back-to-back."