A repeat champ? With Johnson, expect more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As the defending Nextel Cup Series champion, obviously, Jimmie Johnson is the only man who currently has the chance to repeat as the king of NASCAR's premier series.

But I'm here to tell you that, more than anyone in recent history -- including Tony Stewart -- Johnson has the most potential to go on an outright tear of championship runs.

That takes into account the fact that no champion, since Jeff Gordon was the last to go back-to-back in 1997-98, has finished better than fourth the following season.

Hell, my response to that? Johnson has never finished worse than fifth in five years at the Cup level. That takes into account two seasons under the previous championship format and all three years of the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

If the adage, "You have to run top-five before you can win races" is true -- then look out. I believe it applies just as well to championships.

I know it took Johnson five years of running top-five in the standings to finally win his championship, but I think the accrued knowledge from that period will make Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and their No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team a formidable opponent not only in 2007, but also the foreseeable future.

Johnson made a marvelous adjustment to the Cup Series in 2002, and since then has done little but massage and tune and perfect his driving style -- and demeanor in a racecar -- to take the best advantage of almost any situation.

"I spent a lot of time reflecting over the offseason," Johnson said this week. "I'm just so proud of what this team has done and how we've grown and matured as an organization -- and the relationship with Chad and me and how it's grown.

"We've had tough times and great times, but through it all, we're still close friends and we've built an amazing race team together. The best motivation we have though after winning the championship is experiencing what we did in New York [at the Nextel Cup Awards Ceremony] and being honored as the champions.

"We want to do it again and we're just as hungry as we've ever been to come back and try to do it again."

Almost step for step, Knaus has also made personal and professional adjustments to keep his focus on delivering a competitive machine to the racetrack, and then maintain it at a high level while he's there without melting down or otherwise self-destructing.

And what about the team itself? The 2006 season possibly cast them in their best light, winning the championship aside as, after Knaus was banned from Speedweeks 2006, Johnson won two of the first three races and was second in the other.

It's all about depth and confidence, and owner Rick Hendrick has it everywhere, as Johnson noted.

Ricky Rudd raced for Hendrick early in the owner's Cup career and has a perspective on where the organization was then, and where it is now.

In this respect, Rudd would make a perfect "co-counselor" for the defense.

"They were just getting going and just being able to take advantage of all the resources they had back then, but they're smart," Rudd said. "If you look in these organizations and you look at one versus the other, there is smart personnel within all the organizations, but you really start looking at the depth of the organization [and] that's when you look at a Hendrick and you look at how much depth they have.

"Some of the organizations, when they're at the racetrack they've got a lot of their key people at the racetrack, so sometimes back at the shop maybe they're spread a little thin or maybe their R&D side of it is a little weak -- there's not time for the R&D because they're full-time racing -- where an organization like Hendrick has definitely figured out how to make that R&D side continue to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"A lot of organizations are probably trying to model themselves and copy that, but it really gets back to the depth of the people they've got working for them and the leadership abilities they have within the [Hendrick] team are second to none."

With that, the defense rests.

But of course, there's always the yin opinion to the yang. Ironically, Rudd took that stance as well -- and I guess that's one of the beauties of Nextel Cup racing in 2007.

"Jimmie is great, he's proven himself, he's a champion, he's won races by being smart [and] his team has been very good -- it takes the whole thing," Rudd said. "Certainly Jimmie Johnson, what driver wouldn't like to step into an organization that's a fine-tuned machine?

"That's not to take anything away from him, but you could take Jimmie out and plug any one of 15-20 guys in there and they would do the same job."

But Jimmie Johnson is there for right now, he's done the job for five consecutive years and that's why, given the fact that he's averaged 4.6 wins, 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes a season for the past five years, he'll win more than his single title in very short order.

Just look at what he said a year ago, and then think back to how he and his crew maneuvered their way through the 2006 Chase.

"I think that every year I'm smarter, the team is smarter and we try to make the changes necessary to win the championship," Johnson said at 2006 Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder. "This year we want to make sure that we're mentally able to make it through all 36 races and especially in the final 10, regardless if we're on top of the world or if we're going through a tough time.

"If we can stay even-keeled, I think we're going to make better decisions. And we were frustrated through the end of [the 2005] season and I think that, at times, it hurt our decision-making process and that's something that we're really focused on this year."

Keep in mind he said those things a year ago, and it helps bring what he and his team accomplished into perspective a little bit better -- and makes it seem definitely possible that a streak could be achieved.

In last year's Chase, Johnson fell as low as ninth in the standings, and as far behind as 165 points to leader Jeff Burton.

And we know the results. So you've been warned, and now, let time tell the tale.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.