This 'slumping' summer not like others for Johnson

Jimmie Johnson knows the numbers, and none of them are the No. 1. He has never won at Michigan International Speedway, despite the fact that he has started the last four races there from a top-10 position on the grid, the longest current streak.

He has made 11 starts at Michigan and he has just four top-10 finishes there. He was 19th there in June and 13th last August. He had back-to-back top-10s (sixth and 10th) prior to that. In August 2004 he finished 40th.

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"It's been a weird track for us," Johnson said. "I don't know why. We've run well but we haven't really been in position to win there. We're working hard on it. The way we ran in the last race, we qualified second and ran up front until we unfortunately ran out of gas. But I feel good going back there. It's one of Jeff's [Gordon] better tracks and a track that he's really fond of. I enjoy it and I think everybody does, for that matter. I've got nothing but good thoughts going in there and I'm hopeful that we will get a good performance out of it."

Just don't look at the numbers. Sure, they are just numbers, but they can help you color in the picture -- this is not the best part of the season for Jimmie Johnson.

In every year, there is a defining moment for a race team. Sometimes it shows where things went wrong, and the recovery never came. Sometimes it is the moment where you made the recovery, and the season -- and a shot at the championship -- was saved.

For the 48 team, that moment may have come in the last two weeks. After debilitating crashes and disappointing finishes at Chicago and Indianapolis, Johnson's summer slide appeared to be in high gear, and the defense of his Nextel Cup crown in question. But Johnson came back with a fifth-place run at Pocono and was third last Sunday at Watkins Glen.

Johnson won at Richmond in May and finished third in Darlington, which was the last time he posted back-to-back top-five finishes, until Sunday at The Glen. Momentum is a good thing, but being good is a better thing. Johnson is seventh in the championship standings and, barring injury or retirement, should make the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"As competitors, you know how your team is performing and how the events unfold and why you finish where you do," Johnson said. "Granted, we've had a tough summer with some crashes and stuff, but we've been really competitive. So we haven't been down and out. We've had a great outlook on things and have been very happy to finish where we have in the last couple of weeks."

Last year Jimmie won at Indianapolis (that's the car he intends to race this weekend), then he went through a nine-race period where his best finish was 10th (Bristol).

In 2005, it was nine races, starting at New Hampshire and ending at New Hampshire, without a win and just one top-five. He then won the following week at Dover.

In 2004 he won the July race at Pocono. Uh-oh ... 36th at Indy, 40th at The Glen, 40th at Michigan. He finished third at Bristol. Uh-oh ... 14th at California, 36th at Richmond. In the 10-race stretch from Indianapolis through Kansas City, he had the top-five at Bristol, a 10th at Dover and six finishes of 32nd or worse. He finished the season in spectacular fashion: four wins in the last seven races, including three consecutive wins at Charlotte, Martinsville and Atlanta. He lost the championship by eight points. You can win the championship in October. You can lose it then, too. (Continued)