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.

"I don't know why we have this slow summer," Johnson said. "This year I think we've done a better job than years past and we continue to focus on that and getting it right. I don't know why we get off to a great start each year, then cool off a little bit, and surge back with a strong finish. You look at the No. 20 car [Tony Stewart], where he starts slow and then gets going midway through the end of the season. I have no idea why those trends are out there and why they work. Some of the tracks aren't good tracks for us during the summer months, but then some are better tracks like Chicago but we have trouble there from time to time. I don't know why it works out that way."

Johnson and company went to Pocono in June, still technically "spring" on the calendar, second in points, finished 42nd and fell to fourth in points. That was right in the middle of a five-race stretch that included just one top-10 finish and dropped him to fifth in the standings. The team started July with a bang: fifth at Loudon and 10th at Daytona before things fizzled ... 37th at Chicagoland and 39th on the bricks. Oh no, here they go again.

"Yeah, I was thinking that, maybe even a little before that because we've been losing some points," Johnson said. "We ran out of gas at Michigan and got behind. We had a crash in Texas running well. There have been a few different things that have come up where you think, 'Well, here's that summer stretch again.' You'd like to change it, but unfortunately we haven't really been able to get a hold of it this summer."

And how does a team "get a hold of it?"

"It just kind of comes back," he said. "We have a close team and we spend a lot of time together regardless. It's not that meetings pick up or things intensify. I don't understand why it works out like it does. If we knew, we would obviously make some changes. But for whatever reason, it follows the same cycle from year to year."

But this year has been a little different. The normally smooth running Hendrick Motorsports has been through crew chief suspensions, manufacturer discussions and, oh yeah, they hired that new guy to replace Kyle Busch. Dale something, I believe.

It would be easy to think that, for a while, what was happening on the track wasn't getting as much focus as what was happening at the shop. Jimmie says, for him, that was not the case.

"My position with Hendrick is maybe a little different than Jeff's," he said. "Some of these things would be more in Jeff's area and things that would occupy his time being a team owner in Hendrick Motorsports. From my perspective, it's really been business as usual. We're focused on the No. 48 car and performing. Obviously we've had conversations with Rick and understand what's going on, but I'm not a part of that decision-making process for any of the teams. So it's been pretty easy for me, to be honest with you.

"I can be focused on our shop. The changes that are coming are in the No. 5 and No. 25 shop, not in the No. 24 and No. 48 shop. So again, going to our crew guys, there really hasn't been a lot of distraction there. I'm sure it's been a little bit of a distraction for the 5 and 25 shop. But for my stuff, it's been pretty much the same all year."

Something else Johnson has been focused on this year is his foundation. On Wednesday, Aug. 29, Jimmie and his wife, Chandra, will host the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Inaugural Golf Tournament in Mission Valley, Calif. Johnson's hometown is El Cajon (San Diego). It is a charity event. There is a dinner the night before, an auction, then some golf with people like teammate Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte, Kyle Petty (who told me Tuesday he should be ready to play by then after a freak incident that broke a bone in his right hand at Watkins Glen) and a guy that can really hit the ball, Marcus Giles.

Thursday Johnson will participate in a Habitat for Humanity home construction project near his home in San Diego. The proceeds from the golf tournament are benefiting the cause. Who knows, Jimmie may even visit his old high school.

Earlier this year, Jimmie and Chandra opened Jimmie Johnson's Victory Lanes at the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C.

"When Chandra and I were first talking about what we wanted to do with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation, we knew we wanted to help kids," Johnson said. "The other thing we really wanted to do was to give back in the areas where we grew up. After we built the bowling alley at Victory Junction Gang Camp we decided to concentrate on El Cajon and the San Diego area where I grew up. This is the first time I have ever done anything like this and I am really excited about it. To me, the fact that the golf tournament is sold out and that people are still asking how they can help, shows how much the people in the San Diego area care. Now this golf tournament is my chance to show them how much I appreciate all the support they have given me throughout the years."

So maybe this year the last half of the summer will be a little different for Johnson. August is turning out to be a big month. He has two top-five finishes in the first two races, looks good for the Chase, and is lending a hand to those in need in his hometown and elsewhere. Looks like Jimmie's winning ways on the track are making others a winner, too. See, all those numbers are helping to paint a pretty nice picture.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.