Drivers agree a solid Chase run all about the execution (cont'd)

"This racetrack has meant a lot to me -- it's one of the tracks that I grew up thinking was one of the biggest deals in the world," Burton said. "I grew up an hour from here, so the history here is really important to me because I've witnessed some of it -- certainly not all of it, but I've witnessed some of it [so] that makes it special.

"There's people in the stands that watched Ward [Burton, Jeff's older brother] and I grow up as people -- not just racecar drivers. I think that's real special."

Burton's emphasis on his team's "execution" and his own empathy becomes especially relevant to Burton when he discusses this season's greatest failure to execute, at least in Chase mode -- namely that of eight-time regular-season winner Kyle Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing team.

"They certainly haven't executed when they've needed to execute -- that's obvious. And I'm not being critical, it just is what it is," Burton said. "I wouldn't be the one to call it a collapse but they certainly weren't able to execute at this point, postseason, and they were able to in the regular season.

"They could win five in a row. Honestly. That team could go win five in a row. It wouldn't surprise anyone."

For his part, Busch says "collapse" isn't in his dictionary when he contemplates what became of the 30-point edge he carried into the Chase opener at New Hampshire, a bumpy five races ago. After a part failure and a crash at New Hampshire, an engine failure at Dover and other assorted maladies and miscues at Kansas, Talladega and Charlotte, Busch is 326 points out of the lead and in ninth, basically out of the title hunt.

But in the end, that's hardly relevant to Busch.

"I don't think a whole lot of people's seasons get remembered for just being seasons -- I think the champion's season is how it's all remembered," Busch said. "[Falling apart in the Chase] doesn't bother me. We had a difficult start to the Chase and it happened. Unfortunately for us we've had a great regular season and just wasn't able to capitalize on a great end to the year and a great Chase season to be able to win a championship.

"I think the word 'collapse' would be more of it being my fault and I collapsed or I fell over or I did something or whatever. It's just unfortunate. Collapse isn't quite the word. We've had a great year and unfortunately some circumstances took us out of the running here in the Chase -- nothing to anybody's doing. Every single race we've had something go wrong and it just hasn't been our year."

That's been a problem Johnson hasn't had for nearly three full seasons. And as far as execution goes, he says staying calm in the stretch is something he's progressively learned, and is most effectively applying in the 2008 stretch run.

Johnson's outstanding run of Chase stats in two and a half postseason editions proves it -- and has him sleeping easier.

"As of now, I'm drawing great comfort in what we've done in the past and that's making it easier on us [now]," Johnson said. "From '06 to '07, I had fewer nightmares. From '07 to '08, less again -- but we're performing and doing our jobs.

"If things change and our luck changes and we don't execute like we need to over the next five [races], I'm sure the nightmares would come back in a hurry. But experience and building confidence in the experience that we've had has helped me be much more relaxed."

Johnson did say Busch's assessment of failed championship bids was about right on target, and he used his own experience in 2004, when he won eight times but lost the first Chase championship to Kurt Busch.

"I can't say that we talk much about the eight wins in 2004," Johnson said. "I look back at that, and the fact that we lost the championship by eight points, and say that built a lot of character in our race team to have it slip by.

"Moving forward, [2008] will be a defining year for that [Gibbs Racing] team and for Kyle. Obviously he's young. And the relationship he and [crew chief] Steve Addington have together [and] with what that team can do, they'll be champions at some point. I think we'll look back at this season and say that was the one that got away. On top of that, I think we'll look back at all the races he's won, period, and think it was a pretty special year.

"He has nothing to be ashamed of. He's had an amazing year. I know that the ultimate prize is the Cup championship, but he's had a stellar year, and the first year with a new manufacturer and a new team."