HAMPTON, Ga. -- Over? If the pundits have declared that the 2008 Sprint Cup championship chase is over, the key players remain unconvinced.

Despite being 149 points behind with four races remaining, Greg Biffle hasn't conceded the championship to Jimmie Johnson just yet. Neither have Jeff Burton (152 points out) or Carl Edwards (198 points in arrears).

“

We're gonna have to have four flawless races. Obviously, if you do the math, 149 points divided by four, that's obviously what we need to pick up per race ...

”

GREG BIFFLE

And quite honestly, despite a number of "it's all over but the shouting" stories and columns this week, Johnson wasn't preparing any kind of coronation ceremony at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as a steady mist interrupted practice and qualifying for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500.

OK, so Johnson hasn't finished out of the top 10 since Bristol, and hasn't finished worse than 14th in a Chase race in more than two years. But he might be the last person in the garage area who thinks a third consecutive championship is sewn up.

"I still feel like we have to stay on edge," Johnson said. "There are long races where you can have mechanical issues, you have a lot of cars on track, a lot of times on and off pit road, and there is a lot of risk in our sport for having a bad race.

"And it's tough to link together 10 races without any trouble. So I'm a realist when I look at that and think that we went through Fontana to Richmond and then started the Chase. We're hopeful of going through 14 races without any issues and that's a tough thing and high expectations."

With a lead like Johnson has on the rest of the field, you might think he might feel a little comfortable. But that's not the case.

"I still stay scared and I've used that term quite a bit," Johnson said. "I just want to make sure we're not getting into a comfortable mindset and put our guard down and I make a mistake or the team makes a mistake. The things that are going to be out there, we can't control. And if that hits us, we'll come back next week and hopefully be able to take care of business."

Of course, Biffle knows the challenge of catching Johnson by the time the checkered flag falls at Homestead is daunting, but don't confuse that with giving up. In his opinion, it only takes one mistake, and suddenly he -- and perhaps Burton and Edwards -- is back in the hunt. (Continued)