Johnson's foes lurking, they need a repeat of TMS (cont'd)

"Going back to Phoenix is exciting for us," Johnson said. "It's one of the tracks ... that I feel we can get a victory at and hopefully make some more cool things take place in the points."

The four drivers who have any chance of catching Johnson would rather have the cool things happen to them.

The good news on that front is all four are good at Phoenix. All have won races there, and all have average finishing positions of 12.5 or better.

And all were saying the right things despite their respective point deficits -- 73 for Martin, 112 for Gordon, 171 for Busch and 178 for Stewart -- this week.

Like Martin, who said, "I don't know why everybody tries to cap this thing off and doesn't just wait and watch. There are still two races to go and still things that can happen."

And Gordon, who said, "A lot can happen in these final two races. There are hundreds of moments that you have as a team every single weekend that maybe don't materialize, or that don't get seen by the public or even the media. But we see it. There are close calls all the time, and it can happen at any time. I get through every race and think, 'Whew, we survived this moment or that moment.'"

But there, contained in Gordon's statement, it is again: Not so subtle admission that it is going to take at least one more round of car disfigurement on Johnson's part to put real drama back into the Chase.

Probably two.

FIVE TO WATCH

Kurt Busch, No. 2: He is perhaps the best driver at Phoenix not named Jimmie Johnson. He has a win and seven top-10 finishes in 13 starts. He leads laps and finishes with clean cars.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11: His Chase has been over for weeks. But he is great at Phoenix: five top-10s finishes in eight starts, and four of those were fifth or better.

Kyle Busch, No. 18: Busch is going for a weekend sweep again. He fell three laps short last week at Texas. Talk about a great sideshow.

Jeff Burton, No. 31: The Childress cars seem to have some life in them these days, and if any of the RCR drivers can reach down and come up with a W, it is Burton. He has two wins in 20 starts.

Juan Montoya, No. 42: His Chase hopes were garaged last weekend at Texas, but it is always fun watching this guy drive a race car. I am thinking he is thinking that a victory at PIR would be kind of fun.

TRACK CHATTER

Kyle Busch: "Phoenix is a pretty neat place. For some reason, I've always run well there. I don't know if it's that I'm comfortable being back close to home on the West Coast, or what. I always have a little more fan support out there, as well."

Casey Mears: "The sun has always kind of been an issue at Phoenix. I know they've added some grandstands and structures to try and help defer some of the sunlight that comes right in your eyes. It has kind of helped, but you just try and run the tape a little farther down the windshield and do the best you can. The hard thing is, as you're going toward the sun, you can't see into the shaded area because all you see is black. ... You really have to rely on your spotter to get you through that area and look ahead for you."

Dale Earnhardt Jr: "The car is really important at Phoenix. It takes something special to make a car work really good there. I think it's real important to have a good handling car because each corner is so different. It's tricky trying to be real good through Turns 1 and 2. There will be one or two guys that really get their cars to get through the center of the corners, and those are the guys that will be racing for the win. That seemed to be what we did when we won there. We beat everybody right down in the middle."

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