Want to 'Jimmie-proof' Chase? Here's how to do it

Take some rope, and tie a few cinder blocks to the rear wing of his No. 48 car. That ought to throw off the balance a little. Spray-paint over the visor on his helmet, which might make him miss his mark as he rolls into Turn 2. Send in the kids from Six Pack to steal his carburetor. Replace his next set of Goodyears with those little spare doughnut tires that you're only supposed to use to get yourself to a gas station in case of an emergency. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? Such underhanded tactics might be the only way to keep Jimmie Johnson from running away like he did in Charlotte on Saturday night.

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And even that might not be enough. Johnson has a 90-point lead, the biggest ever in the Chase at this point, heading into Sunday's event at Martinsville Speedway, his best track. He's become the first driver to win three of the first five Chase races, and will be the odds-on favorite to win four of the first six. Barring an uncharacteristic failure, a freak accident, or an intervention on the part of the Almighty, Johnson will be hoisting that big silver trophy for the fourth consecutive year when the Cup season concludes Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, given that Johnson really is a friendly guy of humble origins who from a NASCAR driver standpoint has truly redefined what it means to work hard. This series is going to look a lot different post-Jimmie than it did pre-Jimmie, and his emphasis on work ethic, conditioning and professionalism will have a lot to do with that. And yet, there are fans for whom his domination holds all the appeal of a glacier grinding against a rock. There are other competitors inevitably sick of seeing him win. There are people who wish there was some way of tweaking the playing field so yet another Johnson championship doesn't seem like such a foregone conclusion.

There may be, and it has nothing to do with point systems or inspection crackdowns. It's really much simpler than that. For all he's accomplished, even Johnson will admit that the Chase schedule plays to his strengths. Now, obviously this is a team that is a threat to win anywhere, at anytime. They're always well-prepared, they have unparalleled quality control, and they simply do not make mistakes. But clearly, most of Johnson's better tracks lie inside the final 10. You really want to put him to the test? You really want to change the Chase to put him at an inherent disadvantage rather than an advantage? There's one way to do it.

Jimmie-proof it.

We've seen this kind of thing before. Once Tiger Woods began racking up major after major, golf courses started pushing back tee boxes, planting more trees, narrowing fairways, and doing whatever else they could to try and negate his tremendous length. For instance, Augusta National, home of the Masters, is 450 yards longer today than it was seven years ago. The process came to be known as Tiger-proofing, and it brought some unintended consequences; shorter hitters, interestingly enough, were penalized the most, while courses became so difficult that some Sunday afternoons lacked drama. Still, it was all done with one goal in mind -- make it more difficult for the world's No. 1 player to win.

In a similar vein, can the Chase be Jimmie-proofed? Perhaps. As it stands now, you'd think the Chase tracks had been hand-selected by Johnson himself. Statistically, seven venues in the playoff rank in his personal top 10, beginning with Martinsville, where he has as many victories (six) and a better average finish (5.3) than anywhere else on tour. Phoenix (two wins, 5.4) stands second, with Auto Club Speedway (four wins, 5.8) third. Texas (one win, 8.5) is statistically his sixth-best track, Charlotte (six wins, 8.6) his seventh, New Hampshire (two wins, 9.5) his eighth. Dover (five wins, 9.8) rounds out his top 10. (Continued)