In garage area, a different kind of championship effort (cont'd)

Hornish's take: "I knew that [Johnson] was up there, and wanted to give him room," he said. "It kind of stems from a couple of guys in front of us trying to get to the bottom. I've got the 5 [car of Martin] in front of me and the 48 beside me. I just can't go in there and move the 5 out of the way, and I'm not going to try and move the 48 up. Instead, I get hit from behind. It's just an unfortunate set of circumstances. Obviously, you don't ever want to detract from the championship when you're really not even involved in it."

As crewmen worked to resurrect his wrecked race car, Johnson sat inside, wondering what he might have been able to do differently to avoid the accident. He watched his guys work. Through his windshield, he watched the race on the television built into the No. 48 team's garage tool box, trying to keep track of the whereabouts of Martin and Jeff Gordon, neither of whom were able to make the most of Johnson's misfortune.

"I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed," he said. "But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful."

Being back on the race track, making laps in a battered vehicle that had been pieced back together again, couldn't have been much fun, either. And yet, as bad as Sunday was, it could have been much worse. Martin could have won the race, and Johnson's lead could have been whittled down to as little as 23 points. As it stands now, he heads to Phoenix -- a place where he's won three of his last four starts, including two consecutive fall events -- needing to average a fourth-place finish over the final two races in order to clinch a historic fourth straight title regardless of what any other driver does.

He's taking nothing for granted. He never has.

"In the back of my mind, I couldn't shut down the possibility of something going wrong," Johnson said. "This is racing. You got to drive the race. We've heard it from other sports -- you have to play the game. I guess there is some of that in there. It's really not for me to sit here and say that. I just think it's a good lesson for everybody. We'll learn a lot as a race team from this. I think the media side, as well, you have a much better understanding why Chad and I have been so nervous. Even after winning races, fielding questions, the possibility was out there. It's still out there. There's no telling what's going to happen."

And yet, the confidence the No. 48 team always carries with it was still evident. "Phoenix and Homestead both are great race tracks for us, so I'm looking forward to it," Knaus said when asked about the season's final two weeks. Why wouldn't he? Finishing off a fourth straight championship may prove simple compared to the effort his crew turned in to get one bashed-up race car moving again on Sunday night.

The opinions expressed are soley those of the writer.