Superman will fly into Homestead a champion (cont'd)

Not easy?

It wasn't easy? It sure looked easy.

But then, maybe that's why the excellence of Johnson and Knaus and the 48 gang so often goes unappreciated. It's not easy -- but there dang sure make it look like it is often enough.

“

You can't show 'em all your lines and tip your hand. I like to kind try to drive a couple of botched lines, so guys focus in on that. Then when they get close enough, you just drive back away.

”

JIMMIE JOHNSON

Sunday was one of those days, as Johnson won his series-high seventh race of this season. No one else has won five, so with one to go he's assured of having more victories than anyone else in 2009.

Standing in Victory Lane, where he sure looked comfortable, Johnson again insisted in the Sunday desert twilight that he's not and that this isn't over until he says it's over.

"If last weekend wasn't in my head, I would really go down there (to Homestead) feeling comfortable," Johnson said. "But it's still in my head. We finished 38th at Texas and Mark finished fourth, and we lost 111 points in one day. So we need to go down there and be on our toes and be smart about it."

Does anyone doubt that will be the case? In 35 races this season, he's finished outside of the top 25 only six times -- but never with the championship on the line like it will be in Homestead.

Johnson also was asked about his car following Sunday's event.

"In the middle of the race, the car was awesome," he replied. "I could do anything I wanted, anywhere. That last run there, the car wasn't as good as I would have hoped -- not bad, but not as strong as it was earlier in the day. It was still a strong car."

So strong that when Jeff Burton, who finished second, came gunning for him, Johnson was ready.

"I thought we were going to win, to be honest," Burton said. "I thought we had him. But he did what he always does -- he found a little bit of speed. We were running him down pretty hard, and he was able to pick up just enough to keep me away from him. We were still running him down, but not at the pace we needed to.

"So I honestly thought we were going to win. But in typical Jimmie Johnson fashion, he found a little bit of speed when he needed to and he was able to get away from us."

Asked about this analysis, Johnson grinned so hard it must have hurt, but in a good way.

"You can't show everybody what you've got. These guys are too smart," Johnson said. "You can't show 'em all your lines and tip your hand. I like to kind try to drive a couple of botched lines, so guys focus in on that. Then when they get close enough, you just drive back away. So it worked out."

There you have it. Johnson was only messing with Burton down the stretch. As it turns out, even with the whole Texas deal, Superman was only messing with all of us, including Martin.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.