Johnson keeps nose clean when it matters most

What goes around comes around. It's as simple as that in life and in NASCAR.

So when David Reutimann deliberately wrecked Kyle Busch on Lap 152 of the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway, should anyone really have been all that surprised? Busch had wrecked Reutimann 100 laps earlier, although Busch claimed the earlier incident was entirely unintentional and it probably was.

Plain truths

While David Reutimann was applying his own justice to Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson was busy taking the Chase lead.

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Furthermore, it was barely a month ago when the pair of drivers finished 1-2 at Bristol, and Busch chided Reutimann immediately afterward for his supposed failure of knowing how to get around the half-mile track. The implication from Busch was that Reutimann could have beaten him if that hack Reutimann had known what the heck he was doing.

That kind of verbal trash sticks with you, and to you. Anyone who doubts that wasn't in the back of Reutimann's mind after Busch wrecked him Sunday at Kansas is sadly mistaken.

And so, in the end, the fact that Busch was one of the 12 drivers competing in the Chase and Reutimann wasn't mattered less than what happened personally between the two in a non-race Chase six weeks ago and on other earlier occasions.

"It all comes down to, we don't like each other very much," Reutimann said on a Sirius radio show way back in August, after the Bristol race.

Look who's first

Meanwhile, as Reutimann exacted his revenge and Busch's No. 18 Toyota team had to hustle just to rally for a 21st-place finish that kept their championship hopes alive, four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson cruised into the points lead by finishing second.

For all that is made of Johnson's considerable driving ability and the superb support enveloping him on his No. 48 Chevrolet team, there also is the mental aspect of his game. You think Jimmie is too vanilla? Well, guess what? In this Chase era, the vanilla mental approach works best.

Sure, Johnson has ticked off some other drivers in his time. He has had a few run-ins with Kurt Busch and even some more recent ones with his own Hendrick Motorsports teammate and supposed close friend, Jeff Gordon.

But he always seems to accept his end of the blame when necessary, and never lets the disputes linger. So when it comes to possible payback time from other drivers during the Chase, there is none.

Everyone is gunning for him and no one is at the same time. They all want to beat the 48, but they want to do it the same way he beats them: cleanly.

And that is not easy to do, especially when Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have proven time and time again that they know better than anyone how to step up their game in the 10-race Chase. With seven races remaining, Johnson is just getting in his customary zone. Last year he won three of the last seven races; in 2008, it was two of the last seven and three of the last eight; and in 2007, it was four of the last five. (Continued)