Six-time champion knows there are no guarantees in postseason
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LOUDON, N.H. — Jimmie Johnson knows the capabilities of his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team. And he knows its current status.
The two are not the same.
Often the yardstick by which others measure their own progress, Johnson and his team are currently showing more signs of vulnerability than dominance as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup moves into week No. 2 of 10 here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
No one’s writing the team off, but neither is anyone conceding wins to the six-time Sprint Cup champion.
“Truthfully, we’re not the dominant car right now,” Johnson said Friday at NHMS. “We’re a good car. We still have nine weeks to get our act together; especially the way the Chase lays out, if we continue to get the most our of our good car and have a dominant car at Homestead, if we’re in that position, then we can get seven (championships).
“If” isn’t typical for the team, which has normally been in more of a “when” mode by now.
With the opening race out of the way (Johnson finished a pedestrian, for him, 12th at Chicagoland Speedway), he enters this weekend’s race eighth in points. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus haven’t lost their way, but it’s clear that others have improved.
“This is a tough industry,” said Johnson, who turned 39 earlier this week. “And we’re working as hard as we can and I’m happy to see my teammates with speed.
“And then there are a couple of guys out there that aren’t in our camp that we’re chasing and just trying to out-race them. But they’re amazing race teams and drivers as well.”
Among them — 2012 champion Brad Keselowski, winner of the last two Sprint Cup races. His Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, has been no slouch, finishing fourth and sixth.
Keselowski won here in July, and Johnson expects the No. 2 team to be no less of a threat this time around. Keselowski went on to finish first in the opening practice, while Johnson finished 29th.
“I would expect him to be in a similar position for two reasons,” said Johnson. “One, he had so much more pace than the rest of the field here in the spring race that it’s hard to believe that everybody could cover that gap and get back to him. And then when we went to Richmond, which wasn’t too long ago … and they had that form there, too. So I’d definitely say those guys are tough to handle.”
By themselves, Johnson’s 24 Chase victories alone would rank in the top 10 among active drivers’ total wins. And there are tracks ahead where Johnson will be expected to excel. Next week’s stop at Dover? He’s won nine times there. Martinsville? Eight victories. Charlotte? Seven career wins, including this year’s Coca-Cola 600.
But he’s taking nothing for granted.
“It’s awesome to have tracks that you love and tracks that you’ve had success at in the Chase,” he said. “I feel like seven or eight of them have been historically awesome tracks for us. That part is great.
“Stats are nice to look at, but you’ve got to live in the present. So just because we’ve been good at those tracks before doesn’t guarantee us anything going back.”
A winner of three races in a four-race span earlier this season, Johnson hopes the team can rediscover the magic.
“We’ve had one hot spot in the middle of the year … and we’ve kind of been lukewarm on the other sides,” he said. “I’m hoping we heat up. I’m hoping we get to that hot spot again.”
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