Drivers keep calm before the storm of Talladega

The No. 48 team's take-it-as-it-comes attitude isn't the only one in the garage. Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, was also expecting a low-key weekend until the green flag on Sunday.

"Talladega is one of the more laid-back weekends for all of us. It’s typically one practice to see if the car feels good," he said. "I’m glad they base qualifying if it gets rained out on your practice speed, because it gets all the cars on the lap for at least one session. Then it is pretty laid back for the rest of the weekend until the race starts. So, it is one of the calmer weekends we get to have.”

That's not to say there won't be any excitement at the 2.66-mile restrictor-plate track. Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in a position to be eliminated after a 39th-place finish at Kansas and another disappointing finish at Charlotte. Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth, who made contact on the track at Charlotte and later ended the evening with a scuffle, are also looking to move into one of the eight positions that will continue into the eliminator round.

Matt Kenseth is only one point behind eighth-place Kasey Kahne. Keselowski is 19 points out of the last transfer spot, with Johnson and Earnhardt each seven points behind Keselowski. A win is the only sure way for each of the five to advance.

"We've seen races very competitive and aggressive, we've also seen races where the lead group of cars decide to ride around the top and makes it a single file race," Johnson said. "There is no rhyme or reason why that happens. So I think its hard to predict what the race will be like. I can promise you, though, with four guys needing to win to transfer that at the end of the race there will definitely be some racing. It might just be us four at the bottom trying to find our way around or in a different lane trying to get to the front, but there's at least four that have a really big reason to take chances and to be aggressive and to win."

Aggression and frustration seem to be the common themes woven through this year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup storylines, especially in light of the relaxed preparation for the carnage that is always expected at Talladega. Both emotions were evident on Johnson's radio last weekend, as the driver and his crew chief took part in an expletive-laden discussion about a poor-handling car. The brewing tensions that boiled over between Kenseth and Keselowski last weekend embodied that frustration, as well -- and it's clear that they haven't been forgotten this week.

“I think there’s definitely an increase of intensity on the track and off the track; there’s no doubt about that," Ryan Newman, currently fourth in the Chase standings, said. "You’ve opened it up to more competitors, which makes the intensity even more. You get more attitudes and egos in there. That, I think, is kind of expected."

With one last chance to advance deeper into the Chase, Kenseth, Keselowski, Junior and Johnson aren't there to make friends -- as Kenseth and Keselowski proved last weekend. That also goes for the Hendrick Motorsports duo, whose other teammates, Jeff Gordon and Kahne, are sixth and eighth in the standings, respectively.

"At the end of a race, it doesn’t matter if it's Junior or my mom or anybody –- I have to win," Johnson said. "My quest to win a seventh championship is the thing I’m most concerned about. I know my teammates are going to think the same way and have the same approach. We’re out there to win for our teams and ourselves to move on and have a shot at the championship."

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