September 30, 2012
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Although he didn't win either of the first two races in this year's Chase, Johnson did claim a second place finish in both of them and assumed the points lead as a result.
"I’m very happy with the start that we’ve had to the (Chase) season. Chicago went really well for us and then obviously last week at Loudon to run second there was a strong showing as well," Johnson was quoted as saying this weekend at Dover International Speedway. "So, things are working well. We’ll just keep working hard and see what we can do."
The drivers who did claim victory in those races, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin, would probably be considered Johnson's biggest competitors. However, The Chase is far from over.
Mathematically, no one has been eliminated yet but catching up with the top two or three drivers in the points is going to be extremely difficult.
Jeff Gordon, who fell to twelfth in the points after hitting the wall at Chicagoland Speedway, finished third last week at Loudon and managed to only gain two points on the championship leader.
With the new point format, the only way to make up significant ground on the drivers at the top of the standings is for one or more of them to have a bad day. As long as Johnson keeps turning out top-five's, no one else has a chance this year, unless that driver finishes ahead of him consistently or manages to do what Tony Stewart did last season.
Throughout the history of the Chase, it's been believed that a driver can have one bad race and still be able to recover in time to claim a championship. In fact, Johnson has done that himself. He's been so good at the mile and a half tracks that the Chase is full of, that making up ground in the standings is relatively easy for him.
Still, things are looking difficult for drivers in the lower half of the Chase standings. Dale Earnhardt Jr., entered NASCAR's post season optimistic that he had the best chance at winning that ever elusive Cup Championship. Now he believes he faces an uphill climb.
"Well, I think we feel that this is going to be very hard. It's obviously a heck of a challenge. And we do feel like we need top fives," Earnhardt was quoted as saying last week on the NASCAR Cam Teleconference. "We're going to have to have top-five finishes. With Jeff running up in third, he didn't gain any ground on those guys, but he has to run third again and hope that they don't.
"That's really where we are mentally. But we're not discouraged, yet we know that the hill got a lot steeper over the last couple weeks. We're trying to catch some teams that are frankly some of the strongest teams in the sport."
The No. 48 team of Jimmie Johnson is by far the strongest team in the sport and they have proven that by the dominance they've shown in recent years. The only person that can keep Johnson from winning championship No. 6 would be Lady Luck, and historically, she's been on his side once the Chase starts.
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
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