Pro Sports
Email
Print
Nemesis awaiting Johnson
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 30, 2009
CHARLOTTE - It's down to Talladega Superspeedway in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, which has hardly resembled a title race in the past four weeks.
Jimmie Johnson, a three-time defending champion, has taken control in his bid for a NASCAR-record fourth consecutive title, and his challengers have one last desperate hope at the largest and most unpredictable track on the circuit.
Only it's not about how well Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart or Juan Pablo Montoya might run on Sunday. This race is all about what could happen to Johnson.
Talladega is Johnson's worst track in the 10-race Chase. There was a victory in 2006 and two runner-up finishes the next season, but the rest of his record represents the struggle that Johnson has had on the high-banked Alabama track.
Three engine failures and three wrecks, including a late accident in April that led to a 30th-place finish, have left Johnson with six DNFs and a 17.7 average finish.
"Man, it (stinks) racing here," Johnson said after wrecking out of April's race.
So it makes sense that Johnson was a bit testy after his second-place finish at Martinsville last weekend. The questions turned to Talladega and all the unknowns that track brings for the usually unflappable Johnson.
He knows the smallest miscalculation Sunday -- by himself or anyone else in the 43-car field -- could trigger a big wreck, and the damage might be enough to swallow up a ton of Johnson's cushy 118-point lead over Martin, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Tell us, champ, just how do you feel about going to Talladega?
"I'm so tired of answering this question," he said. "I think you guys can all figure it out. Talladega, there's no telling."
No, there's not, and that apparently has Johnson on edge. Particularly since it's the one place that has his challengers ready to roll.
Martin, who has made no secret of his dislike of Talladega despite two career victories there, figures the odds are in his favor Sunday. He was caught in the very first accident in April and was headed home after six laps. He finished last.
"Somehow or another, I just feel lucky about this one," Martin said recently. "If you can wreck on lap five of the last one there, something tells me I ought to be able to miss it this time. That's about as bad of luck as you can have."
Gordon, another Hendrick teammate, is a six-time Talladega winner with a 12.3 average finish. Although he also was a victim of accidents in the past two races -- he has consecutive finishes of 38th and 37th -- he swept the 2007 races.
Gordon, a four-time series champion, hopes a strong finish Sunday will trim into the 150-point lead Johnson has over him.
"You can be aggressive or you can be conservative, either approach can be good or bad, and I don't believe one approach works better than the other," Gordon said. "The ‘Big One' is going to happen, it's just whether you get caught up in the crash or not, or whether it comes early or late in the race. Just be ahead of it or way behind it -- don't be in the middle of it. Rarely do you escape when you are in the middle of it."
NASCAR this weekend
• Sprint Cup race: AMP Energy 500 (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
• Site: Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala.
• Track: 2.66-mile tri-oval (33 degrees banking in turns)
• Laps (miles): 188 (500.08)
• TV/radio: WXLV Ch. 7 (ABC); WBRF 98.1; WTQR 104.1
• 2008 winner: Tony Stewart
• Qualifying record (track): Bill Elliott, 212.809 mph, April 30, 1987
• Race record (track): Mark Martin, 188.354 mph, May 10, 1997
• Sprint Cup qualifying: Saturday, noon (Speed Ch. 101)
• Trucks race: Mountain Dew 250, at Talladega (Qualifying, today 5 p.m., Speed Ch. 101; race, Saturday 4 p.m., Speed Ch. 101)
• Nationwide series: Next race Nov. 7, O'Reilly Challenge, at Texas Motor Speedway
Email
Print
