Two weeks ago Jimmie Johnson was sure that the Chase for the Nextel Cup was a good deal. He was second in the standings, just nine points out of first, and one of two drivers with nothing to lose going into the regular- season finale at Richmond, Va.
Today, one race into the 10-race playoffs, Johnson’s No. 48 crew is a desperate bunch, the equivalent of the NHL’s best regular-season team that has just lost the first two games in a best-of-seven playoff series. Johnson, who began the Chase last Sunday by crashing early and nursing a banged-up car to a 39th-place finish at New Hampshire, slid from second to ninth in the points, and is now a whopping 139 points behind new leader Kevin Harvick.
In pre-Chase years, Johnson – who won NASCAR’s two biggest races at Daytona and Indianapolis this year – would still be in second, battling for the championship with just one other driver, Matt Kenseth.
Instead, Johnson is trying to salvage a terrific season that has had him atop the points for 22 of the 26 weeks before the Chase began and the top-10 drivers were bunched together in increments of five points. He might have to win as many as four of the remaining nine races to climb back into first.
“We just need to get to work and go racing,” Johnson, still a proponent of the Chase, said on Tuesday’s national teleconference. “We’ve got a great race team. We’ve been able to score a lot of points all year long. We definitely got off to a start that we didn’t want. That’s racing. Stuff happens.”
He said a faulty spark plug wire led to his crash in Sunday’s race. “Just a part failure,” he said. “A couple guys have had this problem this year. We’re doing everything we can to correct that and make sure that nothing like that pops up out of our control and hurts us in the future.”
Because of experience, Johnson said his team is up to the challenge of getting back in the title hunt. The team was in similar position in the inaugural 2004 Chase, and rallied to finish a close second to Kurt Busch.
“We’re 139 points down,” he said of his current dilemma. “We were 247 down in ’04, six races remaining, (and) only lost by eight points. My guys have done the math. We need to outscore the No. 29 (Harvick) by 15.4 points from this point on to end up in the points lead.”
He added: “This team is capable of so much. If we show up, give 100 percent, do our job, I truly, in my heart, feel like we’ll be back in the middle of this thing.”
Roush might share
Geoff Smith, president of Roush Racing, confirmed Tuesday that NASCAR’s biggest organization is considering selling “an interest” in the team to Fenway Sports Group, Boston.
Owner Jack Roush fields 14 NASCAR teams, including five in Nextel Cup and six in the Busch Series.
“Should these discussions ultimately materialize into a definitive agreement Roush Racing will provide further information on the topic,” Smith said in a release.
Conflict of interest
As most NASCAR fans know, Jeff Burton drives the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet.
What most fans don’t know is this: Burton and his team do not recognize the series in which it competes as “Nextel Cup.”
Instead, the team just says Burton drives in the “NASCAR Cup Series,” leaving its competitor in the cellphone business out of it.
Footnote
Keep an eye on Timothy Peters. Peters on Tuesday was given a Busch Series ride in 2007 for Richard Childress Racing.
Peters, 26, is in his second Craftsman Truck Series season with Bobby Hamilton Racing. He is 19th in the standings.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
