pandr
10-12-2011, 07:49 PM
Jimmie Johnson poised to pounce
ThatsRacin.com Opinion
By Scott Fowler
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011
Jimmie Johnson is grinning mischievously again, and this isn't good news for the rest of the drivers trying to figure out how to keep him from turning his "Five-Time" nickname into "Six-Time."
Johnson showed up at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte on Tuesday afternoon, cracking one-liners in response to questions from reporters and fans.
He will show up in mailboxes around the country Thursday, as this week he made the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second time. And he will show up Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway at or near the lead in the Bank of America 500, as he invariably does when it counts the way it does right now.
In third place in the latest Chase with six races to go after Sunday's dominating win in Kansas, Johnson is ultimately the man everyone must beat. He is both Mr. October and Mr. November in NASCAR, having won the past five championships.
Johnson claims to be as stressed right now as he's ever been. "A lot of sleepless nights," he said of this season, most of them coming because his No. 48 Chevy doesn't seem to do the same thing during practice as it does in the races.
But he sure doesn't sound stressed. His California cool still resonates - that and his uncanny competence. Over the past five years, his challengers have cracked at some point while Johnson has grinned and prospered.
Johnson sounded happy about the Sports Illustrated cover, professing not to even know of the longtime SI cover jinx. "There's a curse?" he asked in mock horror.
Johnson, 36, said he might drive for 10 more years, using the ageless Mark Martin as an example of a person to emulate. "Mark's still out there kicking it at what, 75?" Johnson said.
He answered a question about whether he has ever wanted to just wreck Kurt Busch, with whom he has feuded off and on: "Yeah, I tried. I didn't do a very good job of it."
While he claims not to be superstitious, Johnson does like his car number "48" an awful lot. When he warms something up in the microwave, he'll set it for 48 seconds. His cell phone alarm goes off every morning at 6:48.
"Weird I'll take credit for," Johnson said. "Superstitious may not be exactly what I'm after."
Johnson said he believed his chief competitors for the 2011 championship are Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick, the only drivers ahead of him in the Sprint Cup standings. There are more drivers just behind him, but when their names come up he seems honestly not to know their rank.
"I just don't worry much about that stuff," he said.
Johnson mostly leaves the worrying to others. He exudes the same sort of smooth confidence as Roger Federer or Tiger Woods when they stood at the absolute pinnacles of their respective sports.
Of course, everyone falls off that pinnacle eventually. Federer has been supplanted by Novak Djokovic as the best in the world. Tiger has been supplanted by many more men than that.
This season, though, I don't see Johnson being supplanted by anyone. It is once again Five-Time's time. By late November, Johnson is going to own another championship trophy - and another nickname.
C/P thats racin
ThatsRacin.com Opinion
By Scott Fowler
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011
Jimmie Johnson is grinning mischievously again, and this isn't good news for the rest of the drivers trying to figure out how to keep him from turning his "Five-Time" nickname into "Six-Time."
Johnson showed up at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte on Tuesday afternoon, cracking one-liners in response to questions from reporters and fans.
He will show up in mailboxes around the country Thursday, as this week he made the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second time. And he will show up Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway at or near the lead in the Bank of America 500, as he invariably does when it counts the way it does right now.
In third place in the latest Chase with six races to go after Sunday's dominating win in Kansas, Johnson is ultimately the man everyone must beat. He is both Mr. October and Mr. November in NASCAR, having won the past five championships.
Johnson claims to be as stressed right now as he's ever been. "A lot of sleepless nights," he said of this season, most of them coming because his No. 48 Chevy doesn't seem to do the same thing during practice as it does in the races.
But he sure doesn't sound stressed. His California cool still resonates - that and his uncanny competence. Over the past five years, his challengers have cracked at some point while Johnson has grinned and prospered.
Johnson sounded happy about the Sports Illustrated cover, professing not to even know of the longtime SI cover jinx. "There's a curse?" he asked in mock horror.
Johnson, 36, said he might drive for 10 more years, using the ageless Mark Martin as an example of a person to emulate. "Mark's still out there kicking it at what, 75?" Johnson said.
He answered a question about whether he has ever wanted to just wreck Kurt Busch, with whom he has feuded off and on: "Yeah, I tried. I didn't do a very good job of it."
While he claims not to be superstitious, Johnson does like his car number "48" an awful lot. When he warms something up in the microwave, he'll set it for 48 seconds. His cell phone alarm goes off every morning at 6:48.
"Weird I'll take credit for," Johnson said. "Superstitious may not be exactly what I'm after."
Johnson said he believed his chief competitors for the 2011 championship are Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick, the only drivers ahead of him in the Sprint Cup standings. There are more drivers just behind him, but when their names come up he seems honestly not to know their rank.
"I just don't worry much about that stuff," he said.
Johnson mostly leaves the worrying to others. He exudes the same sort of smooth confidence as Roger Federer or Tiger Woods when they stood at the absolute pinnacles of their respective sports.
Of course, everyone falls off that pinnacle eventually. Federer has been supplanted by Novak Djokovic as the best in the world. Tiger has been supplanted by many more men than that.
This season, though, I don't see Johnson being supplanted by anyone. It is once again Five-Time's time. By late November, Johnson is going to own another championship trophy - and another nickname.
C/P thats racin