Johnson becoming good at mind games

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Does Jimmie Johnson really need another edge?

Johnson doesn't cut much of an intimidating figure -- he's slightly built, soft spoken and has an easy smile.

But as he continues his pursuit of a fourth straight Sprint Cup championship in one of the more dominating stretches in the sport's history, Johnson might be finding another way to stay at least a step ahead of his NASCAR competitors:

By getting inside their heads.

That might have started happening earlier this week, when Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin's teams were warned about, but not penalized for, having template tolerances that were close to but not exceeding the boundaries of NASCAR's rules.

This happened at NASCAR's research and development center in Concord, N.C., after Johnson had easily won last Sunday at Dover, Del., and then passed the postrace inspection.

It created a bit of a stir around the garage area, as teams prepared for today's Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Which was fine with Johnson.

The more distraction, the better, is how he sees it.

"I hope it does [cause a distraction]," Johnson said. "I hope that people are concerned and focused on non-issues, which this deal is. It's a non-issue. Give everybody something to write and talk about. I hope it will be swirling around the competitors' heads."

NASCAR, though, hasn't been hesitant to bust Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, before.

He was suspended for four races in 2006 for illegally modifying Johnson's Chevy at the Daytona 500.

"NASCAR gives us a box, and you're supposed to use every bit of it," said driver Brian Vickers, who starts 12th today. "You're pushing every component to the limit to what they're allowed to do. Obviously, the [Johnson] team has crossed that line before.

"I'm not implying or insinuating that they did this past weekend. So, I think, Good for them. I wish that was us.

"When we go to inspection, we should have everything maxed to every limit that we possibly can without going over.

"That's the job of the ingenuity as a crew chief and as a team."

Knaus said the tolerances were close enough -- within a fraction of an inch -- that NASCAR warned him to change them.

He also said the tolerances might have come close to the limit because of damage sustained during the race.

Johnson won't drive the car in question again until the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct. 17.

"It was only 10 short years ago when we used to 'tech' the template on these cars [with] a piece of plywood cut in the silhouette of a race car," Knaus said. "Now we're measuring with systems measured to the hundreds-of-thousandths of an inch. It's a learning process for everybody.

"Ultimately, it's not that big of an issue. It's really not."

Knaus's driver, Jimmie Johnson, hopes others don't see it that way.

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