Johnson atop points as Chase heads to Charlotte

Despite winning two of the first four Chase races, Johnson is not ready to play up the fact that he is on his way to another title just yet.

"The last three years have been really special," said Johnson, who has won 16 Chase races so far, 10 more than his closest competitor. "Right now, we're in a great position, but it's way too early to start thinking about other things."

As the fifth race in the playoffs comes to Charlotte -- the hub city for NASCAR teams -- only 105 points separate Johnson from fifth-place Jeff Gordon.

Johnson excels at the next two tracks on the schedule. He has won five times at Charlotte and led laps in each race there since May 2002. Johnson likewise has been dominant at Martinsville, winning five of the last six races there.

"I think it really boils down to the fact that the tracks in the Chase are my strongest tracks," he said. "If you look at Martinsville, you look at Lowe's Motor Speedway, you go through them, and they are tracks where we win."

Talladega and Homestead are Johnson's weakest tracks in the remaining six races of the season. Talladega has always been a crapshoot for all drivers competing in the Chase. Homestead might not even be an issue for Johnson, since he has held a big enough points lead heading into the season-finale to all but assure him the championship the past three years.

Mark Martin slipped to second in points after finishing fourth at California. Martin leads all active drivers with 17 top-five finishes and 22 top-10's at Charlotte, but has finished no better than ninth in the last six races there.

Juan Pablo Montoya continues to be impressive in his first Chase campaign. Montoya, currently third in points (-46), is the only driver who has recorded top-five finishes in all the Chase races so far this year. The Earnhardt Ganassi driver turned in his best performance at Charlotte earlier this year with an eighth-place run.

Tony Stewart is now fourth in points (-84) after a fifth-place run at California. Stewart won the fall race at Charlotte in 2003, but has finished no better than sixth there since then.

Gordon has gained momentum in the Chase lately, finishing second at both Kansas and California. Gordon sat 10th in points after New Hampshire, but has climbed five positions since then.

"The last couple of weeks have gone well," Gordon said. "Even though we have consecutive second-place finishes, at different times during each race, it didn't appear that we'd finish that strong. But we battled hard to get those finishes."

Gordon and Johnson lead all active drivers with five victories each at Charlotte. Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip have the most wins there with six apiece.

Forty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the NASCAR Banking 500. Qualifying is scheduled for Thursday night.

Latest Comment View all comments