TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Johnson Eager To Halt Bad Fortune At Kansas

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2007

Updated: 09/30/2007 12:13 am

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Just minutes into Saturday's final practice for today's LifeLock 400, Jimmie Johnson lost control of his No. 48 Chevy, spun 180 degrees and slapped the wall.

There went the pole position Johnson earned Friday, because drivers switching to a backup car have to start from the back of the field. It was the latest mistake for Johnson at Kansas Speedway, a track where he has always been fast but has had a propensity for making mistakes.

That record is one Johnson will try to improve on in today's third race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

'I just lost it getting into Turn 3,' the season's leading race winner said. 'We didn't need this.'

Johnson has raced five times at the manicured 1 1/2 -mile track just west of the Missouri-Kansas state line. Although he has qualified in the top five four times and run 97 percent of his laps in the top 15, he has yet to score a top-five finish at Kansas.
NASCAR produces something called a driver rating based on a number of statistics, and Johnson's 118.0 rating at Kansas ranks No. 1. Yet Johnson's best finish at the track is a sixth in 2005.

'I can't remember the races and what has gone on, but I have a great feeling about this track when I see it on the schedule,' Johnson said. 'I remember running well and have great thoughts and excited to come back. I know I haven't won here; I didn't realize I didn't have a top-five here, but I am looking forward to it.'

Johnson must have a selective memory, because Kansas has been a bellyache for him.

Saturday's crash marked the second time he has had to give up a pole at Kansas because of crashing his primary car in practice. He made the same mistake in 2003 before finishing seventh in a backup car.

Then there was the 2004 Chase race at Kansas in which Johnson was caught up in a crash, crashed a second time by himself, finished 32nd and left 247 points out of first. That deficit proved too large to overcome, although Johnson did rally to finish second to Kurt Busch for the championship.

Last year at Kansas, Johnson led 105 laps and had the car to beat. He wound up 14th after pitting late in the race for a splash of fuel and picking up a penalty for speeding.

'The majority of last year is out of my mind, but what does stick in my mind from last year is that the end of this race was a fuel mileage race,' Johnson said. 'So hopefully we can address fuel mileage with the car and make sure the carburetor is adjusted right. Outside of that, our performance last year was strong.'

Johnson left Kansas last year in eighth place, 165 points out of first. He finished 24th the following week at Talladega despite being in second place at the white flag. After that, he went on a championship march in which he finished first or second in five consecutive races.

'We performed and did our job with all those second-place finishes, but some guys had to have trouble for us to rally,' Johnson said. 'I don't know that with 12 guys in the Chase this time if that is a possibility.'

This year's Chase still looks like the start of a cross country meet. The top eight drivers are bunched within 75 points, and the top five are separated by a scant eight points.

Jeff Gordon leads defending Kansas winner Tony Stewart by two points and Johnson by four. Carl Edwards, last week's winner at Dover, would be three points back if not for a 25-point penalty.

'It's hard to consider yourself the points leader when there are so few points that separate you and fourth, fifth or sixth,' Gordon said.

Gordon has won twice at Kansas - in 2001 and 2002 - and Stewart has an average finish of 6.5 in his six starts at the track. Clint Bowyer, a Kansas native who won the opening Chase race at New Hampshire, led 43 laps of last year's race as a rookie before finishing ninth.

With Johnson having to start from the back today, Scott Riggs will start on the inside of the front row. Positions change by line when a driver has to drop to the rear of the field, so Riggs will pull up next to No. 2 qualifier Matt Kenseth.

'I hate it for Jimmie Johnson and those guys,' Riggs said. 'They've been on their game, did all the right things, and now they have to start in the rear.'

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT