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Johnson Not Too Concerned Yet

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The Associated Press

Published: November 5, 2008

FORT WORTH, Texas - No reason for Jimmie Johnson to panic. Not yet anyway.

As frustrating as Johnson's race was at Texas, struggling to a 15th-place finish while Carl Edwards gambled on fuel and won by a wide margin, Johnson maintained a somewhat-comfortable 106-point lead in NASCAR's Sprint Cup chase with two races left.

Still, Johnson knows that his third consecutive championship isn't quite wrapped up.

"Man, there's been a race the whole time. You just never know what's going to happen," Johnson said. "Now that comfort margin's even closed up more. So it's still a race."

Edwards won for the second consecutive week, squeezing a victory out of his last tank of fuel Sunday in the Dickies 500, slashing 77 points off his second-place deficit behind Johnson.

The series goes next to Phoenix, where Johnson has won the last two Cup races and finished seventh or better the last six, looking to stretch his margin before the season finale at Homestead. If Johnson finishes seventh or better in both races, there's no way he can lose the title.

"If I get stuffed in the fence the first run, I finish 43rd, they're right there," Johnson said. "My goal is to outrun those guys. My goal's to win the race, try to lead the most laps, gain points on those guys so that we go to Homestead with as many points as we can."

While Edwards isn't conceding the championship, like some others have, the Roush Fenway driver still needs a lot to happen to keep Johnson from joining Cale Yarborough (1976-78) as the only Cup drivers to win three straight Cup championships.

At the 11/2-mile high-banked Texas track, Johnson took too long to find the right setup. The No. 48 Chevrolet was "really loose" the first three runs, and then it went the other way after making adjustments.

"Once that happened, I was a sitting duck," Johnson said. "We just got way behind."

Edwards put him a lap down on lap 96, and Johnson slipped all the way to 33rd after a pit stop on lap 113.

His team kept making adjustments and Johnson was able to regain some of his lost ground, although he never got back on the lead lap.

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