To a man, all 12 Chasers believe they can win the championship in the 10-race playoff that begins Sunday in New Hampshire.
No surprise on that one. But it appears 11 of them also believe they have to do one specific thing to get there:
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Jimmie Johnson strikes a pose with members of the New York Knicks dance team while visiting Manhattan.
Beat Jimmie Johnson, the man going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title.
"We're just trying to stop him," said Carl Edwards. "What he's done is unreal."
The Chase drivers spent a couple of fun days in New York this week, hyping up the playoff on TV shows, radio spots and in endless interviews.
Four drivers -- Edwards, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart and Mark Martin -- spoke to reporters Thursday from the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan.
The theme of the conversation was clear: They bow to Johnson's greatness. And they've done their homework about what it will take to finish ahead of him.
"Jimmie has been the gold standard," Vickers said. "He has averaged close to a fifth-place finish [in the Chase]. But I don't think that will happen this year. The competition is too tight."
Johnson's average finish in the 2008 Chase was 5.7, including three victories. He averaged a remarkable 5.2 in the 10 playoff races of 2007 when he won four of the last five races.
Johnson needed an average finish of only 10.8 when he won his first championship in 2006, but had one victory and four runner-up finishes in the past six events.
"Jimmie is really underrated for what he's done," said Martin, a four-time runner-up to the championship. "It's phenomenal when you factor in all the things you can't control. His focus and commitment are incredible."
Stewart believes the blueprint for Chase success is obvious.
"Jimmie has laid out what it takes to win [the] championship the last three years," Stewart said. "You can't cruise around and expect top-10 finishes will do it. It has to be top-5s to have a shot at it."
Stewart also understands what an enormous task that is. He was the runaway points leader in the 2009 regular season with an average finish of 13.1.
None of the Chasers feel that's good enough to win the title over Johnson, who joined Cale Yarborough last year as the only Cup drivers to win three consecutive championships.
"It is a huge feat in this era of NASCAR to have that kind of dominance," Stewart said, "especially in this format where there is less room for error."
Stewart is the only driver to win a Cup title in the old system of points for the entire season (2002) and the Chase format (2005).
But Johnson is the Chase master, always at this best in the final 10 events that decide the title.
Crew chief Chad Knaus has received a lot of the credit for making sure the No. 48 Chevy team peaks at the right time. But Vickers said Johnson's talent and demeanor are a huge part of his success.
"Jimmie is very, very good behind the wheel," said Vickers, Johnson's former teammate at Hendrick Motorsports. "He can drive a car that's loose or a car that's tight; whatever, it doesn't matter. And he never seems to get rattled. He rarely makes a mistake."
Martin believes minimizing mistakes is the key element.
"A championship effort is defined by your bad days, not so much your good days," Martin said. "Everyone in this Chase will run strong, but you have to get as many points as you can when you have a problem."
Johnson and Knaus did a better job of that than everyone else the previous three years. Can they do it one more time?
"Obviously, I hope he doesn't get that fourth [title]," Vickers said. "But if he does, I don't think some people [will] realize what a truly remarkable feat it is."
Edwards battled Johnson down to the final race last season before losing the championship by 69 points.
"I think that experience of hanging with Jimmie until the end will help me," Edwards said. "But no matter what happens this time, even if Jimmie doesn't win it, everyone should look back on it and understand what a spectacular run it was."
Terry Blount
