Jimmie Johnson: 'Impossible' to pick favorite in Chase with 4 races left
Jimmie Johnson doesn’t think you can point to one of the eight remaining drivers in the Chase and designate a favorite.
Johnson is in the third round of the Chase for the first time in the three-year history of the current Chase format. He got to the third round by winning the first race of the second round, his first win since the fifth race of the season.
The six-time champion said Friday that it’s hard to find a favorite because of the excellence it takes in the third round to advance to the final round at Homestead.
“You need to have three clean [races] or win,” Johnson said. “Three top-threes or three top fives to advance with points I believe. It’s no layup by any means. The biggest reason why it is different is at this point there would be two or three cars you would have to worry about [in] the Chases that I have won the way the format was. Now there are eight guys on the table, and then it goes down to four with equal points at Homestead. You can’t build a feeling or pick a favorite. It is fun to do, and it creates conversation, but it is impossible to truly pick a favorite at this point.”
Johnson’s right, the randomness of the Chase doesn’t lend itself to being able to easily denote a favorite. Joey Logano certainly looked like a title contender at this point last year after he swept the second round. But his Chase went south in the third round when he was punted by Matt Kenseth and then had problems at Texas. Logano advanced to the third round this year with his second-straight fall win at Talladega.
It’s easy to point to Johnson as one of the favorites for Sunday’s race at Martinsville though even if his performance has dipped there over the past four races. He’s got eight wins at the half-mile track and 23 top-10 finishes in 28 starts.
“There is just a certain rhythm to this place and it’s still Martinsville even though we have different generations of cars and [aerodynamic] balances on the cars,” Johnson said. “It’s still slow in the corner, which mechanical grip is key. When you hit on something here it usually lasts a long time because it’s a track that requires mechanical grip and not aero grip.”
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
