Johnson's runaway season slows to a limp

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- In any other season, Jimmie Johnson would have been the runaway winner of NASCAR's championship.
But this isn't any other season. It's the first year of NASCAR's new points system, and Johnson is on target to be the biggest loser under the new format.
The most dominating driver for most of the year, Johnson has limped through the last two races of the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship. His wreck last week at Kansas Speedway gave him a 32nd-place finish, effectively ending any shot at winning the title.
Johnson is now ninth in the standings, 247 points behind leader Kurt Busch.
"I've been against [the points system], but, you know, in the big picture, it spreads the love out further throughout all the race teams," he said. "You have more people being focused on throughout the season, more exposure for everyone as a whole, which is only going to help our sport.
"So I see the positives to it."
Positive outlook
Johnson has had a positive outlook since breaking into NASCAR's top series in 2002. Any speed bump in the road, Johnson attacks with grace.
So there's no reason to believe he and his Hendrick Motorsports team will give up over the final six races of the season.
"All you can do is give 100 percent," he said. "If luck isn't on your side and you have things take place on the racetrack that are out of you control, there isn't much you can do. My guys believe in me and I believe in them 100 percent."
The tide could change for Johnson this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he's been the most dominant driver by far lately.
He earned his second-straight Coca-Cola 600 victory here in May, leading 334 of 400 laps. He's finished seventh or better in his last five races at Lowe's, the longest top-10 streak among active drivers.
Just to relieve a little tension, Johnson plans to run in the Busch race tonight.
"Its going to be something fun to do," he said. "With all the intensity in the Chase for the Championship, getting to do something fun this weekend is kind of nice."
Still, there's little Johnson can do to climb back into the Chase unless the eight drivers in front of him collapse.
So far, Busch has shown no signs of doing that. He scored yet another top-10 finish at Kansas, giving him one in all four of the Chase races.
But behind Busch are a bunch of Lowe's Motor Speedway veterans aiming to knock him out of the points lead.
Motivation
Jeff Gordon, who has four victories at Lowe's, is third in the standings and has high motivation to gain some ground.
Gordon and his team were humiliated during the Coca-Cola 600. As Johnson, his teammate, ran away with the race, Gordon limped to a 30th-place finish that disgusted his entire team.
Mark Martin, fifth in the standings, also has four wins at Lowe's -- three of them in the fall race.
His 15 top-five finishes are the most of any active driver on the 11/2-mile track. He's also got a win in the 1998 all-star race and has six victories in the Busch series at Lowe's.
"I can't wait to get out on the track at Lowe's. I think that just about everybody knows it is one of -- and just maybe -- my favorite track to race," he said. " We've been to Victory Lane four times there in the past and I'd love to get back in the Chase with a win there this Saturday night."
So would Matt Kenseth, a teammate of Martin and Busch at Roush Racing.
The reigning series champion has dropped to seventh in the standings, but could make up ground at Lowe's, where he scored his first Cup victory in 2000 and won the all-star race here in May.
"Lowe's has always been one of my favorite tracks on the circuit and we always seem to run pretty good here," he said. " The Roush cars in general seem to all run pretty good here, so I hope we can run up front and lead some laps here and challenge for a win.
"We need more than a good finish -- we need a great finish right now, but I know this team is capable of it here."