Johnson ready for next step in Nextel Cup

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

After back-to-back seasons in which he was the runner-up for the NASCAR Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson said he feels this could be his season to represent the series as its champion.

Johnson finished 90 points behind Matt Kenseth in the 2003 final standings and was only eight points behind Kurt Busch last season in the closest championship finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

But Johnson said he has a different feeling about the 2005 season -- his fourth full season in the Nextel Cup Series. The feeling, he said, is confidence.

"I had two good years in (the NASCAR Busch Series), but I was really, really nervous coming in," Johnson said of his rookie Cup season in 2002. "From that point until now, the biggest thing is confidence; I know my abilities. I know that if I'm out there and put in 100 percent, I have a shot at winning the race and that's all you can really ask for as a driver.

"You just want to know that if you go to the racetrack and put in 100 percent, you have a shot at winning (and) I feel that now -- it's the first time in my career where I've felt that. I've always moved up the ladder really quickly and I've never spent a lot of time in any one series or vehicle. Now to be on year four, I know everyone and I know the cars and tracks and it's a comfortable position to be in. And with comfort comes confidence."

Johnson, who led the Nextel Cup points standings for 9 of 11 weeks going into the inaugural 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship," was fourth in points after the second round of the "Chase" before disaster struck twice. His No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet developed an overheating problem in the third race, at Talladega, and he finished 37th. The following week, at Kansas Speedway, Johnson was involved in a late-race crash, finished 32nd and slipped to ninth in points.

Although he rebounded to win four of the final six races and finished second in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he came up just shy of the championship for the second year in a row.

"We're grateful to have two great years -- really, three great years in the sport," Johnson said. "'We hope we're able to win a championship. Last year was a very special year for us to win eight, overcome the tragedy of the (Hendrick Motorsports) airplane, and win four in the final 10 -- that's going to tough to beat.

"A championship will beat that. If this year is a championship year for us, we feel like we're ready for it. It's going to be a very exciting year; we probably won't know who the champion will be until the final race, like last year."

In the meantime, Johnson is focused on Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- the third round in the 36-race Nextel Cup season. Johnson opened this season with a fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a second-place effort at California Speedway and is second in points coming to Las Vegas.

Based on their test at LVMS last month, crew chief Chad Knaus said he wouldn't bet against Johnson in Sunday's race.

Johnson, who is coming off a second-place finish two weeks ago at California Speedway, was sixth in last year's race here and finished 11th and 16th in his two previous races in Las Vegas.

"We've had some great racecars that were capable of winning races there," Knaus said of LVMS "Hopefully, this year we can make something happen. Our test there was incredible. We're taking the same car there that we won both races with at Pocono last year. It's been re-bodied and tested there and I feel very comfortable."

Johnson said he expected NASCAR's new rear spoiler and tire rules to have a bigger effect on the racing at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval than they did at the 2-mile Fontana track, where the field was strung out for much of the race.

"We had so many changes over the offseason that it's just going to take a while to adjust to the new package and track time and knowledge to bring the competition back together," Johnson said. "Last year's package was well refined. We had a whole year to work on it and the competition at the end of the season was the best it's been. When they change the rules up like this, it separates the deal.

"We had a great test (at Las Vegas) and it seemed like the groove has moved a little bit wider in Turns 3 and 4, so hopefully we'll get a couple lanes of racing. That will help a lot of the issues that we're all struggling with at the beginning of the season. If we can get two or three lanes working at the track, I think the racing will improve dramatically."