Johnson poised to coast to his sixth Cup title

BRACE YOURSELVES, racin' fans, for another Jimmie Johnson reign.

Johnson carries a substantial, 28-point lead over Matt Kenseth into the Sprint Cup season finale Sunday in Homestead, Fla. All Johnson has to do to gain his sixth title is finish 23rd or better. He should be able to do that while sipping an energy drink and driving with one hand on the steering wheel.

Another championship is a nightmare for those in the Anybody But Jimmie Johnson Club. It's understandable why some fans dislike Johnson as a racer: He wins too often.

But there is no debate about his place in racing history: With 66 career wins (a leading 24 in the Chase), he is one of the all-time greats. Perhaps his winning isn't good for NASCAR, but, as I've written before, his racing rivals should just figure out a way to beat him.

Johnson won an unprecedented five consecutive championships from 2006 through '10. Tony Stewart won in 2011; Brad Keselowski is the defending titlist.

Last year, Johnson trailed Keselowski by 20 points before Homestead. A rear-gear failure on his No. 48 Chevrolet relegated Johnson to 36th place after he led 25 laps. He finished third in the Chase.

Interestingly, Johnson has never won at Homestead; he has four top-five finishes at the South Florida track. However, during his 5-year title run, he never had to race for a win at Homestead to clinch a championship.

With two wins in this year's Chase and five other top-five finishes, Johnson has performed almost flawlessly.

"There's a lot of pressure, no doubt about it, but that's what we love," Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, said on a Tuesday conference call. "I live for these last 10 weeks, and once we get through these next 10 weeks, I can't wait to get through the next 26, so I can get to these 10 weeks next year. This is what we enjoy. We like the pressure."

Knaus has guided Johnson to all his championships. In recent years, at least, Knaus, 42, says he does little cheerleading.

"I'm very fortunate that the guys on the 48 team, they kind of help motivate each other," he said. "There's an energy that is involved being a part of this team that makes you want to do well and makes you want to work harder. So it's not like I really have to get the guys and develop this huge rah-rah speech."

Jason Ratcliff, Kenseth's crew chief, sees Johnson's team every weekend and knows how formidable it is.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Jimmie and that 48 team has been able to do and what Chad has been able to accomplish as a crew chief," Rat-cliff said. "I think everyone in this sport would look at that and say, 'That's what we want to do.'

"That's a dynasty. Those are the guys we're going to have to beat."

During the conference call, I asked Knaus whether he's ever had time to think about how it would be if he were competing against Johnson's team with another organization.

"I've never been asked that one before," Knaus replied. "Quite honestly, we do a lot [competing against themselves]."

Referring to Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, Knaus said, "If you look at the capabilities of the other teams at Hendrick Motorsports, I think that we're competing as close to our brothers as we possibly can, so it's difficult."

"It's been a long time since I've worked on another team, so I don't know all the resources they've got. I don't know what they've got or the intensity level or how the other crew chiefs work in the other race teams, but I can only assume that they're very similar to us. So we're probably racing against ourselves maybe even more so than what we actually think right now."

Shifting Knaus to another team next year would create some needed drama for NASCAR. But as they say in the garage area, "Billy Bob, that ain't gonna happen."

Sebastian Vettel has disposed of any suspense leading up to the United States Grand Prix Sunday in Austin, Texas (2 p.m., NBC10). The 26-year-old German clinched his fourth consecutive Formula One championship by winning 11 races this year, including the previous seven. And NASCAR fans think Jimmie Johnson is dominating . . .

Vettel is only the third driver to win four F1 titles in a row, following Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.

The Circuit of Americas in Austin is a 3.4-mile, 20-turn track. Lewis Hamilton won last year's race, finishing 0.6 of a second ahead of Vettel. Television coverage begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow on the NBC Sports Network.

Ford EcoBoost 400

Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.

When: Sunday, 3 p.m.

TV/Radio: ESPN/WNPV (1440-AM)

Forecast: partly cloudy, 84 degrees

Course: .5-mile oval

Distance: 67 laps/400.5 miles

Last year's winner: Jeff Gordon

Last year's pole: Joey Logano, 176.056 mph

Track qualifying record: Jamie McMurray, 181.111 mph (November 2003)

Track facts: Jeff Gordon led only 14 laps, including the last 13, in winning last year's race. Clint Bowyer was runner-up (and also was second in the Chase). Polesitter Joey Logano finished 14th; he started in the back of the field after crashing in practice ... Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart are three-time winners at Homestead ... Denny Hamlin needs to win Sunday to extend his 7-year streak of winning at least one race per year ... Jeff Burton will make his final start for Richard Childress Racing. He has 21 career Cup series wins in 20 full seasons.

Standings

1. Jimmie Johnson ,384

2. Matt Kenseth -28

3. Kevin Harvick -34

4. Kyle Busch -57

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr -63

6. Jeff Gordon -80

7. Greg Biffle -83

8. Clint Bowyer -87

9. Joey Logano -97

10. Kurt Busch -101

11. Ryan Newman -125

12. Kasey Kahne -132

13. Carl Edwards -134

Wins: Matt Kenseth, 7; Jimmie Johnson, 6; Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, 4 each; Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards, 2 each; David Ragan, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMuray, Jeff Gordon, 1 each.

Up next: Daytona 500, Feb. 23, 2014, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.