Expecting somebody different to top the list? C’mon. You can’t look at this season without first taking notice of the three-time defending champion. Well, some did, picking Carl Edwards to win the title, which irked Johnson just a little.
You can’t blame him. Besides the three straight titles, which only Cale Yarborough 30 years ago had accomplished, he has two runner-up finishes and hasn’t been outside the top five in the final standings during his seven seasons.
Nobody has won four consecutive, so that alone is reason to watch. It’s history, like watching a baseball player try to hit .400 or a golfer win the Grand Slam.
If you ask Johnson he’ll tell you he’s got at least another seven to 10 good seasons left in him. The only flaw in his armor is that he’s injury-prone. He broke a bone in his arm during last year’s offseason trying to surf on top of a golf cart. He cut the tendons on a finger on his left hand two weeks ago trying to cut a hole in his uniform.
Clumsiness aside, Johnson owns NASCAR right now. He particularly owns the Chase, in which he has 14 wins in 50 events since the playoff was implemented in 2004.
To put that into perspective, Edwards has only 16 wins in 157 races total since then.
“I never thought I’d make it this far,” Johnson said. “Who’s to say I can’t do it another year? With what we have at Hendrick Motorsports and the core group building this team together like it has, we have a very good chance of it.”
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