Johnson only has to fear ... fear itself

            AVONDALE, Ariz. – Perhaps even those who long for a fourth straight championship wouldn’t mind it if Jimmie Johnson had to sweat a little.

            As of this moment, with only the Checker O’Reilly 500 and one more race following it, the amazing characteristic of the Chase for the Sprint Cup isn’t that Johnson just squandered 111 points. It’s that he had 111 points to spare.

            The 73 points now separating Johnson from Cinderella wannabe Mark Martin is still a powerful obstacle for the 50-year-old Martin to surmount.

            Johnson has seemed a bit uneasy at Phoenix International Raceway. He drats the luck of a crash on the third lap, a week ago in Texas, that cost him and breathes a sigh of relief that it didn’t cost him dearly.

“Up until last week, things just seemed to be going really, really well,” said Johnson. “A lot of positive emotions and thoughts went with all of that. Then, to get through Talladega (two weeks ago), I felt like we missed the big one, and everything was in great shape. We roll into Texas, and lap three, we take our lumps there.”

“So I'm used to leaving Texas with a strong performance and coming into the Phoenix race with a ton of momentum. I don't really have an emotion for how last week went. I mean, obviously it's a negative one. I'm disappointed to lose the points, but we didn't perform poorly. We didn't have a chance to perform good or bad. So I just kind of have this blank spot about how last week went.”

Is the pressure getting to Johnson? Oh, don’t be ridiculous. He didn’t do anything wrong in Texas. He was roaring along outside of traffic when traffic gobbled him up. Sam Hornish Jr. lost traction, slowed a bit, and that was enough to make it impossible for David Reutimann’s Toyota to avoid Hornish’s Dodge, which then squirted up into Johnson.

And away the 111 points went.

It’s unlikely that the winner of three straight championships – and overwhelming favorite for a fourth – is going to turn into a bundle of nerves because of one bad week. He’s only the all-time leader in Phoenix victories with three.

Anything can happen. The last race proved that. Can “anything” happen again?

The Texas incident Johnson found vexing.

“It's just a big, empty, negative feeling right now,” he said, “because last week was just a major letdown, where before I'd leave with a win or very good run, with a lot of momentum and positive thoughts.”

Maybe Johnson’s genuinely uneasy. More likely, he’s just bending over backwards to say the right things. He’s being suitably humble. He’s reciting all the platitudes about taking it “one race at a time” and saying “anything can happen” or “there’s still a lot of racing left.”

Actually, not that much. The key is probably going to be the way Johnson runs this race. If there’s anything he has to worry about, it’s being overly cautious. Caution was cool with a cushion of 184. Now it can whittle his lead down to a point where it might be a cause for genuine concern.

But that hasn’t happened … yet.

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.