Johnson remembers the one that got away

            AVONDALE, Ariz. – Jimmie Johnson, closing on his fourth straight Sprint Cup championship, almost won another in 2004, the first year of the Chase format.

            Kurt Busch won the closest Chase to date by eight points over Johnson and 16 over Jeff Gordon.

            “To me, I felt like that was our year,” said Johnson at Phoenix International Raceway.

            Busch held on despite a memorable incident in which the right-front tire flew off his Ford and rolled around the track, thus enabling him to stay on the lead lap because of the caution flag that resulted.

            “Whatever that feeling is when you think things are going your way, I had all those feelings,” recalled Johnson, who finished second in the Homestead finale behind Greg Biffle. Had he won that race, he would’ve also won the championship.

            “It was a weird experience,” he concluded.

            Things change – As Juan Pablo Montoya pointed out, this championship wasn’t always Jimmie Johnson’s private domain.

            “Tony Stewart killed everyone in the preseason, or whatever you call it,” said Montoya. “Now he’s completely out of the championship.”

            Reminds him of him – Mark Martin sees himself at times in Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus.

            “He’s very intense,” said Martin. “He leaves no stone unturned. He’s insanely driven, and that reminds me of my younger self.”

            It’ll take a while – Martin also said that, if Johnson closes the deal on a fourth championship, it won’t be appreciated until later years.

            “Everybody has it tempered some,” he said. “I don’t think people in the garage right now realize how much they’re getting their butts beat (by Johnson and Knaus) in the middle of such a competitive age.”

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