(By Greg Engle)
Posted: Saturday,June 27th, 2009
(By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
LOUDON, N.H. — Never mind that Jimmie Johnson is third in the Sprint Cup standings.
The three-time defending series champion admitted Friday that his No. 48 Chevrolet team has made some uncharacteristic mistakes this season.
“Unlike other years, we’ve made more mistakes as a team,” Johnson said. ”Like last week (at Sonoma), I got nailed for speeding on pit road. I’ve made plenty of mistakes like that this year. I’ve crashed a couple of cars that I shouldn’t have. Pit stops are clearly in our rhythm now, but we’ve had a couple of hiccups along the way.”
LOUDON, NH - JUNE 26: Jimmie Johnson drives the #48 Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 26, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Given that Johnson clearly feels there’s room for improvement, should Cup points leader Tony Stewart be worried?
In his first year as an owner/driver with Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart sees it from the opposite perspective.
“I look at it this way,” he said. “How scary is it for them that a new team is sitting here leading the points? That’s no disrespect to them, but we feel like we’ve got room to gain each week, too. . .
“Obviously, history shows that you can never count Jimmie and that team out. I’m not sure that it scares all of us — but it doesn’t scare us, because we never underestimated him to begin with.”
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