Top > Sport > 2006 > September > 2006-09-24

NASCAR driver designs come from behind

Jimmie Johnson says he can win the 2006 NASCAR championship. Many would raise an eyebrow over his comments. The 31 year old driver is currently ranked ninth in the standings, 139 points behind first place, with only nine races left in the playoffs. But a closer look at Johnson`s career would help make the point to not rule him out of the race.

"We were 247 down in `04, with six races remaining, and lost [the championship] by only eight points," Johnson said. He won four of those six races in 2004. With that in mind, "I look for those guys to be on quite a tear in the next five or six races," said Johnson`s Hendrick teammate and mentor, four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

As much distance as Johnson has lagged behind the leader, he is confident. "I know momentum," Johnson said. "It`s easy to watch teams pick it up and have it. At the same time, teams lose it and [other] teams pick it up. We can trace back, and RCR [Harvick`s team] has been slowly coming along. Again, he`s way behind. But Johnson is not deterred. "History shows that we`re good at that stuff," he said. "We`ll just kind of leave it there."