by Jeff Hammond

Comment

Atlanta Motor Speedway is a track that Edwards loves, so his team knew they were at least on equal footing with Johnson and his No. 48 crew. The Roush Fenway team really brought the fight to Johnson, and at least initially, there looked like there was a crack in the No. 48 defense that could have had a major impact when Johnson was caught speeding coming onto pit road. However, in true championship fashion, Johnson responded with the right calls, at the right time, with the right man behind the wheel.

Sure, Edwards won the race, but Johnson and the No. 48 bunch showed why they are the soon to be three-time champions. At the end of the day, even though they didn't win, they still widened their point lead with only three races to go.

What I said last week still holds true this week: It is unbelievable what they are doing. Also, it reaffirms what the other competitors are afraid of — just how good are these guys?

The call that crew chief Chad Knaus made late and the drive that Johnson was able to put on with eight laps remaining Sunday was a thing of beauty. I sat there and watched him get up on that wheel and pick those cars off, and I just kept saying to myself one thing, "WOW!"

What we saw Sunday at Atlanta was a man trying to close the door on his competition. I mean, he went after it. Johnson and Co. weren't satisfied to give anything away to their competition. They went after it like it was the last race, and they had to finish second to win the championship. I think that's the amazing part about Johnson and his crew. They aren't satisfied with his point lead to play defense for the remaining races. They went after it.

I learned a long time ago working for Junior Johnson that the best way to score points was to lead all the laps and win races. The other part of that was if you can't win, then finish second. Johnson, Knaus and the No. 48 team are doing it. They are doing exactly what you have to do to win a championship. More importantly, they are doing it with conviction. They are truly a great race team.

It's going to take a Kyle Busch type meltdown in these few remaining races for anyone to beat Johnson. You saw what happened to Busch in the first three races of the Chase this year, so Johnson has to guard against it happening to them the last three races of the season.

All about guts

Sunday was a great example of woulda-coulda-shoulda as crew chiefs made decisions during the waning laps of the Pep Boys Auto 500.

Until you sit up there on that pit box and are faced with making all sorts of decisions on the fly, you will never understand the pressure these crew chiefs are under.

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Johnson and Knaus feel like they control this Chase. They feel like they can dictate the direction it's going to go in, and so Knaus made the late-race call yesterday to come in for tires — a decision that led to a runner-up finish and a bigger gap in the point standings.

Why didn't other crew chiefs didn't make a similar call? They saw something completely different.

Ol'Jimmie was high, wide and handsome. That man was on a mission. The last time I saw someone drive that possessed was Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Talladega. It's that championship mentality.

Point made

The No. 48 team knows what they need to do: Bury their competition and simply take the wind out of their sails. There's no "if it's over" here with them. They know it's over. Johnson and Knaus sent a clear and simple message:

"It's over guys, and it's not your year."

Talladega kicked the door wide open, but no one has been able to respond since then. So to me, when you go back and look at the defining moment of the 2008 Chase, it has to be the second Talladega race. Sure, you can't cry over spilt milk, but there are a lot of guys who feel like that took away their chance to beat this guy behind the wheel of the No. 48.

Now most of these other contenders in the Chase are starting to think about what they need to do in the offseason to improve their own program. Sunday took away that last little bit of hope for a lot of those guys.

Final thoughts

I think NASCAR and the folks at Sprint have to be satisfied with the emphasis they wanted to put on winning this year as far as the Chase is concerned. It's there. Here we are heading to race No. 8, and every race so far as been won by a Chase contender. They are all running as hard as they can, trying to run Johnson down, and meanwhile, he is running as hard as he can to keep them from doing it.

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FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.