"They've had one of the best teams, prior to the last three [titles]. They just didn't put all the final little pieces together. When they won the first one, I knew this was a team that could go on a tear."
Johnson is seeded third in the Chase, only 10 points behind top seed Mark Martin. Johnson has won three races this year, but he has only one top-10 finish in the last four races.
After finishing 11th Saturday at Richmond, Johnson was annoyed. Referring to his 36th-place finish in the previous race at Atlanta, Johnson said: "We couldn't improve the car as the night went on and everybody else did. In Richmond, it was a similar thing. I was really frustrated.
"The last couple weeks, I don't know what we've done wrong to not be able to tune the car right."
Starting Sunday at New Hampshire, count on Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus to figure out what's wrong. If they do, then how does another Chaser take down Johnson?
"To beat him you have to put pressure on him," Gordon said. "We put a lot of pressure on them in '07, but [making a downward motion with his right thumb], we didn't keep them pressed down." (Gordon finished second.)
Later, all the Chasers were at the Hard Rock Cafe, where the theme was: This Chase is wide open, with Johnson, Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin the leading contenders.
Stewart, the points leader for 13 consecutive weeks heading into Richmond, is a two-time Cup champion.
"You can't afford to have a mistake," he said. "You not only have to get off to a good start, you have to have 9 more weeks behind that first 1. Every year, everybody gets smarter and smarter about how to get the best performance out of the Chase."
In his first year as a co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart won three races. He is seeded second in the Chase.
If Stewart dethrones Johnson, he would be the first driver-owner champion since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992. Stewart insists, though, that winning this year wouldn't be more special than his previous titles.
"There's not a sense of urgency," he said. "It's not like after this year I'm not going to be an owner anymore. What's happened this year has exceeded the expectations of many people. We have just as good a shot as anybody."
Montoya: 'We're close'
First-timer Juan Pablo Montoya is as confident as any racer in the Chase. But give the former Indianapolis 500 winner points for acknowledging his team isn't among this year's favorites.
"Are we good enough to win the championship?" said Montoya, who is in his third season in the Cup series. "I'm not sure. We're close, but I don't think we're there yet." *
