Jimmie Johnson is the 2-time defending NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Champion, and no he's not the Sprint Cup Champion because this is the first year of the Sprint Cup.  He is attempting to do what only one other driver has ever done, and has a great chance to do it.  That feat is winning a third consecutive championship, something only accomplised by Cale Yarborough, exactly 30 years ago in 1976, 1977, and 1978.  Johnson now leads Carl Edwards by 10 points with 7 races remaining in the season.  However, Johnson appears to have quietly gotten the lead without a lot of publicity.  Some wonder why that is.

A few years ago, Johnson seemed to be the king of restrictor plate wrecks, always being right where the trouble started, but otherwise never caused problems and normally races cleanly (unless of course he's racing Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch).  Johnson hasn't had many run-ins, it's always been his crew chief Chad Knaus who kept getting suspended more than anyone in NASCAR...except for maybe Kevin Harvick's crew chief Todd Berrier.  As a driver, Johnson is clearly one of the most talented drivers and has some of the best equipment in racing underneath him every week driving for Rick Hendrick.    It seems as though he hasn't gotten much of the spotlight this year.  It's been all about Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.  Johnson was in the spotlight at the beginning of the year for all the wrong reasons, as both he and Jeff Gordon were struggling to even make the Chase.  Gordon made it, yet continues to struggle.  Johnson on the other hand quietly moved up the standings as the season progressed.  He now has 5 wins on the season, and is on the verge of history.

He'll probably get a lot more attention now that he's back atop the standings.  To be perfectly honest, that's the only reason he wasn't in the spotlight more, because he wasn't dominating like he did a year ago.  However, now that he's coming on strong once again, you can bet he'll get the same amount of press and airtime as Carl Edwards.  Mark my words, now that Kyle Busch is not mathematically, but realistically out of championship contention, Johnson will be featured more often.

Busch and Edwards had a couple differences throughout the year and did get more attention for it.  That's normally not what you see from Carl Edwards, and the same goes for Jimmie Johnson.  Those 2 could finish 1-2 every week, race each other to the death, and would never purposely wreck each other.  They're both the current stars you might say, along with Biffle.  The 3 have finished in the top 5 in all 3 Chase races so far with Johnson's 5th place finish at Dover being their only Chase finish not in the top 3!

So don't worry, you'll see plenty of Jimmie Johnson now that he's at the top again, and you'll see a battle to the checkered flag in Homestead between two drivers who have incredible talent, race hard every week, and all the while are mild-mannered and clean competitors.  Until next time, I'm your NASCAR VP saying we're not ignoring greatness in front of our face, we were just waiting for Jimmie Johnson to take the points lead before we put him back in the spotlight.

BK over and out