Johnson begins Chase with a seventh championship in mind

Joliet, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - After scoring four straight top-10 finishes, Jimmie Johnson is ready to begin the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, in hopes of winning his record-tying seventh championship in NASCAR's premier series.

If Johnson does it, he will tie Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt for most titles.

The "new" Chase begins on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. This year, NASCAR revised its playoff format for the Sprint Cup Series, expanding the field of drivers from 12 to 16 and including a series of elimination rounds to decide the championship. The number of drivers in contention for the title will decrease every three Chase races.

Chicagoland, New Hampshire (Sept. 21) and Dover (Sept. 28) make up the opening round, known as the "Challenger Round."

After Dover, the Chase field will be trimmed to 12 drivers for the next round, referred to as the "Contender Round." It includes the races at Kansas (Oct. 5), Charlotte (Oct. 11) and Talladega (Oct. 19). Eight drivers will remain eligible for the championship heading into the "Eliminator Round," which includes the events at Martinsville (Oct. 26), Texas (Nov. 2) and Phoenix (Nov. 9).

The Nov. 16 season-finale at Homestead will feature just four drivers contending for the championship. The highest finishing driver among the final four in that race will win the title.

Johnson, who won his sixth series championship last year, starts the Chase from the fourth seed. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports has three victories this season but has not won since June 15 at Michigan (11 races ago). Johnson struggled during the month of July and the first part of August, which included back-to-back 42nd-place finishes at Daytona and New Hampshire as well as a 39th-place result at Pocono and a 28th-place run at Watkins Glen.

But Johnson has bounced back nicely by finishing ninth or better in the previous four races -- Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond. Last Saturday night at Richmond, he had to be treated for dehydration after the cool box in his car malfunctioned during the race.

Johnson has more experience in the Chase than any other driver. He's the only driver who has qualified for it each year since NASCAR instituted a playoff format for its top series in 2004. But Johnson knows he has a tougher task ahead of him in this year's Chase compared to all of his other years in the playoffs.

"Over the ten races, a lot can happen," Johnson said. "You just need to be hot towards the end, if not really hot in one race. We'll just see how it all plays out."

As part of the format change, any driver who wins a Chase race will then automatically advance into the next round. Therefore, the winner at Chicagoland will move on to the Contender Round.

Johnson has yet to win a Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland. His best finish here is second, which occurred three times, most recently in 2012. Johnson has won at New Hampshire three times and at Dover a record nine times, including a victory there in June.

"If you have poor finishes in the first and second races (in either the Challenger, Contender or Eliminator Rounds) and you're not looking strong in points, it's really easy for that third race - you need the 'Hail Mary' to make something happen," he said. "If you get off to a quick start and you're solid in the points, of course you're going to take an opportunity to win. But you know you're covering the base on points.

"I think there are going to be multiple strategies that take place, depending on performance. And then, after three races, you're going to have to re-rack and start it over again. I think that's what makes it interesting right now is that there isn't a clear strategy that you can play out. Winning races does, period, but that's kind of the design of the format to start with. I think it would be a stretch if somebody won three or four races in the Chase. That would be really tough to do. So you're going to have to kind of count on points as well."

In the 2013 Chase, Johnson recorded two wins (Dover and Texas), seven top-five finishes and nine top-10s. His worst finish was 13th, which occurred at Talladega. Can Johnson have the same success in this Chase as he did last year?

"It's hard to say, but I'm counting on it," he said. "We've seen a lot of strength out of teams, and it's just amazing to me how every year the competition gets more intense and how much more difficult it is to win and really, that average finishing result just keeps getting to a smaller and smaller number. I'm planning for that, and hopefully we can light it up here."

Forty-three teams are on the entry list for the MyAfibStory.com 400.

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, Sept. 14. Race: MyAfibStory.com 400. Site: Chicagoland Speedway. Track: 1.5-mile oval. Start time: 2 p.m. ET. Laps: 267. Miles: 400.5. 2013 Winner: Matt Kenseth. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.