Okay, if Dale Earnhardt Sr. were trying to beat Jimmie Johnson for this NASCAR title, what would Dale do?

   Dale Earnhardt 1979....with seven championships and 76 tour victories ahead of him (Photo: NC)
  

    By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   MARTINSVILLE, Va.
   Okay, to be blunt, is it time to start trying to rattle Jimmie Johnson's cage, as the late Dale Earnhardt would say?
   Maybe so.
   Or let's look at the situation this way: What would Dale do?
   After all, the best car-and-driver don't always win the race, don't always win the championship.
   So how to beat Jimmie Johnson over these next five races?
   Or maybe the rest of these guys are just going to sit back and check out their stock portfolios and plan a Christmas vacation…and the rest of us can go back to sleep till February rolls around.
   For most of the championship challengers, it's already 2010…because 2009 is certainly over.
   How would you rattle Jimmie's cage, Brian Vickers? You were his teammate for several years; you've raced with him and against him.
   "Jimmie's cage can definitely get rattled….but it's harder to rattle his cage than most other guys," Vickers says. "He's very confident. And he has a personality very similar to mine (cool, low-keyed).
   "But you can definitely get under his skin.
   "However I think it's easier to get under Chad's skin."
   That's Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, who has been a bit volatile at times, at least more so than his driver.
   So the key to beating Johnson in this year's title chase might be to rattle Chad Knaus' cage?
   "Chad gets a little worked up, I don't think that's any secret," Vickers says with a smile.
    "But then his fire helps him do what he does. That's why they make a good combination."
 
   

 But then Jimmie Johnson (here with wife Chandra) is such a nice guy that nobody really wants to rattle his cage....or maybe he's just so fast they can't get close enough to him (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

 
    Then let's put it this way: Mark Martin is facing probably the most important four weeks of his entire career. He's got between now and midnight Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami to win this championship….and he knows well he might never have another chance like this.
     So is it time for Martin to get mean, to get angry?
     Martin raced Earnhardt for the championship many times. He faced Earnhardt's head games…and 'hand games.'
    Comparing this battle with Johnson to his title duels with Earnhardt, Martin says "Jimmie does his on 'technical.' Earnhardt did his with his hands….he would wheel like it like an animal.
   "Earnhardt did a lot of what he did with his hands. And he wasn't above playing head games as well."
   Maybe it's time for Martin to take a page from the Earnhardt notebook….and start racing Johnson "like an animal."
   These next four weeks, for Martin: Time to get mean and angry?
   "I'm going to race him for it," Martin replies with a steely smile. "I ain't give up, not one bit.
   "It might make for good writing, but if I go out there and get ugly Sunday, then it might cost me that championship. So I've got to be smart about it. I know that sounds all 'cool,' but what I need to do is race him for it…and I'm racing him with everything I've got.
   "And if I can find a way to be better, I would. And I'll continue to look and search every way I can.
   "All I can do is put it out there, and race with every bit of fire.
   "Because I don't cause a lot of stink on the track doesn't mean I don't race with a lot of fire. You asked somebody who's raced with me this year. I race with everything I've got.
    "I said we'd have a fair view of this championship after six races, and this is race number six.
   "I think it will be clearer after this race. But it's really going to take Talladega to clear is out.
   "And I have a feeling I'm going to have a great Talladega race. I really have good karma about it.
   "Now I've wrecked on lap five at Talladega before, but I just have a feeling that's not going to happen this time. The law of averages is going to get you sooner or later (and Martin's bad luck at Talladega is almost legendary). So I'm very optimistic; Talladega could be the great equalizer."
   
  

  Mark Martin (L, with crew chief Alan Gustafson) took a lot of heat from the late Dale Earnhardt in championship races. Is he ready to start dishing it out to Jimmie Johnson? He's facing the four biggest weeks of his entire racing career. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   And Jeff Gordon?
   Gordon raced Earnhardt for the championship too, and he knows what it's like to rattle someone's cage. He took some of Earnhardt's best moves, and still managed to win.
   Gordon certainly may already be using the Earnhardt playbook, to judge from the way he raced at California and Charlotte.
   "Rattling somebody's cage doesn't necessarily mean you have to knock them out of the way or put them in the wall or anything like that," Gordon.
   But……
    "I will say the next five races we are going to be extremely aggressive," he quickly adds.
     "We've worked our way up to third in points. They have a pretty comfortable lead…and how they race, versus how we race, is probably going to be a little bit different.
    "The one advantage we have is we're far enough back where we really don't have a whole lot to lose…and it is sort of their championship to lose.
    "And we are going to race them hard, we are going to race them aggressively.
     "But we are also going to respect that we are teammates -- and there is a certain respect that goes beyond just racing.
   "That's all a tall order. They've got wins, they've got momentum. But I think we can beat them here.
   "But if we just finish one or two spots ahead of them every week, we're still not going to win the championship.
   "We have to put some pressure on them, and show them we're not just settling for second.
   "When I took the championship away from Earnhardt, it helped make me what I am today."
     Rattling Jimmie's cage? Gordon laughs: "Well, I am going to put you in my car, so you can go out there and rattle his cage.
    "I think you're right; but at the same time it comes down to the timing of it – what's up for grabs. And you have to have yourself in that position to be able to do that."
    Earnhardt certainly used the intimidation factor "a little more maybe than what you see these days," Gordon said.
    "That has never been my style, it just hasn't.
     "I race guys hard, I race guys clean, I race them how they race me. 
    "You do have to rattle their cage. But to me the way you have to rattle their cage is you have to out-run them: you have to show what kind of team you are.
    "If you watched the last couple of races, I tried pretty darn hard. What we've got to do is get ourselves in position to be able to capitalize -- when we get a (late) restart like we did at California, when we get a (late) restart like we did last week (at Charlotte).
    "We either have to have the car to capitalize on it or the tires to match up to capitalize on it.
     "It is risk-versus-reward.
     "Let's hope we get down to the final laps of this race -- or any race from here on out -- and we get to show just how hungry we are to win this championship."

     

    Jeff Gordon knows how hard Dale Earnhardt raced him for those championships -- hard-nosed, bumper-to-bumper, fender-to-fender. Maybe it's time to get tough with Jimmie Johnson....or just give Johnson the NASCAR championship trophy and let's all go home for Thanksgiving (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)