NASCAR's roughneck racers? Hot and cold. Jimmie Johnson says he can't figure it out

    Boys, Have at it: Reed Sorenson (83) taking the measure of Juan Pablo Montoya (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   LOUDON, N.H.
   Jimmie Johnson is right: the last few months on the stock car circuit, in particular the last few weeks, have been, well, hard to understand.
   For the first two hours at Pocono, everything was peace and quiet. Then all hell broke loose, Kasey Kahne nearly went flipping over the wall, and Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick went nose-to-nose on post-race pit road.
   Then at Michigan again it was all quiet on the battlefront, all afternoon, on what once was and what really should be one of the best action-tracks in the sport.
   And at Sonoma last week it was a slugfest – a crash-fest – from the word go. The best race ever at that track, from a fan's perspective; the meanest, from a driver's view.
   So the NASCAR tour arrives at Bruton Smith's New Hampshire Motor Speedway for what looked like a looming Payback 500.
   But not until the final 10 minutes of the nearly three-hour race was there any hot action.
   What to make of this hot-and-cold play by NASCAR drivers...and what to expect this week at Daytona, in Saturday night's 400?

   "To be honest, I'm confused," Johnson says.
   "For a while there, our sport was 'boring.'"
   And he laughed.
   "Then we wrecked the crap out of them last week, and now all of a sudden we have a problem because everybody is wrecking...and now this week it wasn't as exciting," Johnson said.
  
  

   Jimmie Johnson (R) and crew chief Chad Knaus (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

    Why? What the heck is going on here?
   "I don't know how to really respond," Johnson says.
    "The cars are so equal that it is very frustrating inside the car. I saw things out of guys I've raced with for years that I did not expect to see.
   "So the frustration is there....and when you have a chance to send someone, you're going to take it. 
    "It's just that energy exists right now in the garage area.
    "Maybe guys didn't have their opportunities today. But it's a long season, and you'll get the right opportunity...I still think you will see it.
    "I just don't know how to really think.
    "Big picture: we (the drivers as a group) are doing really exciting things on the racetrack, that I would assume a lot of people have been hoping for and wanting for a long time. 
     "I guess you've got to be careful what you wish for."
   
   

   It was all Danica Patrick, for the Boston-area media at least, until lap seven of Saturday's Nationwide race, when she met Morgan Shepherd the wrong way. It was an embarrassing run for the Indy-car star. Jumping back and forth from stockers to Indy-cars isn't easy, unless you're Robby Gordon or Tony Stewart. It may be time for Patrick to make a decision. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

  
   And then in the final 10 minutes Sunday, there was some angry action: Jeff Gordon versus Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya versus Clint Bowyer. Reed Sorensen versus Montoya, who then ended up hard in the wall.
    And what to make of that little dust-up between Johnson and Kurt Busch?
   After Jeff Burton's no-pit mistake, the race was Johnson's. But Busch gave a little bump-and-run with seven to go....which Johnson said afterwards sent his blood pressure soaring. Johnson came back with three to go to nudge Busch out of the way and go on to the win.
    It was relatively mild bumping, all in all, as Busch said. But Johnson (perhaps for the media?) played it up pretty big.
 
     Mark Martin Friday chastised his fellow drivers for being too aggressive at Sonoma and other tracks at times this season, but said that's just the nature of the game these days.
    Kurt Busch, third Sunday, in a bump-and-run finish with Johnson and then Tony Stewart, agrees: "Mark is correct. 
   "Mark is a very well respected guy in the garage, and when he speaks, it goes a long way, and we all listen. 
   "And at the end of this race, we saw champion drivers (Busch, Johnson and Stewart have all won NASCAR titles) running up front and rubbing each other and bringing it on home."
   And Jeff Gordon too, fourth, surprising perhaps after his hard racing at Sonoma, that earned him a nickname from Kyle Busch: "Bulldozer."
   Kurt Busch conceded "Jeff had a bad day at Sonoma.  Things happen. 
   "But when Jeff Burton (who probably would have won this race if not for missing a late stop for tires) talked about how guys have lost respect for each other, and you have to use your brake pedal.....well, it's tough, because we have double-file restarts all the time and multiple green-white-checkered flags now. 
   "We had a 10th-place car and finished third. You hope you can gain spots at the end.  Everybody thinks they can gain spots.
   "But my little brother finished 11th; he had a top-three car.
   "At the end, it's not every man for himself; you are trying to race hard and smart....but ultimately you want to bring it on home for your team.
   "But you don't want to upset other drivers while you're doing it."

   And Johnson's view:
   "That's what the fans want to see.  And if I was in the grandstands, I would love to see a little bit of bump-and-run and watch the guy run him back down and do the same to get by.
     "I have to say I was a little shocked (by Busch's move). I don't know if he slipped and accidentally got into me or that was his intention. 
    "If it was his intention, that's the first time in nine years racing with him I have experienced that...and that definitely changed the way I race with him from that point moving on."
  

  

  Jimmie (48) and Kurt (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

  
   Then Johnson got to the meat of the issue from his standpoint: "I don't want people to think 'Oh, I can knock the 48 out of the way because he's not going to wreck me.'  That's last thing I want people to think. 
    "He didn't wreck me, and I guess I didn't owe him a visit to the fence. So it worked itself out.
    "But inside the car I was livid.  I was so pissed off he got into me I almost lost it at one point.
   "Once I got back going, I thought 'Man, I hope I catch you. I look forward to this if I catch you.'
    "That was my incentive -- not necessarily to pass him. 
    "All I had to do was get to his bumper, and I was going to win the race."
   But then Johnson started calming down.
    "It's amazing what a couple of laps will do to your emotions," Johnson said. "And Chad (Knaus, his crew chief) knew I was red-faced, and he was trying to calm me down: 'Plenty of time. You have five laps. You can get him.'
    "The first lap he got by me, I changed my reference points on the track, I drove a different line, and the car didn't act how I needed it to. I was out of my rhythm, out of sync, furious....and that helped me really focus.
      "My first thought was 'Wreck him.'
      "But I usually get caught up in it
     " So I said 'You can't do that. You'll wreck yourself, you'll look like a fool.'
    "You still have a chance to win the race -- focus and do your job.
     "The opportunity came, I had plenty of time left, and I knew I was better than he was....and I handled it in the correct manner."

  

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    Kurt Busch (R) and crew chief Steve Addington (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)