Daily NASCAR

Yes, yes, yes, there have been only three races and there are 33 more.

The available evidence, however limited, is that very little has changed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Jimmie Johnson’s already won twice. The surprises of Daytona have predictably faded back to obscurity. Attendance is still down, and, for more than three months, Danica Patrick isn’t going to be around to hype and magnify.

Surprises? What surprises?

Kevin Harvick won the Budweiser Shootout? He did that last year. Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500? He won the previous restrictor-plate race, too. Johnson winning two in a row? Oh, that’s only happened seven times since the Era of Jimmie began in 2002.

Hendrick Motorsports is on top. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is at the bottom of the top. Gibbs and Roush Fenway are in merry, if so far insubstantial, pursuit. Juan Montoya hasn’t won. He and McMurray are squabbling. No one’s seen Teresa Earnhardt. Nothing kills the momentum of Daytona like the apparent apathy of Southern California.

The season has seen one legitimate surprise to date. Richard Childress Racing has improved, throughout and across the board. That’s significant.

Richard shouldn’t ever have tried to run four Chevys in the first place.

It’s time for someone to step up. Gordon tried to close the deal but didn’t have the rubber. Harvick has finished second in the last two races, which would seem more significant if Johnson hadn’t finished first in both.

Tony Stewart! Carl Edwards! Matt Kenseth! Yes, Junior, by gosh! Montoya! Kasey Kahne! Denny Hamlin! Joey Logano! Somebody! Anybody!

Nothing against Johnson and Chad Knaus, but that story’s getting old. I mean, I’ll keep writing it. I’ve got it down. Johnson, Knaus and Rick Hendrick don’t actually say the same things after each victory, but it sure seems that way sometimes.

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Jimmie Johnson isn’t going to win the remaining 33 races. At the moment, it just seems that way.

If this is an average year, Johnson’s going to win six. He’s going to finish second in the Sprint Cup point standings. (That’s actually his average, though the past four years have obscured that a bit.)

Where numbers are concerned, there’s always the statistical quandary. Since Johnson has won the past four titles, does that mean he’s bound to win another? Or does it mean he’s overdue for a fall? Is the law of averages set? Or does it still have some catching up to do?

What we do know, three races into the season, is that whoever’s going to beat Johnson is going to have to obey all the announcers’ clichés. He’s going to have to strap himself in tight, get up on the wheel, turn up the wick and set sail for the front.

That makes it seem so easy.

It’s not. We know that, three races into the season or not. Johnson and the state-of-the-art crew chief, Chad Knaus, are not going to get complacent.

"I don’t know if it’s just our makeup or mindset, what it is," said Johnson after career victory No. 49. "If you get off to a quick start, I think we’re both sitting here, even though we haven’t talked about it, we can’t sit still, complacency is going to kill you.

"We’re looking forward to going to Atlanta with new ideas and new things. … We don’t feel invincible, though. … I feel very good about things. But invincible? Far from that."

Johnson’s just fifth in the points. Guess what? From now through the race scheduled for Sept. 11 in Richmond, Va., he only has to be 12th. Then it starts all over. If Johnson is 12th then - and, by the way, he won’t be that far down the list - he’ll still be the favorite, and that’s the way it’s going to be until someone else comes along to prove Johnson can be beaten.

Three races into the season, it’s encouraging for point leader Kevin Harvick, but it’s no more or no less than business as usual for reigning champion Jimmie Johnson.

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All the fans who are tired of Jimmie Johnson spent Sunday night gnashing teeth again.

What these fans mainly dislike about Johnson is his pesky habit of winning quite often, which is not normally a term of derision in the professional realm of racers.

It’s remarkable how often knowledgeable fans use the terms "normal" and "average" in regard to Johnson. Specifically, they write that he’s "just an average driver" who has won a record four consecutive championships and twice as many races as anyone else over the span of his Sprint Cup career, which began in 2002.

To justify this seemingly absurd description, the fans either credit (a.) Chad Knaus as being a crew chief capable putting your maiden Aunt Bertha in the Chase, or (b.) luck akin to one person winning the Powerball jackpot twice in the same week. Sometimes (a.) is "Knaus is a cheater" and occasionally it’s "NASCAR lets Knaus cheat."

Luck played a role in the 48th victory of Johnson’s illustrious career. This should come as no surprise since Johnson drives No. 48. The stars lined up when he was on pit road and Brad Keselowski’s Dodge chose precisely the right time, from Johnson’s perspective, to spin into the grass on the Auto Club Speedway front straight.

Thus, Johnson took the lead. But he had to hold it, and Kevin Harvick, another Californian racing in California, tracked him down. It was at the point where Harvick caught Johnson that Johnson demonstrated the difference that sets him apart.

Harvick made a mistake, brushing the wall at the point where the bumper of Johnson’s Chevrolet was inches away. Johnson didn’t make a mistake. Hence … Johnson won the race.

Seneca was a Roman dramatist, philosopher and politician, but he was centuries ahead of his time in analyzing NASCAR. Perhaps he hung out at the chariot races. It was Seneca who apparently first said, or wrote, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." It perhaps should be added that he undoubtedly said or wrote it in Latin, since English didn’t exist in its present form and People Actually Spoke Latin!

Preparation meets opportunity a lot with Johnson, though that’s not the way his detractors usually phrase it.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Crew Chiefs

Chad Knaus, crew chief of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet driven by Jimmie Johnson, will join AOL FanHouse for a chat on Wednesday night at 7:30PM ET live from Daytona International Speedway.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to ask questions of Knaus, the four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship crew chief as he prepares the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team for the Feb. 14 season-opening Daytona 500 and a quest for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Cup title.

You can catch a behind-the-scenes look at Knaus, Johnson and the whole team on Tuesday, Feb 9 at 10PM ET/PT in the third installment of HBO Sports’ documentary, “24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona.”

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Joey Logano was named the top rookie in Sprint Cup competition this year. (Photo: Getty Images)

- In the middle of the National Football League games, did you find yourself wondering, "Gee, I wonder who’s winning the race"?

- Quick … name the Most Popular Driver in the Camping World Truck Series. Believe it or not, it’s Ricky Carmichael, the motorcycling legend who competed in 18 races and finished in the top 10 twice.

- Another odd winner was veteran Johnny Sauter, who was Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Truck Series. Sauter has competed in 76 Sprint Cup and 195 Nationwide races, but in Trucks, he was a rookie this year.

- As expected, Joey Logano was named as Sprint Cup’s top rookie, and Justin Allgaier claimed the honor in the Nationwide Series.

- No one’s ever won four straight championships before in NASCAR’s top series, but no team has won four straight in any major American professional sport since the New York Islanders won their fourth straight Stanley Cup in 1983.

- With Sprint Cup’s award ceremonies moved from New York to Las Vegas this year, the so-called Champion’s Week is being held in two states, beginning in Southern California and then migrating to Vegas.

- As a practical matter, the economy seems more troubling this year than last for NASCAR teams. The future of several teams and drivers hangs in the balance as owners search for sponsorship.

- Rick Hendrick has driver Jimmie Johnson signed through 2015 and sponsor Lowe’s nailed down through 2013, but no long-term agreement with crew chief Chad Knaus has yet been finalized. Knaus may be reluctant to commit himself to remaining as a crew chief for an extended period.

- What is now Richard Petty Motorsports - a team with extremely extensive roots and a diverse history - has more off-season questions to answer than any other team. Much has been discussed. Little has been finalized.

- The season ended with feuds (Tony Stewart-Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin-Brad Keselowski) abounding. It’s a good time for a cooling-off period.

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