Johnson: Gordon is a title threat

Jimmie Johnson believes his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jeff Gordon is a serious championship threat, following Gordon's third win of the season in the last round at Atlanta.

Four-time series champion Gordon has become a stronger contender in the last few weeks, scoring consistent finishes and securing a spot in the Chase two weeks ago by virtue of his tally of wins, which is second only to Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch thus far during the year.

Johnson's team has seen a reshuffle ahead of this season after long-time crew chief Steve Letarte was moved to work alongside team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr, while Alan Gustafson, who previously worked with Mark Martin at Hendrick when he finished runner-up in the 2009 Chase, is now calling the shots on Gordon's #24 team.

Johnson believes Gordon and his new group have good chemistry, and he continues to see the spark in his team-mate, who's already into his 19th season at Cup level and still searching for a fifth Cup title.

"I think Jeff is a very serious threat for the championship," Johnson said. "I've been very impressed with the relationship that he and Alan have put together and the communication between those two.

"Each year we see Jeff and his excitement to continue and excitement to race and win and compete for championships. He still has that same excitement.

"This year, I think the difference has been the connection with he and Alan. They've done a great job and I feel that he is going to be a very serious threat for the championship."

Despite recognising Gordon's potential in the Chase, Johnson does not necessarily believe that his team-mate's current greater momentum is a pointer of what may happen early in the play-off. Besides Gordon's win earlier this week, he has also led the most laps in the last two races while Johnson still has only one win to his name this season.

"Momentum doesn't hurt going into the Chase; but, we've been without momentum [and other times] we've had momentum," said Johnson. "Another way to look at it is we've had momentum working against us and momentum working for us and we've been able to win [the title] either way.

"I've said all along, these final 10 races, it's its own world. When everything re-racks and the point spread is so small between first and 12th, it changes things and it's a whole new season. It's a clean sheet of paper and off you go."

Gordon has scored the most points of all four Hendrick drivers over the past six weeks, second only to Penske's Brad Keselowski among the whole field.

Bowyer worried about RCR future

Clint Bowyer might not return to Richard Childress Racing in 2012, and admits it would be "heartbreaking" to leave the team at the end of the season.

Bowyer, a Chase contender in three out of his five full seasons in the Sprint Cup Series, has yet to secure a deal for next year despite indicating a few weeks ago that a new multi-year agreement with his team was close to being set in stone. However, talks over the specifics of the deal have not progressed as expected and the continuity of their relationship looks now uncertain.

His boss Richard Childress left the door open to Bowyer driving elsewhere next season in an interview with America's Sirius XM NASCAR Radio this week while Bowyer, speaking at Richmond ahead of the final race of the regular season, admitted he is currently under pressure to get his future sorted.

The 32-year-old is currently 14th in the points standings and following an incident at the previous race in Atlanta, he has all but conceded his Chase hopes are over, although mathematically he is still in with a chance.

"There's a lot of pressure," said Bowyer. "Unfortunately it all comes together at once. It would have been nice to have the future out of the way three months ago, but it's just not the case. It's tough in today's world and you've got to be tough as well. You've just got to get through it and it is what it is.

"I am glad in a way it was a breath of fresh air last week because obviously that Chase is important to me. Going to the banquet and being a part of Champion's Week is important to me. I've been there. It's exciting and you want to be a part of it. But it isn't the end of the world. There's a lot of future left in me. I believe in this sport and hopefully it's right."

Bowyer has been a fixture at RCR since he first competed in NASCAR's second-tier series in 2004, claiming a Nationwide Series title and four Cup wins since then, and finishing a career-high third in the standings in only his second full season at NASCAR's top level in 2007.

He admits it would be sad to leave the outfit that gave him the biggest break of his racing career, but he hinted that it is time to make the decision to move on eventually.

"Oh, it would be heartbreaking; a tough deal," he said when asked about possibly leaving RCR. "That's family to me and it means a lot to me. I don't forget where I was standing when I got a phone call to get me this opportunity and change my life. It would be big. But the world goes on.

"You have to make decisions and those are performance-driven, business-driven, life, family, everything. It's just a lot of decisions you go through and everybody goes through those in life. Us racers are no different."

Last year Bowyer won twice during the Chase, starting the play-off with a victory at Loudon despite his car failing a post-race inspection and costing him a chance to be in closer contention for the title. This year he has yet to score his first win.

Reutimann on pole at Richmond

David Reutimann claimed his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup career pole in qualifying for Saturday's race at Richmond.

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver knocked Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray from provisional pole with a best time of 21.196 seconds at an average speed of 127.383 mph. Reutimann had been among the top 10 in the first practice, then was not one of the top runners in the final session of the day, but despite that his benchmark went unbeaten through to the end of qualifying.

"This is our first pole here and the first pole in a while for us," said Reutimann. "We went from getting a couple a year to it being a little while. It's been a dry spell for us so it feels good. Things haven't gone quite the way we wanted them to this year, but we're working hard to get things turned around and I think what you're seeing is a direct result of some of the stuff that we're doing different."

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson - one of many running commemorative paint schemes to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks - showed great consistency in final practice and secured a spot on the second row of the grid beside his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Mark Martin. Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, who still has an outside chance of entering title contention, was fifth and among the fastest in both practice sessions.

In a good session for RCR, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick were sixth and seventh ahead of Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger (who is 13th in the points so on the cusp of a potential Chase spot) and Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya.

Joe Gibbs Racing's cars, which have won the past five races at Richmond, were 13th with Kyle Busch, 16th with Joey Logano while Denny Hamlin only 28th as he hopes to hang on to the final wildcard spot for the Chase.

Tony Stewart, 10th in the points entering the final race of the regular season, was 22nd fastest and needs only an 18th-place finish to secure his place in the play-off. Dale Earnhardt Jr, who needs a 20th place on Saturday night to return to Chase contention, will start from 27th.

"I don't remember what it's like to qualify in the top four here," said Stewart. "It's definitely a lot harder. In the spring race here we qualified in the back and got a lap down early and never could recover from it. But I think we've got a car that runs well... Hopefully, we'll get a lot of long, green-flag runs tomorrow night."

David Stremme was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 26th while Mike Skinner, Erik Darnell and TJ Bell failed to qualify.

Gordon feeling in best shape ever

Jeff Gordon believes to be in the best shape ever ahead of the Chase for the championship, following his third win of the season at Atlanta.

The four-time Sprint Cup series champion dominated for most of the running last Tuesday in the rain-delayed event but had to fend off a charging Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps, finally keeping him at bay to secure three more bonus points towards his Chase seeding.

Gordon has been in the playoff for the past six years but has not been in close contention for the title since 2007, when he was the main opponent of his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate. Back then he won six races, four of them during the regular season, finally coming second to Johnson in the standings.

The 40-year-old believes that his third victory of the season proves he's got what it takes to really be in the thick of the fight for an elusive fifth Sprint Cup series title.

Thus far, he has also led more laps than Johnson this year, proving his outright speed is up there with the current best.

"We've proven that we can win," said Gordon. "I think you have to win to be able to win the championship and you also have to send a message to your competitors that they know you can win.

"And also the laps led. To me it's like getting top 5s is important because if you can get top 5s it shows you can win.

"If you get enough top 5s, usually you'll find yourself into Victory Lane. The same thing with leading laps. You lead enough laps, you're probably going to find yourself getting to Victory Lane.

"And so I think those two things are very significant right now the laps led and the fact that we're pulling off the wins when we're strong."

Gordon claimed his 85th Cup career victory on Tuesday at Atlanta and is now in sole possession of third in the all-time winners list behind legends Richard Petty and David Pearson. His three wins this year are the most he's ever claimed during a year since 2007, all coming at very different tracks: Phoenix, Pocono and Atlanta.

Earlier this year speaking to AUTOSPORT Gordon wasn't as confident of his team having championship-calibre form, specially on intermediate tracks such as Atlanta where it struggled early on. His win this week thus comes as a major boost, as those are the tracks that prevail during the last ten weeks of the season.

The Hendrick driver is optimistic ahead of the playoff and believes he's never been in such good shape entering the Chase since it was implemented in 2004.

"I mean, this is to me the strongest that - I mean '07 we were strong, but you know the difference in '07 was I dreaded going to Phoenix in '07," said Gordon.

"And I know that the track has changed you know since earlier this year where we won there. But I'm looking forward to going to Phoenix, because [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] is, he's really good there. And they build great race cars for that type of racetrack.

"We've had to work really hard this year at the mile-and-a-half stuff. That's what I love. Right now our momentum has shifted to make us better at those tracks. They're going to be significant in The Chase.

"I feel like when you go into the debriefs and you're talking to the team in the meetings and you look at how we're planning, you know, how we're improving and the areas that we can get better in and how we're addressing it, to me this is the best that we've been since I can remember. Certainly since The Chase has started."

Gordon's last Cup title came in 2001, before the playoff format came into force. Since then, Gordon's best championship result has been his runner up spot in 2007.

Gordon beats Johnson in epic finish

Jeff Gordon held off reigning champion Jimmie Johnson to claim his 85th Sprint Cup Series career victory in a rain-delayed event at Atlanta.

The four-time champion is now in sole possession of third place in the all-time winners list, with only legends Richard Petty and David Pearson ahead of him, thanks to his third victory of the season.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver was the class of the field all day but faced tough opposition from his team-mate Johnson who put the pressure on during the closing laps as both struggled for grip with worn tyres following a long green-flag run.

Gordon led 146 out of the 325 scheduled laps and seemed to have the race under control following the final round of pitstops. However his team-mate seemed to be able to manage his last set of tyres slightly better in the end and as Gordon's #24 Chevrolet started sliding around, Johnson rapidly closed in, looking for a way past.

Gordon put up a fight and made the most out of the grip still available to him. As the lap-count faded Johnson also started sliding and suddenly both seemed to be racing as if on dirt, as their cars drifted sideways out of the corners at more than 160mph.

Johnson experimented with different lines around the crucial final corner but his more experienced team-mate didn't put a foot wrong under pressure, finally pulling out a victory that nobody expected to be quite as dramatic.

Gordon's victory not only allowed him to defeat the series' benchmark right before the playoff, but also to do so at a track that could prove a measuring stick for the Chase, where intermediate venues like Atlanta prevail.

The reigning champion came close to pulling off the ultimate fightback as he struggled for balance early on and got close to dropping a lap down to Gordon before a timely caution and further set up adjustments brought his car to life.

Tony Stewart, in need of a solid result, finished a strong third which takes the pressure off his his team one week ahead of the cut for the final ten championship races. Behind him Penske's Kurt Busch was fourth and clinched a spot in the Chase as did his team-mate Brad Keselowski with a sixth-place finish.

Stewart's team-mate Ryan Newman was 20th at the flag, just the result he needed to secure a place in the championship battle as well.

Dale Earnhardt Jr continues to rank 10th in the standings following a lackluster showing, finishing only 19th ahead of Newman. However his closest challenger for a top-ten spot, Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, ended up against the barrier following contact with Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya, thus easing the pressure on the Hendrick driver in the point standings.

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards looked potential contenders for victory. Kenseth in particular led the race for 63 laps. Although his pitstops once again proved the class of the field, his team didn't fare as well in the decisive four-tyre changes.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin was eighth and continues to hold on to the final wildcard entry, while his team-mate Kyle Busch who led early on and was leading the points entering Tuesday's race, suffered with his car's balance after hitting the barrier in the first half of the race.

The race had to be interrupted twice due to rain, including a 24-minute red-flag period but eventually the scheduled distance was completed after 4 hours of running.

Atlanta race postponed to Tuesday

Rain has forced NASCAR officials to postpone round 26 of the Sprint Cup Series at Atlanta until Tuesday morning.

Following two days of dry weather at the venue, fears of Tropical Storm Lee bringing proceedings to a halt on race day materialised a few hours before the event. Despite the rain stopping momentarily and officials hoping to roll the cars on the track shortly before 10pm, their hopes were shortlived as rain returned with a vengeance around 9:20pm.

Heavy rain and severe weather is expected for Monday, which is Labour Day holiday in the US, and thus officials have rescheduled the race for Tuesday at 11am Eastern Time, although forecasts show more than 50 per cent chance of rain.

The race is the penultimate event ahead of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Series, with six spots still up for grabs into the championship play-off.

Kahne secures Atlanta pole

Kasey Kahne claimed his second pole position of the season in qualifying for Sunday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta, the penultimate round ahead of the Chase.

The Red Bull Racing driver beat the previous benchmark of the session set by Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch at the wheel of his #4 Toyota with a lap of 29.775 seconds at an average speed of 186.196 mph.

Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, who needs a strong result on Sunday in order to remain in the hunt for a Chase spot, got closest to Kahne's time, finishing less than half a tenth of a second adrift to lock out a front row spot.

Although Kahne is not completely out of the Chase picture, he currently looks unlikely to be among the title contenders this season. But his pole provides a much needed boost for his squad, which is still trying to secure funding for next year as Red Bull is set to pull the plug on its backing at the end of the season.

"I was surprised a couple of guys didn't beat me," said Kahne. "Clint came really close, but other than that nobody was really too close, I guess. Brian Vickers is fourth so we have a couple of cars in the top two rows for tomorrow night, so it's exciting, it's good.

"We definitely need to win... We need to still work on the car a little bit and throw something at it for tomorrow night, but I think we're close. Can we win? Anybody can in this deal these days... If we can win I think we still have a shot at the Chase."

Points leader Busch - who had a brush with the Turn 4 wall in practice earlier in the day - ended up third ahead of Kahne's team-mate Vickers, while Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five after holding on to provisional pole for a while. Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards were sixth and seventh, with Stewart Haas' Ryan Newman and Penske's Kurt Busch completing the top 10.

Brad Keselowski, who was fastest in the first practice on Friday, was 14th fastest in qualifying after avoiding an engine change following damage to the oil-pan on his car's engine during practice. He will start from the seventh row of the grid beside JGR's Denny Hamlin, the final man holding a provisional wildcard Chase spot.

Tony Stewart, who won the last Cup race held at Atlanta a year ago, showed great consistency during long runs in the final practice and will see the green flag wave from 20th on the grid. He is hoping for a solid result to remain among the top 10 in the points with the play-off looming.

Michael McDowell was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 28th, while Tony Raines, David Stremme, Geoffrey Bodine and TJ Bell failed to make the field.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 29.775s 2. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet 29.819s + 0.044s 3. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 29.832s + 0.057s 4. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 29.843s + 0.068s 5. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 29.849s + 0.074s 6. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 29.853s + 0.078s 7. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 29.877s + 0.102s 8. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 29.880s + 0.105s 9. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet 29.889s + 0.114s 10. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge 29.915s + 0.140s 11. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford 29.921s + 0.146s 12. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 29.939s + 0.164s 13. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 29.947s + 0.172s 14. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 29.949s + 0.174s 15. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 29.958s + 0.183s 16. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota 30.000s + 0.225s 17. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 30.055s + 0.280s 18. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 30.086s + 0.311s 19. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford 30.128s + 0.353s 20. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet 30.147s + 0.372s 21. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 30.163s + 0.388s 22. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 30.183s + 0.408s 23. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 30.230s + 0.455s 24. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 30.232s + 0.457s 25. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 30.239s + 0.464s 26. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 30.270s + 0.495s 27. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 30.275s + 0.500s 28. Michael McDowell HP Toyota 30.291s + 0.516s 29. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 30.312s + 0.537s 30. Scott Speed Whitney Chevrolet 30.319s + 0.544s 31. JJ Yeley Front Row Ford 30.378s + 0.603s 32. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet 30.388s + 0.613s 33. Robby Gordon Gordon Dodge 30.502s + 0.727s 34. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 30.513s + 0.738s 35. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 30.556s + 0.781s 36. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 30.673s + 0.898s 37. Landon Cassill Phoenix Chevrolet 30.702s + 0.927s 38. Casey Mears Germain Toyota 30.757s + 0.982s 39. Mike Skinner Germain Toyota 30.798s + 1.023s 40. Mike Bliss FAS Lane Ford 30.819s + 1.044s 41. Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 30.822s + 1.047s 42. Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet 31.060s + 1.285s 43. David Starr Leavine Ford 30.845s + 1.070s Did not qualify: Tony Raines Front Row Ford 30.870s + 1.095s David Stremme Inception Chevrolet 30.883s + 1.108s Geoffrey Bodine Baldwin Chevrolet 31.014s + 1.239s TJ Bell LTD Chevrolet 31.034s + 1.259s