{"id":7901,"date":"2011-09-15T23:30:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T03:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-09-15T22:01:25","modified_gmt":"2011-09-16T02:01:25","slug":"hold-there-chase-media-day-discussion-stopping-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/hold-there-chase-media-day-discussion-stopping-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold It Right There: Chase Media Day Discussion All About Stopping Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bull\u2019s-Eye On Defending Five-Time Champion<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2011) \u2013 NASCAR\u2019s Chase Media Week ended Thursday, with all 12 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers converging on Chicago\u2019s LaSalle Power Company for the annual Chase Media Day.<\/p>\n

Drivers were ushered from television to radio to print media to a fan Q&A during the day-long session, and a familiar theme dominated each conversation: Who\u2019s going to end five-time champion Jimmie Johnson\u2019s unprecedented reign?
\n<\/p>\n

For his part, the typically cool Johnson sounded confident, despite entering the Chase with just one win \u2013 the fewest of any of his previous eight Chases. Said Johnson, \u201cWe\u2019re in a good spot. Our win total isn\u2019t what it\u2019s been in the past, but we\u2019ve had opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Gordon ranks among the top candidates to unseat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Gordon, a four-time champion (1995, \u201997, \u201998, 2001), won all four of his titles in the pre-Chase era. A runner-up in 2007, Gordon believes this might be his best shot in the Chase. \u201cI\u2019m excited about going to the race track every weekend. When I won my four championships, it was under the old format. You had to be consistent, and yeah, you had to win, but at the end you were trying to beat two or three guys. With this format you\u2019re going up against 11 other guys. But I do think this is the best chance we\u2019ve ever had at winning the championship [in the Chase].\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Harvick, who finished third after battling to the bitter end in last year\u2019s Chase, says the No. 48 team is still the favorite. When asked if Johnson was more vulnerable this year, he said, \u201cI heard the same conversation last year. They\u2019re still the team to beat. They\u2019ve won it so many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurt Busch, who has tangled with Johnson throughout the season, spoke about the rivalry between the two past champions. Said the 2004 champion, \u201cThe Chase is intense. Every year you have your rivalries. I have a sibling rivalry with my brother Kyle, too. But you have to put that stuff away.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Chase newcomer Brad Keselowski might\u2019ve uttered the most sound reason why Johnson\u2019s end might be near. Said Keselowski, simply, \u201cHe is human, right?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bull\u2019s-Eye On Defending Five-Time Champion DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2011) \u2013 NASCAR\u2019s Chase Media Week ended Thursday, with all 12 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers converging on Chicago\u2019s LaSalle Power Company for the annual Chase Media Day. Drivers were ushered from television to radio to print media to a fan Q&A during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[15775],"class_list":["post-7901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}