Mammoth Blog

- Never mind that Jimmie Johnson is third in the Sprint Cup standings.

The three-time defending series champion admitted Friday that his No. 48 Chevrolet team has made some uncharacteristic mistakes this season.

"Unlike other years, we've made more mistakes as a team," Johnson said. "Like last week (at Sonoma), I got nailed for speeding on pit road. I've made plenty of mistakes like that this year. I've crashed a couple of cars that I shouldn't have. Pit stops are clearly in our rhythm now, but we've had a couple of hiccups along the way."

Given that Johnson clearly feels there's room for improvement, should Cup points leader Tony Stewart be worried?

In his first year as an owner/driver with Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart sees it from the opposite perspective.

"I look at it this way," he said. "How scary is it for them that a new team is sitting here leading the points? That's no disrespect to them, but we feel like we've got room to gain each week, too. . .

"Obviously, history shows that you can never count Jimmie and that team out. I'm not sure that it scares all of us -- but it doesn't scare us, because we never underestimated him to begin with." source>>>