HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin will face off in Sunday's Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Hendrick Motorsports set to claim its ninth series championship.
Johnson, Martin and team owner Rick Hendrick met the media on Thursday during the NASCAR Championship Contenders Press Conference to discuss Sunday's last race of the season. Johnson leads Martin by 108 points in the standings and says he's trying to stay focused on winning a record fourth straight championship.
"I am out of emotion,” Johnson said. “There is no emotion. It’s all business. It’s all about putting down the best lap I can Friday and doing the best job I can Sunday. It’s all business this week.”
Johnson isn't taking anything for granted coming into the weekend after his experience two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway when an early race crash handed him a 38th-place finish and shaved 111 points off his lead.
“Luckily, Texas is still really close in my mind and something I think about,” Johnson said. “Because of what happened in Texas, I’m not letting my guard down, and I think about the ‘what-ifs.’ I’m trying to keep the same mindset and focus I had in Phoenix [during a race win last week]. It’s really that mentality. I’m dying to get to the race track. I’m worrying about qualifying trim and race trim. I’m eager for tomorrow. It will help getting in the car and getting a feel for the track and the tire.”
Although Martin has a big hill to climb in order to overtake his teammate for the title, he still considers his first season as a member of the Hendrick stable a success.
“I didn’t know if I could compete against Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming into this season,” he said. “But I knew that I was going to give it everything, my whole heart. But I didn’t know for a fact that I could measure up to those guys in their prime.”
No matter the outcome of the drivers in the title fight, Hendrick will have a record ninth crown in NASCAR's top series.
“I would have to say this is probably as good as it gets,” said Hendrick, who could be the first team owner in the sport's history to have drivers sweep the top three spots in the point standings. “You know, to have the three cars in the points where they are right now, having the championship as owner going into Homestead already secured, we've won a lot of races, and this has got to be as good as any season we've ever had.”
