Heading into the homestretch

With three races left, Lowe's team is only eight points out of second

In the last 12 races, Jimmie Johnson has finished eighth or better nine times. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

What a race on Sunday...I mean Monday. Team Lowe's was on its game from the moment we unloaded on Friday and it showed. The key for the weekend was focus. We had to battle not only the racetrack and the other competitors, but the elements, too. It's easy to lose your concentration when you're waiting out a rain delay, especially a 22-hour delay. But these guys continue to impress me week in and week out by focusing on the job at hand.

We struggled a little bit with the setup in Atlanta, but still posted a solid qualifying run. We decided to go with a basic setup very similar to Jeff Gordon's. As the race results showed, it worked for both of us. Jimmie was able to drive it from the middle of the field to the front and post his third consecutive top-five finish. Not only that, but we had a great day in the points battle, climbing to within eight of second place.

Phoenix is going to be tough this weekend. The No. 24 tested there recently, so that will help us not walk into the weekend blind, but you just don't know what you have to deal with until you get your driver out there in your race car. Team Lowe's Racing will be taking the same Lowe's Chevy that we won both New Hampshire races with this season. I just hope we can post similar results this weekend.

Jimmie and Jeff have very similar driving styles, so the Lowe's Chevy will unload almost identically to the Dupont Chevy. This will be Jimmie's second trip to Phoenix in a Winston Cup race car, so there will still be a little bit of a learning curve. But fortunately, Phoenix is probably most similar to New Hampshire, and we all know how well Jimmie ran at New Hampshire this year. Hopefully we'll unload strong and be able to take off from there.

Chad Knaus is the crew chief for Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports. His column will appear weekly on SI.com.