Johnson can all but lock up fourth straight Cup at Talledega

Jimmie Johnson leads the Chase by 118 points with just four races remaining. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

KOONTZ LAKE, Indiana -- There's an old legend that Talladega Superspeedway has been cursed because it is built near a Native American burial ground. Since the 2.66-mile track opened in 1969, its races have been grim, dark spectacles where disaster and calamity lurk on nearly every lap.

Case in point was the finish of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in April when Carl Edwards' Ford went airborne while heading for the checkered flag before ripping down the fence as Brad Keselowski went on to win the race. Several spectators were injured from debris as Edwards' car nearly went into the grandstands.

This past week, Talladega Superspeedway officials decided to "lift the curse" by bringing out Creek Medicine Man Robert Thrower, who performed a traditional Native American blessing ceremony today on the start-finish line and asked for balance to be restored to the land.

"Most everything in Native American belief is about keeping balance," Thrower said at the ceremony. "Sometimes people and places can get out of balance and that unbalance may be perceived as something bad. What we did today was bless the track and ask for reconciliation so that balance can be restored. "

With four races left in the Chase and Jimmie Johnson leading the standings by 118 points, maybe NASCAR should have hired a witch doctor so balance could be restored to the standings.

Next Sunday's race on Halloween weekend could be the last, best chance for the rest of the drivers in the Chase to find a way to stop Johnson's quest for a record fourth straight championship. Talladega can often spell disaster for a driver, and it doesn't have to be in the form of getting sucked up into "the Big One" -- the term used for the massive, multi-car pileups that have been a trademark of this track.

A driver can go from first place to 20th in one lap just by getting shuffled out of the draft -- and that is the one thing that could cost Johnson points.

For instance, if Mark Martin were able to win the race and Johnson finish 15th, the Chase would tighten dramatically. But if Johnson survives Talladega's mayhem with a victory, or even a top-five finish, the engravers could start etching his name on the 2009 Sprint Cup trophy.

While drivers don't wish disaster upon Johnson, it might be fair to say that they are hoping a few Halloween gremlins to possess the No. 48 Chevrolet at Talladega.

"That is what everybody in the whole series is thinking right now," said Darien Grubb, the crew chief for Tony Stewart. "He has got that dominant performance going and he is out there pulling away from everybody. You have a good strong run and you still lose points. That is a hard day to swallow.

"You never wish bad luck on any of your competitors or any of your friends or anyone out there, but you have to go out there and perform to the best of your ability and hope to capitalize if they do have a bad day. Just whatever happens, you have to be the one to win the race and get the most points. Not only Talladega, but every track is that way. You never know what is going to happen. We are on the same Hendrick chassis and engine program as (Johnson's team). We really hope we are going to go down there and win the race and see what happens from there."

Come to think of it, with as many creatures that inhabit the Talladega infield; imagine the atmosphere that will exist on Halloween Night -- the night before Sunday's race.

Now, that's downright scary.

As for Johnson, his points lead is impressive, but he still doesn't consider himself a lock for his fourth straight title.

"I'm so tired of answering this question," Johnson snapped after Sunday's second-place finish at Martinsville. "I think you guys can all figure it out. Talladega, there's no telling, and I feel good with the other tracks after that as long as we don't have any (mechanical failures).

"The mechanicals, the stuff we can't control, is the stuff I'm worried about. The stuff we can control, I feel we're going to be great. Four good tracks coming up for us. If we have no issues, I feel that we can race for this championship and things will turn out as we want. But the stuff I can't control, I know it gives everybody something to talk about, but I'm tired of talking about all the what-ifs, and I'd just rather not."

Johnson's teammate and closest pursuer, Mark Martin, believes Talladega will play a key role in determining the outcome of this year's championship.

"It's really going to require Talladega to clean it out and shuffle it; see if it shuffles," Martin said. "I have a feeling that I'm going to have a great Talladega race. I don't know if our competition will or not. But I wrecked on lap 5 last time there. I've got a feeling that this just isn't going to happen this time.

"The law of averages is going to get you sooner or later and I think I've got some good karma going in there so I'm very optimistic. It could be a great equalizer."

Some in the media like to refer to Talladega as a wild card, but that couldn't be a more misused term. A wild card is to a driver's benefit, not detriment.

If anything, Talladega is the joker in NASCAR's deck -- the one card nobody wants to draw.

And Martin would love to find a way to stack the deck against Johnson so that he can make up some serious ground in the Chase.

"To me it's my opportunity to really get back into the running for it," Martin said. "So I plan on going there and driving like I know I am not going to wreck. And last time I went there I was concerned about it because we didn't need to, and we were struggling to get from the bottom of the barrel to the Chase and we got in a wreck on lap 5. I wasn't mad when it was over with. It just happens and that is how I will leave Talladega this time.

"If we wreck, then I am not going to worry about it. And if we win, we might ... we just might. So we are going to go there and just see how it turns out."

Juan Pablo Montoya is a newcomer to NASCAR's championship battle, although he won the CART championship in 1999 and was a contender for the World Championship when he raced in Formula One.

In Montoya's mind, Johnson must appear as the Southern California version of Michael Schumacher -- the Formula One great who dominated the series throughout the late 1990s and into much of this decade.

Montoya knows that Johnson has to have some misfortune in order for another driver to have a chance in the championship.

"The way he's running, you've probably got to win the next five races and he's got to have some bad luck," Montoya said.

The common thread is that unless Johnson has some bad luck; there is little that can keep him from winning a record fourth-straight title. And if that happens, then maybe the Creek Medicine Man will be needed to restore some balance to NASCAR's competition.