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HOMESTEAD, Fla. —NASCAR chairman Brian France wants Jimmie Johnson to be commended for his four-year run atop NASCAR, and not used as an example of why the championship format might be flawed.
Johnson heads into Sunday's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway poised to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive titles, all under the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format implemented in 2004. His dominance has made it easy for Chase critics to blast the system, which France called unfair.
' 'The only way fair to look at it is not to pick apart the format, but recognize excellence,'' France said Friday. ''I don't think historians could have predicted how good they are. What I wouldn't want to do is take away from the accomplishment of Jimmie and his team. In this format, dominating four straight years is incredibly difficult to do.''
The first year of the Chase was the most competitive, and five drivers entered the finale mathematically eligible to win the title. Kurt Busch beat Johnson by eight points for the championship.
The next season was won by Tony Stewart, and Johnson began his run in 2006. Although the 2007 Chase was a close fight between Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, Johnson has rolled into Homestead the past four seasons well in control.
This year, he needs only to finish 25th or better to beat Hendrick teammate Mark Martin for the historic title.
France said NASCAR has no plans to tweak the format to prevent one driver from dominating.
' 'This isn't a formula exercise in a computer,'' France said, ''to get you some result that you want. This is about sports and live things that happen by the best drivers and the best teams in the world and who performs at a high level.''
France answered questions for nearly 45 minutes, covering everything from the sport's economic difficulties, NASCAR's toughened drug policy and Danica Patrick's potential move into stock cars.
Patrick has met with several race teams about possibly running a limited schedule in one of NASCAR's three series.
' 'She has taken a very hard look at this sport,'' France said. ''She's a very recognizable, accomplished driver in her own right. I would love to see her compete at the highest form of racing in the world. I think she's thinking about it. I don't know how well she'll do.
' 'She has a lot of talent. She will be good for NASCAR, and how well she will perform is like any other driver that comes through the front door and sits in the car. You never know until they d o it. And she probably doesn't know. She's certainly very welcome in NASCAR. I've told her that directly.''
Johnson takes pole at Homestead _ Johnson will go for his fourth straight Cup title from the pole.
Johnson turned a lap of 173.919 mph to win the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He qualified first Friday hours after it was announced he signed a contract extension to drive for Hendrick Motorsports through the 2015 season.
Scott Speed was second. Marcos Ambrose was third. Mark Martin and Tony Stewart round out the top five.
Johnson goes into Sunday's finale with a 108-point lead over Martin and needs only to finish 25th or better to win the title.
