Now that Talladega is safely in his rearview mirror, Jimmie Johnson enters the final six races of NASCAR's Chase for the Championship ahead of schedule.

Although Johnson has won the past two Sprint Cup championships, this is the first time the Californian has led the standings coming out of Talladega - and entering a stretch of races he has dominated.

"This track was the track I feared most," Johnson said after twice avoiding the "Big One" at Talladega and finishing ninth while many of his Chase rivals experienced misfortune.

Before Sunday's race, Johnson said the high-banked, 2.66-mile Talladega tri-oval shouldn't be part of the Chase given its history of wild wrecks and strange finishes. "I would prefer it not to be a Chase race," Johnson said. "I would like to have races where we can control the outcome. I love Talladega. I think the spring race is a blast. I like Daytona as well.

"But when you get in the Chase like this, it's tough to not have that control. And this is coming from a competitor's standpoint, obviously. If it was up to a driver and his point of view on it, I'd get rid of it."

Like several other Chasers, Johnson started the Talladega race as if driving on eggshells.

Given the nature of the high-banked, restrictor-plate beast, the risk-reward equation is out of whack for title contenders at Talladega. The chances are better that they'll lose ground through an accident not of their making than gain points with a high finish.

Johnson knew the big accident that Talladega is famed for was coming. But he didn't know when, and he didn't want to be in harm's way when it did.

Another driver following the same strategy was Carl Edwards, who hung near the end of the pack for most of the race.

Strangely, Edwards changed strategies late in the race, made a run for the lead and then with 16 laps to go triggered an accident that wiped out 11 cars - including six Chasers and all three of the Roush Fenway Racing cars (Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth).

After weaving through the carnage without making contact with another car, Johnson sat in his Chevy during the ensuing red-flag stop and contemplated his late-race strategy.

He could try to charge forward for the lead and expand his edge in the points race, or he could hang back over the final 17 laps and consolidate the lead he already had in the standings.

Johnson opted for the conservative approach.

"I was afraid the horseshoe was going to fall out at some point," Johnson reasoned. "I missed a lot of wrecks. It was a very emotional day, draining across the board."

Now, with six races remaining, Johnson holds a healthy lead of 72 points over Edwards as NASCAR's playoffs enter a stretch of intermediate tracks where the two-time and reigning champion has had great success.

Fifteen of Johnson's 38 career wins — including five wins in the past two Chases — have come on the tracks hosting the playoff's next five races.

This weekend will be special for Johnson in that he'll be making his 250th Sprint Cup start at one of his favorite tracks - Lowe's Motor Speedway, outside Charlotte, N.C.

Johnson has made 14 previous starts on the 1.5-mile Lowe's oval, with five wins, eight top-three finishes and 11 top-10s.

Beyond Charlotte, the schedule takes the Chase to the half-mile oval at Martinsville, Va. (where Johnson has four wins, including the past two Chase races at the track), Atlanta (three wins), Texas (one) and Phoenix (two).

Johnson also won Chase races at Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix last year — as part of his modern-era-record-equaling, four-race winning streak — and placed second at all three tracks in the 2006 Chase.

Going into his 250th start, Johnson has won 15.3 percent of his starts, finished in the top five in 39.4 percent and finished in the top 10 in 61 percent of them.

"Given our position in the standings and our history at these tracks, I feel pretty good," said Johnson of his quest to join Cale Yarborough as only the second driver in NASCAR history to win three straight premier championships.

Bill Center covers motorsports for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Contact him at bill.center@uniontrib.com.

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