Johnson not ruling anyone out yet

Johnson started the Chase leading with a ten-point gap to Jeff Gordon but has fallen down to third place after a difficult race at Dover, although he is only four points off from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and six ahead of Kyle Busch.

A year ago, two races into the Chase, Johnson had dropped to eighth in the Chase after a bad race at New Hampshire and not a very good one either at Dover. He was then 136 points behind the lead, but still came through to win his first Nextel Cup title.

"Obviously, with the crazy weekend we had (at Dover) and being four points out of the lead after what we went through, is exciting for us," says Johnson.

"I think [the Chase] is going to stay close for a long time. Once we get down to two races to go, there might be more of a clear favorite. But if you look at where Denny (Hamlin) is in 12th, granted 11 guys could have a bad day, but he's not that far out.

"I was a lot further out and came back over five or six races or whatever it was last year. So, I'm not counting anyone out. I do think that it's tougher this year. You have two more cars in the mix. It's a much more competitive Chase."

Kansas is one of only four tracks of the Chase where he has not won a race before. Last year, he led the most laps at the 1.5-mile oval but had to settle for a 14th place finish after a tyre problem. However, he remains upbeat about his chances for this weekend.

"I think Kansas is one of our better tracks," Johnson added. "We ran really, really well there last year. Unfortunately, we had a tyre problem, which seems to have happened to us here lately. That kept us from having the finish that we wanted, but we led a lot. I think we led the most laps, so we're excited."

In five races at Kansas, Johnson has scored a pole position and a sixth place two years ago as his best results.