Johnson pushing to make up ground

Johnson currently ranks 13th in the points and has gone through particularly tough weekends at Las Vegas where he finished two laps down, and last Sunday at Atlanta where he was 13th as the last car on the lead lap.

Since preseason testing, Johnson and his team have struggled to get their car to handle properly on the intermediate tracks where they have raced for the first time with the new specification of Cup car.

The Hendrick driver believes that despite their current results, they have already found the path to fix the issues that have caused their troubled start to the season.

"We're not excited to be driving our hearts out to finish 13th at Atlanta and then the week before at Vegas was a disaster," Johnson said. "We're not happy to be in that position, but it's racing. Everybody goes through lulls.

"It's uncharacteristic for us to start the season like that. I think it's probably the first one for the No. 48 car, but it is what it is and we feel like in the last few weeks we've identified the problem and the areas where we need to work and we're making good gains.

"So, I'm not happy to be where we're at, but we found a direction and we're going the right way."

Johnson says the main issue for him has been the lack of grip to the rear tyres with the new car, something that had not been a problem in the past with the old specification of Cup car. He thinks their recent problems have forced a rethink of their approach to the car's set up.

"It's really been the balance of the car," he added. "I typically love these race cars. We had a hard time with the old car making them loose enough. With this car, and the way we're thinking and adjusting and setting it up, we can't get the loose out of it. It's been extremely loose.

So it's been a flip for us and maybe some of the areas we've worked in that have been a go to area for speed, maybe that's too aggressive now."

Johnson said his initial plans for the coming week, where no Cup race is scheduled, have been ditched in favor of testing. His team will be testing at three different tracks in an effort to completely dial out the handling issues from his car.

"I had great plans, but since we've been running bad I'll be testing." Johnson said. "So I'll be at the race track testing. We've got test sessions all over: Kentucky, Nashville, and Milwaukee, we're going to be busy. There is nothing more important than driving this race car and performing on Sundays.

"So whatever it takes is whatever we've got to do. My team know that commitment to me and the exciting thing, from a driver's standpoint, is to look into these guys' eyes and see the fire. They've been busting their butts to get these cars ready and get prepared for the season."

Johnson had never been outside the top ten in the Sprint Cup series standings after the first four races of the season.