Johnson: we're not out of it

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has yet to register a top 10 finish since the Chase began, and is already 165 points adrift of championship leader Jeff Burton.

But despite languishing in eighth place in the standings, Johnson knows from experience that a big gap can be made up in the closing races.

"If we had finished like we should have in the last three races we would be in the thick of the Chase," he said.

"The last three weeks have given me the confidence to know that we aren't out of this, because we could have won those races.

"In 2004 we left Kansas 243 points behind leader Kurt Busch, and when the chequered flag flew at Homestead we came up eight points short."

Several drivers are predicting that this weekend's race at Talladega could be pivotal in the chase, as the top 10 drivers in the championship will all hope to stay out of the infamous multi-car pile-ups that often occur at the high-banked superspeedway.

"If you need to make up points in a hurry there's no better place for us than Talladega," said Johnson. "We won there last year, and you can gain or lose a lot of points there."