Flooded by good feelings

Losing qualifying a win for Johnson

LOUDON, N.H. - For the second week in a row, rain washed out a NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying session, which, of course, had to be a good thing for Jimmie Johnson.

Last week, Tropical Storm Hanna forced the cancellation of qualifications for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, thus setting the 43-car grid on the basis of owner points. Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports, started third and finished first, winning for the second week in a row and third time in seven races.

So, when rain canceled yesterday's qualifying for tomorrow's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, it begged the question of Johnson: Was it another good omen?

"I forgot all about that," said Johnson, the two-time defending Sprint Cup champ who will start third in the grid behind pole-sitter Kyle Busch, the Chase's No. 1 seed in the No. 18 Toyota, and outside pole-sitter Carl Edwards, in the No. 99 Ford.

Johnson said his father, Gary, called yesterday to report several other omens.

"My mom and dad were out in Southern California," Johnson said. "He went somewhere for lunch and his receipt was 48 bucks. Then he called from the airport and said they were on Flight 148, which was first place for the 48, with that 148 thing. So he had to call me and tell me and that warmed me up more than thinking about the rain.

"So, hopefully, my dad's got that mojo right now and is on to something."

Perhaps there were supernatural forces, besides the forces of nature, already at work in Johnson's favor.

"I'll do some goofy things, too," Johnson acknowledged. "I'll start my microwave at 48 seconds and stop it at the 1. Instead of getting up at 7:30, it'll be 7:48, stuff like that."

Nothing gained

Reacting to Ron Hornaday's admission that the 50-year-old Craftsman Truck Series driver used testosterone, ostensibly to treat a condition that proved to be Graves' disease, or a hyperactive thyroid, Carl Edwards expressed the opinion that Hornaday gained no competitive advantage. "I don't think there's a connection between what he was doing and racing," Edwards said. "I don't think he was out there doing something to try and gain an advantage at the racetrack." NASCAR officials came to a similar conclusion. But how could a driver gain a competitive edge by using steroids? "I think the competitive advantage in this sport is more mechanical with the car," Edwards said. "As a person, I don't know that there's anything other than just practicing and focusing and doing the best you can that helps you. I would think anything that alters your state of mind or anything like that would be bad for you. All you have to do is line up all the drivers and look at our different statures and strengths and sizes and it has no bearing on how you run on the racetrack." . . . Edwards said Wednesday in New York he believed NASCAR should not have penalized him the 10 bonus points he earned for his March 2 victory at Las Vegas. NASCAR took the punitive action after his car failed postrace inspection for missing a cover on its oil tank. Had those bonus points not been deducted, Edwards would be trailing Busch in the Chase by only 20 points. "No matter what all my competitors say, because they have a real bias, that was a complete accident what happened and it was not intentional by any manner," Edwards said. "It's not the reason we won the race. We were the fastest car there in testing, we were the fastest in practice, and we were the fastest in the race. I mean, that's not why we won the race. It's a little bit frustrating, but it doesn't do me any good to worry about it now. It's just too bad that's what they decided to do."

Rookie reminiscence

With Joey Logano set to make his Sprint Cup debut this weekend at NHMS, four-time champion Jeff Gordon recalled his 1992 Cup debut in Atlanta, which coincided with the finale of Richard Petty's farewell tour. "He was swarmed by media and fans, and I was nonexistent and happy about that," Gordon said. Two things about his debut stood out to Gordon. "We used to have second-round qualifying. I was fastest, started 21st, went to the drivers' meeting, and Richard Petty, he hands out this money clip that had his face and hat on it and had 21 on it, with my starting position. I still have it," Gordon said. "The other thing, the important thing I remember, is crashing. I don't remember what lap it was, I just remember backing into the wall pretty hard down in Turns 1 and 2." Gordon indicated that of all the difficult seasons he's endured, his rookie campaign was his toughest, hands down. "It's definitely a very positive thing for our sport, but if there's any downside to it, it's a lot for a young kid to take in and handle," Gordon said. "I don't doubt [Logano's] talent or his ability to drive the racecar one bit. Even though I didn't have as much hype as he's had coming out, I felt like everyone's eyes were on me. I wanted to go out and prove to everybody that I could do it, and I'm sure he's going to go through the same thing." . . . Gordon said when he and Juan Pablo Montoya, then a Formula One driver with Team Williams, swapped rides for a day a few years ago at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Gordon taking a lap in Montoya's F1 car and Montoya touring the Brickyard in Gordon's 3,500-pound stock car, "I would've figured that as soon as he made a lap in my car, he would've said, 'I never want to drive these cars,' " Gordon said. Shortly after that swap session, Gordon said he went to Barcelona to attend an F1 race and was approached by several "lower-tier" F1 teams. "It was a flattering experience, but at the same time it wasn't Ferrari or McLaren," Gordon chuckled. "I think I would have had to seriously sit down and talk to Rick [ Hendrick, Gordon's car owner] if it had been Ferrari or McLaren." Gordon said he has a standing offer from Williams to do some testing, but that there was no time on his schedule. Gordon, though, indicated no desire to change racing stripes, saying, "All that stuff came way too late for me." . . . Motorsports colleague Dominic Fugére of Le Journal de Montreal arrived at NHMS Thursday night, crossing the finish line of an 11-race, 12-week, 14,390-mile trek that began in June at Loudon. Driving a sponsored 34-foot Fleetwood Fiesta recreational vehicle that consumed 1,956 gallons of gasoline (prices ranging from a high of $4.29 to a low of $3.30 per gallon), Fugére drove to all 10 races in the Race to the Chase. He was accompanied on the first five by his 64-year-old father, Denis, 14-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and her friend; then alone with his daughter on the next three races; and by an assortment of friends and relatives on the last three races. Fugére's wanderlust, though, seemed hereditary. On his last leg to Loudon, Fugére was accompanied by his 60-year-old mother, Diane, who had just completed a 532-mile, 38-day pilgrimage across Spain on foot that paralleled Fugére's NASCAR trip. Would he do it again? "I'd rather do it 10 times by RV than walk 532 miles on foot, but I know for a fact that NASCAR is not going to save my soul," he said . . . Best wishes to Ron Meade, longtime NASCAR publicist and an original staff member at NHMS, who was unable to be at the track this weekend because of illness. It marked the first time Meade, NHMS director of special projects, has missed an event weekend in track history.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.