Hamlin, Busch wary of Johnson

CONCORD, N.C. – Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, winners of five of the last seven Sprint Cup Series points races, believe they can continue Joe Gibbs Racing’s recent dominance and win the Coca-Cola 600.

Doing so is going to require beating four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who always races well at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson has long considered this suburban Charlotte track, located just minutes away from Hendrick Motorsports’ home base, his personal playground. He has six career victories here, four of them in NASCAR’s longest race of the season.

Based on how he ran in last week’s All-Star race, the entire field should be frightened by the No. 48. Johnson easily led 56 of the 100 laps and probably would have won if not for a quirky format that required a four-tire pit stop before the final sprint to the finish. Lucky for everyone, Johnson didn’t bring that same Chevrolet back for today.

“It’s a different car, so we’re sitting here thinking we wish we had the other car,” Johnson said after Saturday’s two practice sessions. “The other car seemed to respond a little better to changes.”

That’s enough to give a glimmer of hope to everybody else, particularly Hamlin and Busch, who have hit a stride since NASCAR in March ditched the despised rear wing to return to the more traditional spoiler. Johnson won the final race with the wing, and no Hendrick Motorsports driver has been to Victory Lane since.