iNSIDE SCOOP: Is It Inevitable?

Watching the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona last weekend, the thought occurred to me that the race for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title just might be over right now.

Of course, that’s poppycock, because there are 18 more races yet to be run, and as we’ve seen, the points can change in a heartbeat.

But, on Saturday night, it was easy enough to consider at least the possibility.

Jimmie Johnson hasn’t won a championship since 2010, and he’s hungry. 

When you’ve won five in a row, you kind of consider it your birthright, or at least something you have right of first refusal on. Johnson got taken out by Tony Stewart in 2011 with a monster stretch run, and lost last year to Brad Keselowski in a rare one-on-one loss.

It’s time to claim No. 6, Johnson feels, and he’s doing what he needs to do to get it done.

He’s better than a race ahead of Clint Bowyer in the points at halfway, which means he could take a weekend off and still have the points lead. He’s more than two races up on fifth-place Dale Earnhardt Jr.

He and Matt Kenseth have each won four times in the first 18 races, and you could make the case that if it weren’t for a gaggle of problems on restarts at Dover, Michigan and Kentucky, he’d have seven victories to Kenseth’s two.

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, each with two, are the only other drivers to win more than once. When the Chase begins in September, Johnson could have a sizeable lead if he continues at this pace.

Whether he does or not, the rest of the field knows that whatever has kept the team from winning the past two years is by and large take care of, and they know that to beat him you have to be near perfect.

New Hampshire this weekend is a good track for the 48, as are Indianapolis and Pocono. There’s a week off in the middle of that stretch, so at least the beatings will stop for around 12 days. 

I don’t think it’s going to be as clear-cut as all that, but based on the fact that the stupid stuff that seems to happen to the 48 at times has all but disappeared, it might be.

Jim Croce used to sing about how you don’t tug on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind. Right now, nobody’s tugging on the cape, but the last two championships have come and gone with someone other than the 48 taking home the trophy.

That counts, you know.