'Danica Mania' bumps Johnson's title quest at Texas Motor Speedway

Jimmie Johnson's impending fourth straight Sprint Cup Series championship has been overshadowed by another dose of "Danica Mania."

The news of Patrick's imminent foray into NASCAR, as she's expected to work a partial Nationwide Series schedule with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team into her Indy Car calendar the next two years, has once again taken the spotlight off Johnson's quest for title No. 4.

Talk around Texas Motor Speedway has focused more on Patrick than Johnson as the open-wheel lightning rod continues to make headlines.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Patrick's plan to try stock car racing. That includes Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who acknowledged the story this weekend as his track gets ready for Sunday's Dickies 500 Sprint Cup race.

"She is a figure that has grabbed the American attention and I think she'll be really good for NASCAR if she comes here," said Gossage, whose track also hosts an annual IRL date. "At the same time as an IndyCar promoter, I really hate to lose her more over there than I would like to gain her over here because she is an incredibly valuable, marketable icon for IndyCar racing."

Like many, Gossage believes that as much of a marketing and sponsorship catalyst as Patrick may be, a NASCAR move will ultimately be assessed on what she does behind the wheel.

"Performance will be more important in NASCAR than IndyCar racing," he said. "She's going to have to run at the front of the Nationwide field to make an impact on the ticket gate because there are more drivers and Nationwide races are typically paired up with a Cup race.

"At IndyCar races, you have 18-22 drivers and it's the feature event of the weekend, so there's less clutter for her to have to break through, so performance is less critical in the IndyCar stuff."

While the Patrick bluster fills the air around TMS, performance is all that Johnson is focused on as he hones in on his record-breaking title.

Although he needs only to average a 10th-place finish during the final three events of the season, Johnson won't change the strategy that he and crew chief Chad Knaus have basically employed all season.

"Really just treating these races as if they were other races, any other race," Johnson said. "I know it sounds stupid and corny and almost predictable, but it's the truth. I mean, the way we have prepared to this point has led to the points lead that we have and the race wins that we've accumulated over the year, and we need to do more of the same."

It would be easy for Johnson to roll into Texas this weekend and then Phoenix and Homestead the final two races of the schedule with a take-it-easy attitude.

With a 184-point lead over Mark Martin heading into Sunday's race, the championship is virtually his, barring a meltdown of epic proportions.

But that's exactly why Johnson won't coast as the calendar winds down.

"We're showing up to win races," he said. "Finishing 10th isn't as easy as it sounds. It is a tough field of cars out there, and we need to be on our game. So with that in mind, we're going to race as hard as we can these next two races and see what happens for Homestead and see where we're at.

"Then at that point, I think, we can look at more of a specific strategy. But with three to go, we need to race these next two as if we're behind in the points and get every point that we can."

Who's hot

Jimmie Johnson: Winner of this event in 2007, Johnson leads all active drivers with an 8.5 average finish in 12 starts at Texas. He finished second in April and has led 3,300 laps on 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.

Jeff Gordon: Gordon won at Texas in April, his first in 17 career starts at the track, when he led 105 laps. He leads all drivers with a 4.9 average finish on 1.5-mile tracks in 2009. Gordon finished second in this event last year.

Tony Stewart: Finished fourth in his first track start with Stewart-Haas in April. Stewart posted one win and eight top 10s in previous 14 starts at Texas with Joe Gibbs Racing. He has recorded a 10.8 average finish on the 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.

Who's not

Brian Vickers: Has yet to finish in the top 10 in 10 Texas starts. Vickers has posted an average finish of 16.7 in the three starts with the COT. He has led 46 laps on 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.

Joey Logano: Worst 1.5-mile speedway on the schedule based on his 35.0 average finish. Logano finished 30th in April and has posted an average finish of 19.4 on the 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.

A.J. Allmendinger: Has yet to finish in the top 20 in three starts. Allmendinger will drive a Ford for the rest of the season. He's posted a 23.6 average finish on the 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.

Make a note:

• Carl Edwards has three Texas wins, the most all-time.

• Four drivers have entered all 17 Cup races at the Fort Worth track: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin. Of the four, only Labonte has not won.

• Matt Kenseth, who won in 2003, has finished ninth or better in seven of the last eight races.

• Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton each have average finishes of 9.3 or better in the three races with the COT.

• Greg Biffle, who led 93 laps in the spring, is coming off consecutive top fives.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. will pilot the same car that led 41 laps at Kansas before suffering an engine failure.

• Kurt Busch finished eighth in the spring at Texas and has led 240 laps on the 1.5-mile tracks in 2009.