Should Johnson have been "irked" not to be the favorite to win the championship this year?

May be...

I don't know about Jimmie, but I'm irked..
I'm a Jr fan, and I know he'll have to beat Jimmie this year..
I don't much care what the odds are favoring a four in a row...
They change after three in a row, but NOT FOR ANY SINGLE YEAR..

Yeah, I was surprised about that. I thought Jimmie would be the favorite for sure. But I don't really think it matters so much. Predictions aren't always right. Carl said he was the favorite for the '06 title, but he didn't even make the chase. I believe Jeff Gordon was the favorite for the '08 title, but he didn't even win a race. And take a look at last year's Super Bowl. It seemed like everyone was so sure that the Patriots would win. The Boston Globe was already offering a 19-0 book for pre-sale. Yet the Giants won instead.

Jimmie could very well win the championship this year. Not being the favorite might make Jimmie drive harder to impress his critics, which could be a good thing for him.

I think that you have got to give respect where respect has been earned, they are a awesome group and they have there stuff together so to speak. Why do you think almost everyone wants to run a Hendrick motor. I mean look at old 50 year old Martin trying to make a come back. There's lots of scenario's so to speak that happens in the great sport of Nascar, that's what makes it so exciting! You can't judge a book by it's cover, you've got to open the book and see what's happening.

Jimmie Johnson is the biggest cheater and fake in all of NASCAR I hope he never wins another race.

Not really. I think they like "being under the radar", so to speak. It's hard to imagine why he continually seems to be the 2nd or 3rd favorite to win by the media and fans. I think all the other owners and teams know who they have to beat to win the championship. The 48 team even keeps tweaking their pit crew, that should send a message that they are not just riding the wave of their previous success. Carl, Kyle, Jeff and many others are surely capable of winning it if everything falls just right but you start to get the feeling that unless something horrible happens to the 48 team they will be right in the thick of things when they drop the green flag at Homestead once again. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is that they have never finished worse than 5th in the final standings.
4's FINE N 09!!!!

I think he should be the favorite, but maybe they were going with the odds on winning 4 in a row when they figured it. I'm sort of surprised that they stopped kissing Jr's butt long enough to get on Carl's. The media has some sort of freak love affair with the pretty boys instead of the favorites as I see it.

Jimmie has good reasoning with the "you have to beat the best to be the best" comment.I actually think that will give that team a lot of reason to prove them wrong.They strive on that stuff.

No, that's the way he likes it. Less pressure.

But, he does have a point.

Hmmmm...tough call. I would have picked him to be the favorite. I would have picked anyone over Carl. LOL I still think Jimmie can do it though I hope he doesn't.

As the "back to back to back" champ, I too was surprised that the #48 was not the favoite to win it again instead of Carl Edwards............

His response..........."'I heard that at (the preseason Fan Fest) at Daytona that they ranked him as the favorite to win, and I'm like, `Uh, really? I just won three of these things,''' Johnson said. ``I can't believe I wouldn't be.''

Where I come from, To be the champ, you gotta beat the champ"

Your thoughts!?!?!

Carl would've been my favorite too. He won more races than JJ last year. He ran better than JJ in the chase but had a couples stumbles, one of which WAS his fault. But making predictions isn't fun for me. I'm content to sit back and watch it all unfold. If it was predictable, it wouldn't be exciting.

No, I don't think he should be upset. I think that would be a little arrogant.

Johnson has had a lot of good luck, too. Also, he started off a little slow last year, while Edwards was consistent all year.

I think maybe its just because it would be so hard to win four straight, no one's done that before. If I were Johnson, I would be relieved, that's a lot of pressure to put on someone.jetsend download