Is Jimmie Johnson Really Slumping? We'll Know After Atlanta

Jimmie Johnson has tumbled to ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, which has made some people wonder if he's in a slump.

Ryan Newman even told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Johnson's team is the weakest it's been in the last five years or so.

So is Johnson really slumping?

We think not, and that it's more a case that Johnson is running well but has had some bad finishes. And NASCAR's season-long driver rating has backed that up (see last week's entry).

But Atlanta will help determine which side of the debate is correct, since Johnson heads to the 1.5-mile oval as the No. 1 driver in the pre-race rating.

Johnson is ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart rounding out the top five.

Among the big names who aren't impressive at Atlanta: Jamie McMurray, who is 13th in points and trying to catch Clint Bowyer for the final Chase spot, is only 20th in driver rating.

Bowyer is 16th and Mark Martin is 14th.

Emory Healthcare 500 Pre-Race
For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track.
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, September 5, 2010

Driver Rating
Formula combining the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.
Number of Races: 11

Rank	Car	Driver      Avg Finish	High	AVG DRIVER RATING
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	9.1	143.2	109.5
2	24	Jeff Gordon	10.2	125.0	101.8
3	99	Carl Edwards	16.4	142.3	99.4
4	88	D Earnhardt Jr.	11.8	131.6	98.7
5	14	Tony Stewart	10.5	143.9	98.7
6	2	Kurt Busch	17.7	150.0	97.0
7	17	Matt Kenseth	8.9	130.5	96.5
8	16	Greg Biffle	14.5	135.1	95.0
9	11	Denny Hamlin	15.9	121.1	94.5
10	9	Kasey Kahne	18.2	138.1	93.3
11	18	Kyle Busch	16.1	143.9	88.7
12	56	M Truex Jr.	23.4	119.0	87.6
13	42	Juan Montoya	18.3	118.0	86.8
14	5	Mark Martin	19.2	121.1	85.7
15	31	Jeff Burton	15.1	101.6	84.9
16	33	Clint Bowyer	16.4	115.9	81.8
17	29	Kevin Harvick	17.1	116.5	81.1
18	83	Brian Vickers	14.9	108.9	80.5
19	12	Brad Keselowski	36.0	76.5	76.5
20	1	Jamie McMurray	21.0	98.6	71.6
21	39	Ryan Newman	20.3	88.7	71.0
22	43	AJ Allmendinger	14.6	99.9	69.2
23	19	Elliott Sadler	20.9	95.8	65.3
24	07	Casey Mears	19.9	86.6	65.2
25	43	Reed Sorenson	24.7	101.4	64.2
26	00	David Reutimann	27.3	95.5	61.0
27	66	Scott Riggs	26.0	101.5	61.0
28	71	Bobby Labonte	27.1	86.2	60.6
29	7	Robby Gordon	24.1	85.5	60.6
30	98	Paul Menard	20.4	88.7	60.6
31	38	David Gilliland	26.9	71.8	59.6
32	12	David Stremme	26.8	84.0	59.4
33	55	Michael Waltrip	22.9	93.6	58.0
34	47	Marcos Ambrose	25.3	84.9	57.6
35	8	Aric Almirola	21.0	57.4	57.4
36	11	Jason Leffler	25.0	57.0	57.0
37	96	J.J. Yeley	25.0	89.6	56.7
38	6	David Ragan	26.6	83.5	55.1
39	36	Mike Bliss	26.6	87.4	54.4
40	87	Joe Nemechek	29.9	87.7	52.3
41	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	29.8	62.7	51.8
42	20	Joey Logano	29.0	68.9	50.7
43	66	Dave Blaney	31.5	102.7	49.1
44	82	Scott Speed	25.8	73.2	48.9
45	66	Jeff Green	28.2	61.7	48.7
46	21	Bill Elliott	28.5	60.7	43.8
47	78	Regan Smith	27.3	54.0	41.6
48	34	Travis Kvapil	32.0	59.2	40.8
49	34	John Andretti	29.3	46.1	39.3
50	70	Tony Raines	31.8	49.2	38.9
51	4	Mike Wallace	40.0	37.0	37.0
52	70	Johnny Sauter	30.5	43.5	36.4
53	61	Kevin Lepage	37.5	40.0	33.9
54	10	P Carpentier	35.0	33.6	33.6
55	26	Boris Said	32.0	32.5	32.5
56	37	Kevin Conway	31.0	31.5	31.5
57	13	Max Papis	37.0	34.2	31.2
58	45	Chad McCumbee	36.0	29.3	29.3
59	55	Mi McDowell	42.0	26.4	26.4
60	4	Todd Bodine	42.0	23.8	23.8