Kyle Busch may have figured out a sure-fire way to finally end Jimmie Johnson's five-year reign atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

"I mean, nobody's tried locking the dumbass in a Port-O-John yet," Busch said with a wide grin. "I say that in the kindest way possible."

In reality, Busch said over the last five seasons he and other drivers "just haven't been good enough to beat him."

"He's been the best in the sport, and he shows it repeatedly when it comes down to the Chase," Busch said. "We've heard the same story about, 'Oh, Jimmie is struggling and he's not where he's supposed to be right now. It's not his year.' And then he proves us wrong."

Busch, the No. 1 seed for the Chase, is anticipating Johnson will be some of his strongest competition over the next 10 weeks.

But Busch also knows he'll be competing against himself – and his own history.

Despite all his success, Busch hasn't finished better than eighth in the point standings since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. He's made the Chase on four previous occasions but has only finished in the top five once (fifth in 2007).

"It'd be nice to cut that out and have a good clean slate, but certainly there's still some memories there that have bitten us," he said. "We want to make sure we remember those and fix those problems.

"This year, it's about trying to make sure to not pressure the team much and get those guys overly excited about missing something on the car. I think we've done that in the past."