The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When he wrecked at Kansas Speedway, everyone thought Jimmie Johnson's title hopes were over - including Johnson.

A classy, personable driver, Johnson expressed his frustration and disappointment with an unusual silence, leaving the track that day without comment.

He took 24 hours to regroup, then set his sights on rebounding.

One month later, Johnson is back in the chase for his first Nextel Cup title because of a stunning streak of three consecutive victories. Johnson has rocketed eight spots in the standings and now trails points leader Kurt Busch by only 59 points.

With three races to go and the championship well within his grasp, Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team are not headed into overdrive in a hot pursuit of Busch.

Instead, they're staying in the same low-key mode they went into after Kansas.

"The best thing this team can do is to act and feel like we did three weeks ago, (like) we don't have a shot at it and we just need to go out there and win races," Johnson said. "That's worked for us. When we play offense, we do a lot better job than when we play defense.

"That's the way we're going to finish out the year. We're going to try not to say the 'c' word too many times."

Who would blame Johnson for refusing to look too far ahead?

He was the most dominant driver for the first seven months of the season, and had NASCAR not changed its points system this year, Johnson probably would have run away with the title. Armed with a cushy 232-point lead following his Aug. 1 win at Pocono, Johnson and his team would have been able to sit back in cruise control and conservatively try to protect the lead.

That's the formula drivers have used in the past, and that's how Matt Kenseth won his title last year. But it made for an uneventful championship race, and NASCAR changed the rules to add a little excitement.

Under the new system, the slate is wiped clean after 26 races and the eligible drivers are separated by five-point increments. So Johnson and his team played around with setups and strategy and ended up losing the big lead before the 10-race playoffs began.

He started the playoffs in second place, trailing teammate Jeff Gordon by five points.

Then disaster struck.

A 37th-place finish at Talladega and a 32nd at Kansas dropped Johnson to ninth in the standings, 247 points behind Busch.

Of course he was angry - maybe even devastated - but Johnson refused to show it publicly, and stoically went home without comment.

He could have spent the next few weeks blasting the system, but that's not his character. Johnson instead set out to beat it.

The three consecutive wins certainly have made a difference, but Johnson needed a little help from the drivers in front of him in the standings. He got it last week in Atlanta when Busch blew an engine, Gordon had mechanical problems and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecked.

It's all come full circle, and even Johnson has to acknowledge control is back in his hands.