Johnson and Knaus sending Chase message with mojo

• Jimmie Johnson spun and damaged the rear of his car after leading 44 laps Sunday
• With great work from his crew, Johnson was able to salvage a ninth-place finish at Kansas
• Johnson remains seven points behind Brad Keselowski with four races remaining

CHARLOTTE — Just like his car chief Ron Malec — the man who wielded the magic orange mallet at Kansas Speedway — Jimmie Johnson never broke stride.

As about two dozen elementary schoolchildren pounded hammers — which were supplied by the primary sponsor of Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet, no less — with the vigor of a class of entry-level carpenters auditioning for a Frank Lloyd Wright project, a cacophony echoed through the NASCAR Hall of Fame that induced ear-splitting winces from a crowd of news media trying to interview the five-time champion in an alcove just above the din.

Johnson finally paused briefly to tease the small horde of reporters. "Is that killing you guys?" he asked. "That's awesome."

So this must sound pleasingly familiar, right? "Yeah, exactly," he said with a laugh. "Ron was hitting it a heck of a lot harder than that. He was clobbering the car. I'm like, 'Dude, you're going to break something else! Stop hitting it so hard!'"

The repair job that saved the Hendrick Motorsports driver's bid for a sixth championship was a source of laughter Tuesday, but the mood was quite serious Sunday when Johnson spun after leading 44 laps at Kansas.

With the rear of his car crumpled, his title bid seemed to be crumbling. Instead, Johnson rebounded for a ninth that sent a message to points leader Brad Keselowski and the rest of the Chase for the Sprint Cup field that the No. 48 still has the mojo that carried it to five consecutive titles from 2006 to 2010.

"It was a gut check for sure," said Johnson, who kept the gap to Keselowski at seven points with four races remaining. "It was a great reflection of where our stress level is. If it were at a higher level, we wouldn't have had the patience or room to stay calm."

It wasn't how his team might have reacted a year ago. After a 2011 Chase imploded in a wave of snippy radio exchanges, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus vowed to treat each other with more deference this season and work constructively toward solutions when the chips were down.

The new attitude was validated at Kansas. Rather than rashly dispatch his crew to the garage for lengthy repairs after the crash, Knaus kept the driver on track to assess the damage. As Johnson drove by the team's stall, Malec's eagle eye spotted that the car's deck lid mounts remained intact, meaning it could be fixed in the pits without losing a lap.

After several stops, a few strips of heavy-duty bare bond tape and many well-placed whacks by Malec's hammer, Johnson's season had been rescued from the brink.

"It would have been very easy to have things ramp up and make poor decisions," he said. "That's where we were last year in the Chase. We were hanging on, trying to keep pace, didn't have it and get frustrated. So when something small would come along, it was easy to overreact and just be pissed. This year it's far different."

It helps that Johnson's Impalas have been much faster.

But their ability to redefine their relationship also is indicative of why Johnson and Knaus are in their 11th season together — the longest-running crew chief-driver tandem in NASCAR's premier series.

"There's a reason why they're five-time champions," teammate and four-time champion Jeff Gordon said. "You're not a five-time champion because you went and won all the races. Sometimes when you're put to the biggest test, it's moments like that when championships are won. It's how you react to it and get a good finish on those days when people count you out."

The comeback comes at a rather opportune time. The circuit heads this weekend to Martinsville Speedway, where Johnson has six victories.

Keselowski has struggled at the 0.526-mile oval, but the Penske Racing driver and his team have shown an uncanny ability to overcome adversity during their second Chase appearance.

Though Johnson still would rather be leading the points, he knows that the pressure will mount for Keselowski each week.

"It catches up to you at some point," he said. "When you're leading, it's hard to push out of your mind. Every (interview) they remind you of being the points leader and that you're fighting for your first championship. It hits everybody at some point. Some later than others. At some point, the magnitude of being champion sets in, and I've had to live (through) that fire myself."

As he proved Sunday, the key is just to keep hammering away.