By:Jay Hart (YahooSports.com)

Date: March 6, 2010

Someone, Clint Bowyer said Friday, is going to beat Jimmie Johnson.

And …

“I believe this could be the year.”

Really, after what we’ve seen the last two weekends?

Clint Bowyer may get overshadowed by his more popular teammates, but over the last four seasons he's been the most consistent driver for Richard Childress Racing.

“I feel like the competition is getting closer to the 48,” Bowyer said. “Look at Jeff Gordon; [Las Vegas] was his race to win.”

Give Bowyer some credit. It’s a bold statement to come out with when the guy you’re talking about is coming off back-to-back victories. The thing is, though, he’s right. Johnson didn’t have the best car in either race he won. And if you want to argue that he did at Auto Club Speedway, he certainly wasn’t much better than Kevin Harvick.

As a point of fact, Johnson won both races on pit road, which, for the field, is less of a concern than if he’d kicked their butts on the track. Johnson is acutely aware of this, saying Friday, “We have not been as strong as we’ve needed to be as a group.”

“[Crew chief] Chad [Knaus] has been on spot with adjustments and strategy at the end and gets some decent results for us,” Johnson said. “But as far as just heads-up racing, we haven’t been where we need to be here in a couple of years since the CoT came around.”

Considering he’s won two titles and more races than anyone in the CoT era, Johnson’s last point is hard to take seriously. But it does show the complete lack of complacency within Team 48. Even when they’re the best, they’re trying to get better.

But to Bowyer’s point, so is the competition.

What all this means for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is that the bull’s-eye on Johnson’s back just keeps getting bigger and bigger. However, the question that still needs to be answered is why.

Is it because everyone’s targeting Johnson? Or is it also because they’re closing the gap between them and him and, thus, getting a closer view?

To see Jay Hart’s full article as it appears on YahooSports.com, click here.