HOMESTEAD, Fla. Bobby Hutchens, the vice president of competition at Dale Earnhardt Inc., was named Friday as director of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing, the two-car Sprint Cup team to be co-owned by two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart.

Tony Gibson, currently the crew chief for DEI's No. 8 team, will be the crew chief for the No. 39 U.S. Army team and driver Ryan Newman at Stewart's team.

“These are two really important hires for our race team,” Stewart said. “Bobby Hutchens brings a ton of technical and management experience and Tony Gibson has helped a lot of well-known drivers earn their recognition by getting them to victory lane. I'm very proud to have both of these guys as a part of my team.”

Hutchens has a mechanical engineering degree from N.C. State and has 20 years of Sprint Cup experience. He was part of four championships, in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994 with the late Dale Earnhardt.

Gibson has been a crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series since 2002, working with such drivers as Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Park and Michael Waltrip. Prior to becoming a crew chief, Gibson served as car chief for such notable drivers as four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, 1992 Sprint Cup champion Alan Kulwicki and 1988 Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott.

Johnson playing mind games

Jimmie Johnson got up at 7:03 a.m. Friday on purpose, part of a mind game he said he's playing with himself to deal with the pressure of going for his third straight Sprint Cup championship this weekend.

“I got up at 7:03 just to play with the three thing.” Johnson said. “Instead of a minute on the microwave I'll go 48 seconds and stuff like that.” Johnson drives the No. 48 Chevrolet.

“I've always done stuff like that, goofy stuff and it's worked and it's been there when I've run well and run bad,” he said. “So I guess I'm finding some peace that it doesn't really matter.”

Johnson leads Carl Edwards by 141 points and needs to finish only 36th or better to clinch the title, and that's if Edwards wins the race and leads the most laps. He's in good shape, but he's not taking any chances.

“One of the things I look for are pennies,” Johnson said. “I see one and it's not heads up I will kick it until it's heads up. I'll see numbers and I'll think, wow, things are working out. The room number I'm staying in, I had to do some weird math, but it equaled three once I went through the three-digit room combination. Just stupid things like that that go on in my mind.”

Kyle Busch misses out on F1 test

Kyle Busch lost out on an opportunity to test a Formula One car with Toyota in Japan because he needs to attend the Nationwide Series awards banquet next Saturday in Orlando, Fla.

Busch was scheduled to participate in a demonstration run at a Toyota motorsports festival, during which he would run a Sprint Cup Series car and a Formula One car. But the Nationwide Series banquet is scheduled for the same weekend.

Although he hasn't run a full schedule in the series, Busch is still in the top 10 in series points. The top-10 are obligated to attend the awards banquet.

Busch does not seem happy about the trade-off.

“I don't get to drive the Formula One car anymore,” he said. “I have to go to the Nationwide banquet and accept my sixth-place awards instead.”

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, is planning to take Busch's place at the festival and will drive the Cup car. It remains uncertain whether he will get in an F1 car. Representatives for Busch said he still hopes to get a test run in an F1 car, possibly in Europe next spring.

Briefly

Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolets, was named the winner of the Wypall Crew Chief of the Year Award for 2008. Knaus won a trophy and a check for $20,000.

ABC's coverage of last Sunday's Cup race at Phoenix earned a final national rating of 3.6, according to Nielsen Media Research. Last year's race received a 3.7.