LONG POND, Pa. - Jimmie Johnson has been booed by fans, his car was pelted with beer cans and he was called an idiot by another driver.

While the way Johnson is being viewed in some circles this year has changed, the results sure haven't.

One year after leaving the second Pocono race with a win and a commanding points lead that had everyone talking about a NASCAR Nextel Cup championship, Johnson is in a similar spot. This time he wants to finish the job.

"Hopefully our slow spots are behind us and we only have checkered flags and good finishes ahead of us," Johnson said Friday at Pocono.

He didn't exactly get off to a rousing start in practice for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500. Johnson's Chevrolet got loose coming out of the first turn, spun and crashed into the wall during the first session.

Johnson was not hurt and simply shrugged off the accident.

"It's no big deal," he said. "You hate to lose a race car that was one of our best race cars, but all of our race cars are good."

For that he credited crew chief Chad Knaus.

"Chad works really hard to build equal cars," Johnson said. "We'll be in great shape with this backup car. I'm not worried about it."

Johnson, who swept Pocono last year and finished sixth here in June, has used eight top-five finishes and two wins (Las Vegas and Charlotte) for a 77-point lead over Greg Biffle. There are seven events remaining before points are reset among the top drivers - probably 10 - for the 10-race title run.

All Johnson lost Friday was an hour of practice. He lost much more following Pocono last year, when his points lead evaporated after disastrous performances at Kansas and Talladega.

Not even four wins in five races could help him rebound, and he lost out to Kurt Busch for the Cup crown.

"You're always smarter after the fact," Johnson said. "Last year, we tried things that we really felt were going to end up working and they didn't. We got back up to speed midway through the chase and did what we needed to do.

"We just kind of ran out of time and points at the end. But we're smarter than we were last year."

Johnson is again the points leader and hoping to avoid the hiccups down the stretch that cost him the championship. But it hasn't been easy.

Rivals accused him of aggressive driving that caused several accidents, and his third straight Coca-Cola 600 win at Charlotte was marred by fans booing and throwing beer cans at his car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. even called Johnson an "idiot," and blamed him for causing a 25-car accident at Talladega Superspeedway.

Johnson has deflected the criticism, insisting he's only focused on winning races. While his lead could be wiped out with a few poor performances, Johnson said the points leader has an advantage.

"There's a small edge mentally, I believe, to be the points leader going into it," he said. "But last year, it didn't really matter. Kurt Busch got into the final 10 and put together 10 really good races and was the champion.

"With a short format and 10 to 15 guys in it, I think everybody has a shot."