History is his. With a secure fifth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson took his place among the sport’s legendary greats as the only driver in NASCAR Cup history to claim four straight championships. Grabbing almost as much attention was the power finish of the formidable Hendrick Motorsports trifecta of Johnson, series runner-up Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon, who swept the top three spots in the season standings. Nearly lost in the wave of applause for Johnson and HMS was Denny Hamlin’s victory in the Ford 400, the 36th and final race of the 2009 season, capping an up and down year for the Joe Gibbs Racing 11 car, which garnered four victories but logged three paralyzing DNFs in the final 10 races to douse the team’s title hopes.
When one speaks of Johnson, one might be referring to a gearhead mystic. Johnson’s real triumph could well be a matter of mind over matter. Virtually unflappable regarding events that turn on a dime out on the racetrack, Johnson appears to have the wisdom of the elders, possessing a knack to be totally in the moment, riveted on the now. If that sounds too New Agey for the likes of a racecar driver, consider that JJ loses no sleep to worry, the bane of all who look over their shoulder. The pilot of the Lowe’s 48 Chevy knows there is a script to be played out but doesn’t pine over its many possibilities. Much has been made of Johnson’s bland personality in the press, but more than likely, he is far ahead of his emotion-spewing racing brethren trying to keep up on the track. Johnson rarely shows irritation or dismay at an outcome that doesn’t wind up in Victory Lane, an infrequent occurrence at that. A key reason Johnson is a champion not once but four times over is his natural ability to focus on what is before him, not on what just transpired behind him or what lies ahead. Just as there is little wasted motion in Johnson’s crack track performances, so too, little is expended on senseless concern over matters that will eventually resolve one way or the other.
Take the downturn at Texas just two races ago. Media and fans alike jabbered about the shocking 100-point loss in that one race to teammate Martin that renewed the possibility of a dogfight for the championship heading into the last two races of the Chase. But when interviewed after his un-Johnson-like 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, El Cool JJ deferred to calm and reflection, noting that from his perspective, things couldn’t look better: He was, after all, still 84 points ahead. The big win in Phoenix the following Sunday proved his point.
ROADSIDE RAVES: NASCAR put on a good race for its finale, a showcase that went green the final 46 laps, with only seven cautions…Richard Childress Racing showed strength at the Ford 400, with Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick crossing the finish line in second and third place, all of which bodes well for 2010…Tony Stewart, the regular-season champion, missed out on a Top Five season finish when tempers flared between him and Juan Pablo Montoya. Sprint Cup’s bad-boy brigade took turns inflicting ruin on the other. The contretemps succeeded in knocking both out of race contention with an exchange of body-damaging paybacks. The standings drop was lethal for Stewart, whose shop lost a Top Five season-ending bonus.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009
(PLEASE NOTE: This concludes my 2009 posting for “The Cool Down Lap.” Coverage of NASCAR's 2010 season will begin the week of Feb. 7. In the interim, check out my NFL blog “Over the Ball,” which runs through the Super Bowl, at wmalanross.blogspot.com.)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Johnson chasing no one after Charlotte
He struggled and for a brief spell looked even human among the pack at the Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night. But in the end, winning by more than three seconds over second-place non-Chaser Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson gave clear evidence that the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is his to lose with five races left.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
Johnson chasing no one after Charlotte
He struggled and for a brief spell looked even human among the pack at the Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night. But in the end, winning by more than three seconds over second-place non-Chaser Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson gave clear evidence that the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is his to lose with five races left.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.
Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Pit strategy backfires on Biffle; Stewart takes Chase race at Kansas
Tony Stewart has another sweaty towel to auction off for charity after the Sprint Cup’s regular-season champion took his first Chase race Sunday in the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway and moved back into contention in the standings with seven races to go.
In what was clearly the best race of the Chase thus far, Cup fans thrilled to the explosive start by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who roared out to a three-second advantage after taking the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on Lap 12. Little E’s uncustomary post at the head of the field lasted for 41 laps, when he pitted from the lead on Lap 53. But as Junior fans have come to expect, Dame Misfortune again made her untimely entrance into the 88 car’s affairs. Earnhardt Jr. was black-flagged by NASCAR officials for failing to tighten a left rear wheel lug nut. The miscue dearly cost the race leader, who had to return to pit lane to rectify the issue. He reentered in 32nd position, one lap down and, effectively, was done for the day.
It looked to be Greg Biffle’s afternoon, when the 16 car took over the lead on the 72nd lap and began logging the day’s most laps led. But with 29 laps to go, Biffle crew chief Greg Erwin made the wrong call, electing to put on four fresh tires when everyone else went with two. Stewart then won the race off pit row, Biffle coming out fourth. The Roush-Fenway driver could never close the gap, as Stewart raced off into clean air. In fact, hard-charging Jeff Gordon came on to grab the second spot from Biffle with just 13 laps remaining.
ROADSIDE RANTS: After the opening 40 laps, NASCAR’s worst fear looked like it might possibly come true: Two non-Chasers were leading the Chase! But Chase order was rightfully restored by race’s end, as nine of the top ten finishers were all Chasers…With 20 laps to go at Kansas, Denny Hamlin dropped fully below the white line onto the apron to pass two cars, one of which subsequently re-passed him. On the next lap around, Hamlin repeated the maneuver. NASCAR has mandated that passing below white lines is legal; passing below double yellows (Daytona and Talladega) is not. I’m wondering why, during a Chase race of all things, passing below any line is allowed. It’s yet another example of NASCAR’s inconsistency with its own rules. I say either let them pass at any time at any track or ban passing below the line entirely. If you think about it, it’s kind of like letting a base runner in baseball run from first to third without having to touch second. Drivers down on the apron actually gain an unfair advantage because they’re shortening the distance around the track…In Formula One, Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, whittling nine points off Jenson Button’s precarious grip on the championship standings. With two races to go, Button holds a 14-point lead over Brawn-Mercedes teammate Rubens Barrichello and tops Vettel by 16.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009
In what was clearly the best race of the Chase thus far, Cup fans thrilled to the explosive start by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who roared out to a three-second advantage after taking the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on Lap 12. Little E’s uncustomary post at the head of the field lasted for 41 laps, when he pitted from the lead on Lap 53. But as Junior fans have come to expect, Dame Misfortune again made her untimely entrance into the 88 car’s affairs. Earnhardt Jr. was black-flagged by NASCAR officials for failing to tighten a left rear wheel lug nut. The miscue dearly cost the race leader, who had to return to pit lane to rectify the issue. He reentered in 32nd position, one lap down and, effectively, was done for the day.
It looked to be Greg Biffle’s afternoon, when the 16 car took over the lead on the 72nd lap and began logging the day’s most laps led. But with 29 laps to go, Biffle crew chief Greg Erwin made the wrong call, electing to put on four fresh tires when everyone else went with two. Stewart then won the race off pit row, Biffle coming out fourth. The Roush-Fenway driver could never close the gap, as Stewart raced off into clean air. In fact, hard-charging Jeff Gordon came on to grab the second spot from Biffle with just 13 laps remaining.
ROADSIDE RANTS: After the opening 40 laps, NASCAR’s worst fear looked like it might possibly come true: Two non-Chasers were leading the Chase! But Chase order was rightfully restored by race’s end, as nine of the top ten finishers were all Chasers…With 20 laps to go at Kansas, Denny Hamlin dropped fully below the white line onto the apron to pass two cars, one of which subsequently re-passed him. On the next lap around, Hamlin repeated the maneuver. NASCAR has mandated that passing below white lines is legal; passing below double yellows (Daytona and Talladega) is not. I’m wondering why, during a Chase race of all things, passing below any line is allowed. It’s yet another example of NASCAR’s inconsistency with its own rules. I say either let them pass at any time at any track or ban passing below the line entirely. If you think about it, it’s kind of like letting a base runner in baseball run from first to third without having to touch second. Drivers down on the apron actually gain an unfair advantage because they’re shortening the distance around the track…In Formula One, Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, whittling nine points off Jenson Button’s precarious grip on the championship standings. With two races to go, Button holds a 14-point lead over Brawn-Mercedes teammate Rubens Barrichello and tops Vettel by 16.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Chase is On
Isn’t that the No. 48 car pulling into Victory Lane? Un-huh. Must be The Chase. Three-time incumbent champion Jimmie Johnson sent a loud signal to his other eleven fellow Chasemates at Dover Downs Sunday that his quest for an unprecedented fourth straight Sprint Cup championship is indeed on.
Leading 271 out of the total 400 laps in the AAA 400, Johnson was never seriously headed, except for vacating his leader’s role after the first caution—one of those mandated “competition” yellows by NASCAR—when he exited pit lane in fifth place on Lap 30. It took him more than 100 laps, but Johnson eventually reasserted himself atop the field. Johnson is almost Pavlovian in his relationship with Sprint Cup’s postseason: Ring the bell for the final rounds and JJ is on it, this time the El Cajon hombre claimed his second win of the year at Dover International Speedway and fifth career victory there.
A devastating crash occurred early in the race, on Lap 31, when cars backed up in Turn 3. An accordion-like effect took its anger out on rookie Joey Logano, who flipped over seven times before finally coming to a halt. The race was red-flagged for 25 minutes. Logano was uninjured.
As they did one week ago in New Hampshire, both Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya performed excellently, coming in second and fourth at Dover to their first- and third-place finishes at Loudon. The veteran Martin takes a 10-point lead into Round 3 of the Chase next Sunday at Kansas.
With 90 laps to go, out-of-it backmarker Reed Sorenson was logged at 230 laps behind the leader Johnson. You’d think, in the interest of better racing, especially in the postseason, that NASCAR would place a limit on the number of laps that a driver can fall behind before he is made to officially retire. Having out-of-contention racers tip-toeing around the track apron doesn’t bolster the image of the sport or the quality of competitiveness on the track.
Leading 271 out of the total 400 laps in the AAA 400, Johnson was never seriously headed, except for vacating his leader’s role after the first caution—one of those mandated “competition” yellows by NASCAR—when he exited pit lane in fifth place on Lap 30. It took him more than 100 laps, but Johnson eventually reasserted himself atop the field. Johnson is almost Pavlovian in his relationship with Sprint Cup’s postseason: Ring the bell for the final rounds and JJ is on it, this time the El Cajon hombre claimed his second win of the year at Dover International Speedway and fifth career victory there.
A devastating crash occurred early in the race, on Lap 31, when cars backed up in Turn 3. An accordion-like effect took its anger out on rookie Joey Logano, who flipped over seven times before finally coming to a halt. The race was red-flagged for 25 minutes. Logano was uninjured.
As they did one week ago in New Hampshire, both Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya performed excellently, coming in second and fourth at Dover to their first- and third-place finishes at Loudon. The veteran Martin takes a 10-point lead into Round 3 of the Chase next Sunday at Kansas.
With 90 laps to go, out-of-it backmarker Reed Sorenson was logged at 230 laps behind the leader Johnson. You’d think, in the interest of better racing, especially in the postseason, that NASCAR would place a limit on the number of laps that a driver can fall behind before he is made to officially retire. Having out-of-contention racers tip-toeing around the track apron doesn’t bolster the image of the sport or the quality of competitiveness on the track.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Mark Martin’s Mission Impossible
Mark Martin’s Mission Impossible began victoriously Sunday in the nerve-biting opener of The Chase, taking the Sylvania 300 by winning three restarts over the final 18 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The 50-year-old wunderkind looked to have no shot at NASCAR’s postseason when he first began the 2009 season with a passel of DNFs and poor finishes. Of course, Martin rebounded to head into the Chase as the standings leader, based on regular-season victories, and now takes a 35-point lead over Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin into Round 2 at Dover.
Backmarkers did their best to sabotage the ending of the 300-lap race, most notably the tit-for-tat spat between Marcos Ambrose and A.J. Allmendinger—two Chaseless dudes— and their childish game of tag with the race on the line. With just six laps remaining, Ambrose’s payback to Allmendinger from a love tap by the 44 car on the previous lap spun out Allmendinger, and the yellow flag flew. But as he had done on the previous restart on Lap 287, Martin chose the outside lane with just three laps to go. This time, he was matched up mano a mano with pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, who restarted on the inside of the two lines. Some wondered if Montoya would slide up the track into Turn One and push Martin out of the picture, but the Colombian driver put his best racing foot forward and refused to dust the near-senior citizen, who slightly edged him into the turn. Allmendinger couldn’t seem to get out of anybody’s way in the closing laps. As the white flag flew for Martin, Allmendinger spun out on the front straight, but race officials let Martin and Montoya and the others race. The yellow was eventually thrown somewhere on the final lap, but all headed for the finish line without abatement, with the pitiful Allmendinger still spinning his wheels in an attempt to get out of the way of the onrushing tsunami of racecars bearing down on him.
For those counting such things, of the seven cautions caused by car interaction on the track, six were caused by non-Chasers. In fact the only caution created by a car in the Chase was Kasey Kahne’s retirement with a blown engine early in the race. Three yellows flew from debris on the track.
Backmarkers did their best to sabotage the ending of the 300-lap race, most notably the tit-for-tat spat between Marcos Ambrose and A.J. Allmendinger—two Chaseless dudes— and their childish game of tag with the race on the line. With just six laps remaining, Ambrose’s payback to Allmendinger from a love tap by the 44 car on the previous lap spun out Allmendinger, and the yellow flag flew. But as he had done on the previous restart on Lap 287, Martin chose the outside lane with just three laps to go. This time, he was matched up mano a mano with pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, who restarted on the inside of the two lines. Some wondered if Montoya would slide up the track into Turn One and push Martin out of the picture, but the Colombian driver put his best racing foot forward and refused to dust the near-senior citizen, who slightly edged him into the turn. Allmendinger couldn’t seem to get out of anybody’s way in the closing laps. As the white flag flew for Martin, Allmendinger spun out on the front straight, but race officials let Martin and Montoya and the others race. The yellow was eventually thrown somewhere on the final lap, but all headed for the finish line without abatement, with the pitiful Allmendinger still spinning his wheels in an attempt to get out of the way of the onrushing tsunami of racecars bearing down on him.
For those counting such things, of the seven cautions caused by car interaction on the track, six were caused by non-Chasers. In fact the only caution created by a car in the Chase was Kasey Kahne’s retirement with a blown engine early in the race. Three yellows flew from debris on the track.
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