Phoenix Sets the Stage for an Exciting Season Finale!
Monday, November 10th, 2008By: Drew Hierwarter
Well let’s see, what else can you say about this year’s NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship? In previous weeks in this space I have suggested that the fat lady was warming up, that NASCAR can go ahead and cut the check, and that the trophy shop can start engraving the trophy. And then Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and Hendrick Team 48 arrived in Phoenix and put a whipping on the entire field by winning the pole, leading the most laps, and winning the race. Game, set, and match. Any questions?
The circuit now moves to the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway where, with a 141 point lead over second place Carl Edwards, and everyone else in the chase mathematically eliminated, Jimmie Johnson needs only to finish the race in 36th to eliminate any chance for Edwards to overtake him for the title. In seven starts there, Johnson’s average finish is 13th. In the last two years, when he has won the championship, he has finished ninth and seventh. It would take a catastrophe of major proportions to deny these guys the title.
The hauler driver would have to get lost in the Everglades. The entire team would have to be abducted by aliens. Goodyear would have to supply them with square tires. Don’t count on anything like that. Jimmie Johnson will be the 2008 Sprint Cup champion. He will be only the second driver in the history of NASCAR to win three consecutive championships. (Cale Yarborough was the first, 1976, 1977, and 1978) Chad Knaus will be the first crew chief to accomplish three in a row. It will be the 12th championship in NASCAR’s top three series for team owner Rick Hendrick. The word dynasty is nearly unavoidable.
If the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship is all but over, the Craftsman Truck Series fight is anything but. Ron Hornaday and Johnny Benson go to Homestead next week separated by only three points! That’s less than one position on the track. After an entire season it comes down to a one race shootout for the title.
Friday night in Phoenix it looked bad for Hornaday when he crashed on the very first lap. The crew got the truck back out on the track but more than 30 laps down to the leaders and their championship hopes seemed in jeopardy. But anything can happen in this sport and amazingly, some 90 laps later, Johnny Benson also crashed, also spent many laps in the garage getting repairs, and the two championship contenders finished in 25th and 26th position. Instead of Benson’s lead over Hornaday increasing, it was made even tighter!
The original reason that NASCAR gave for instituting the “Chase” in the Sprint Cup Series was to make the final few races of the season more exciting and to help prevent a team from clinching the season early. With no Chase format in the truck series, twelve of the thirteen seasons run so far have gone down to the last race to determine the champion.