« Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/15) | Main | Disappointing End to the Season for Michael Waltrip Racing »
November 17, 2008
Jimmie Johnson Wins His Third Straight Cup Championship!
Carl Edwards dominated the race and won, but it still wasn't enough for him to overcome Jimmie Johnson who sealed the deal on his third straight Cup Championship with a 15th place finish. The Championship was all but Jimmie's going into Homestead since he only needed to finish 36th or better to clinch and at no time was he in any danger of finishing anywhere near that poorly. This Championship ties the 30-year record set by Cale Yarborough, and much to a lot of fan's dismay, there's no reason to think that the #48 team won't contend for another championship next season as well. Jimmie, Chad Knaus and the #48 team are the best team in the garage area right now and it's not too likely that they'll drop off anytime in the near future. In fact, they may only get stronger since a number of layoffs were announced recently not for financial reasons but because Hendrick Motorsports is already looking at ways to make the #48 (and #24) team even better.
Of course there are a lot of fans pointing out how under the old points system Carl Edwards would have won the Championship by 17 points over Jimmie. Give it up. Under any points system Jimmie and his team would have figured out how to win this Championship. One of the strengths of this team is how they're able to adjust to any situation and any challenge. In addition, the old points system is called the "old" system for a reason - it's not used anymore. Ten years from now there will probably still be fans calculating who would have won the Championship if the Chase wasn't in place, but the reality is that as much as some fans don't like it, that way of determining a champion is no longer in use.
More than a few fans have said that they think the Chase is boring. Just exactly how can it be boring to see whether a driver makes his history by winning his third straight Championship? Some fans just can't stand teams and drivers that have a lot of success. A guest on T.J. Rives morning show on XM recently noted that for some reason greatness in Nascar isn't respected like it is in other sports and I agree. What Jimmie has done by winning his third Championship in a row is Hall of Fame worthy. His performance the past few years has been exceptional and impressive and it's unfortunate that so many are unable to recognize and appreciate his talent and the strength of his team. Jimmie is a great driver and the #48 is a great team. The fans who are crying about how they must have been cheating or how Jimmie was points racing or any number of other silly reasons why this Championship is meaningless are just full of sour grapes.
I'm not a big fan of Jimmie's but I for one can appreciate the impressiveness and significance of what he and his team have done the past few years. Instead of being unhappy that the same driver has won the Championship like some others, I'm looking forward to seeing if Jimmie can make it four in a row next season or whether Carl or another driver can beat him.
Posted by silverdsl at November 17, 2008 09:47 AM
Comments
I used to be a fan of Jimmie's, but the last couple of years, I've kind of stopped. He's become too...HMSy. Is it because he won too much? No..because I didn't have a problem with Kyle winning. I think the reason why Jimmie's "greatness" isn't as respected as in the past is because, well, Jimmie comes off as feeling more like "so what...I'm me....of COURSE I won it", then being more humble about it and letting nature take it's course as to his position in NASCAR history. I guess for me...while yes, it's 3 in a row which is great, but that's not "history making" since someone has already done it before him...IF he wins 4 in a row, then yes, it's history making. To me, greatness will always be measured up against Petty and Earnhardt...Jimmie lacks the humbleness of Petty and the charisma of Earnhardt. And I also believe that without Chad, Jimmie wouldn't be where he is right now. And yet, Jimmie really was the only one getting all the accolades, even though Chad was the first CC to win 3 Cups in a row...now THAT was history making, and yet little was said about. Doens't make me like Chad, I think he's a jerk, but I can appreciate what he does.
As for the Chase and the "classic" points...I hate the Chase, have always hated the Chase. It's manufactured drama and I call it points welfare. Yes, Chad might have still figured out how to work the system the old way, too. But I figure as long as the official NASCAR website also keeps track of the points the "old way", it's fair game for discussion.
The fact is it wasn't the Chase that was boring..it was the entire year. The racing is boring. Period! Good racing the last 10 laps of a race does not make a good overall race. And the TV coverage is boring. It's the same people, saying the same thing, on 6 different shows. And they cover very few drivers. I'd rather have less coverage if it meant better quality of coverage. I don't want 100 hours of Speedweeks coverage if there is only 10 hours of original material.
Posted by: Carol at November 18, 2008 04:02 PM
One of my biggest fears about the ban on testing is that it's going to lead to a continuation of some of the issues there's been with the racing not being very good at some tracks. The teams are still struggling to get a handle on the COT, how are they supposed to do that if they can't fully test it? We're likely to see the exact same teams racing up front and in Victory Lane next season as this because the test ban won't do a thing to address the underlying issues of the overall costs of the sport and huge divide between the have's and have-not's.
I agree completely about the TV coverage and how it's the same teams getting coverage over and over. It's been said that if a team wants to make themselves a part of the story they need to race up front but even when a team is racing in the top ten they might only get mentioned in passing. The biggest sin to me is when a driver or team isn't mentioned at all - it's impossible to cover every team in detail but it shouldn't be too much to expect that in a three or four hour broadcast every team and driver gets mentioned or show at least once. There are times when some drivers go to the garage and it never gets mentioned. Very frustrating.
Posted by: Deborah at November 19, 2008 12:51 PM
I agree about the testing. I've said before that the bigger teams like Hendrick will take the $1 million that NASCAR "saved" them and spend $1 million 2 hundred to get around the new rule.
I know the TV people say that if a team wants to get noticed they need to run up front, but almost every time that Casey was leading a race this past year, they were following Jimmie or Jr at the back of the pack instead. Talk about making a girl angry!!! and then it's like "oh by the way, Casey Mears is leading, and then they show him for like 5 seconds and then "Jr is back in 38th spot with a handling issue" ARGH!
Posted by: Carol at November 19, 2008 05:25 PM