White Flag
A NASCAR BLOG BY Rea White
73 points is still a pretty big lead
It's amazing how quickly things can change in NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup.
It's also stunning how easy it is to forget just how big a 73-point lead is with two races to go. Sure, if Jimmie Johnson endures another catastrophic race, he will be in trouble in terms of the championship. But if he doesn't, this is still going to be a tough deficit to overcome if you’re Mark Martin or Jeff Gordon or any of the others still chasing Johnson for the title.
A 73-point lead sounds small when compared to the 184-point advantage Johnson had entering Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. And, yes, it is true that he did lose 111 points in one race.
But it's also still the second largest points margin with two races to go in the Chase history. Johnson would need to regain 122 points to clinch this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, site of a Martin victory earlier this season. To clinch, regardless of what other competitors do, he must average a fourth-place finish in the next two races without leading a lap. If he does lead a lap in each of those races, that drops to fifth. If he leads the most laps in the next two races, it drops to sixth.
Clearly, to fans and NASCAR, that's a much more comforting number than the previous one in which Johnson could clinch at Phoenix with a race remaining in the Chase.
But don't forget just how strong this Hendrick Motorsports team is. Johnson had a worst finish of ninth in the previous seven Chase races. He has three wins, a runner-up finish and a fourth-place finish in that stretch. He drives for a team that managed to completely rebuild a car in 113 laps and get it back on the track in some form capable of being nursed to the end.
Sure things are tighter now, and that's good for NASCAR, for the competition and particularly so for Martin and his bid for an initial championship.
But things are also still in Johnson's control. He has to falter once more in order to open the door for the competition.
His quest for a fourth consecutive title is still in his hands; he just doesn't have as firm of a grasp on it as before.
Rea White
Rea White has been covering NASCAR full time since 1998. She has been an associate editor at NASCAR Scene since 2002.
Latest Tweets
Poll PositionView All
How should NASCAR penalize Carl Edwards?
Promotions
-
Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.
-
Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.
Comments
1 response to "73 points is still a pretty big lead".
4-DA-88 said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 7:59 PMYou can bet Chad will be working on putting JJ in the front for the start of the race, instead of working on driveability. Kinda ironic, huh, just deserts for sandbagging at Dega? However, no doubt in my mind that Chad will make the right choices to keep JJ on top.