Lots of reasons remain to watch final four races of 2009 Cup season

Barring a miracle – or a catastrophe, depending on your point of view – Jimmie Johnson is in the process of putting the finishing touches on his fourth straight Sprint Cup championship and wrapping up one of the dullest, least competitive championship races in the history of NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup.

Which begs the question: Why even watch the final four races?

Glad you asked.

There’s all sorts of reasons to watch the final four races, with numerous subplots still to be played out.

While Johnson and his No. 48 team personify excellence, the drivers and teams chasing him still have something to prove, even though their hopes of winning the title are vanishing fast.

Will 50-year-old Mark Martin, for instance, cap one of his greatest seasons by finishing second in the Chase, or will more misfortune befall him, as is so often the case with one of NASCAR’s classiest competitors?

Can Jeff Gordon hang on to third, perhaps giving Hendrick Motorsports a sweep of the top three Chase spots, capping another season of dominance for the elite organization?

And can Juan Pablo Montoya continue his marvelous run in the Chase and earn a top-five points finish? Can he finally win a race? And will his budding feud with Gordon continue, perhaps giving us a good, old-fashioned rivalry to watch in the next couple of years?

Despite what currently looks like a runaway victory for Johnson, these are all compelling reasons to continue following the Chase.

But that’s not all.

There are also plenty of intriguing stories among drivers trying to rally from disappointing seasons and those trying to gain some momentum or set themselves up for next year.

Can Richard Childress Racing, for instance, turn around one of the most disappointing seasons in its existence, and will the sweeping changes the organization is making finally lead to some progress?

No organization has been more disappointing this year than RCR, which put three drivers in the Chase in 2007-08 but none this year. None of the four teams has won a race, and none has even been in the ballpark very often.

Todd Berrier, who led Kevin Harvick to eight of his 11 Cup victories, joins Jeff Burton’s team this week at Talladega. Berrier replaces Scott Miller, who is taking over RCR’s competition department.

Is Berrier what Burton needs to turn around his struggling team and return to victory lane and the Chase? He won with Harvick; can he do the same with Burton?

Can Harvick continue the progress he seems to have made with new crew chief Gil Martin? And, more importantly, will RCR improve dramatically enough to convince him to stay beyond 2010?

Harvick figures to be one of the sport’s top free agents in 2010, and whether he stays or goes after next season depends on whether RCR can right the ship?

Another big question facing RCR is the return of Casey Mears, who has shown improvement with Berrier but has no sponsor for 2010 and may not return unless RCR finds one soon.

Mears is one of a handful of drivers still looking for rides for next season and one of several who have something to prove heading into next season.

Jamie McMurray and Bobby Labonte are both looking for new rides and apparently vying for the same opening.

McMurray, whose No. 26 Roush Fenway Racing team is shutting down to bring the organization into compliance with NASCAR’s team-cap rule, appears to be the leading candidate to land at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, a curious development since he left Ganassi a few years ago to join Roush.

McMurray has been highly disappointing at Roush, winning just one race in four years. Now he heads back to Ganassi, where he actually performed much better early in his career.

Will the move rejuvenate McMurray, who had one of his best runs of the season Sunday at Martinsville, and make him a contender to make the Chase again?

Labonte’s Hall of Fame Racing team has no sponsor for next season, leaving Labonte to look elsewhere. He is said to be a candidate for the Earnhardt Ganassi ride,or could wind up elsewhere depending on sponsorship.

It would be a shame to see the 2000 champion go into next season without a solid opportunity.

Reed Sorenson and David Stremme are also looking for new rides. Stremme is being replaced by Brad Keselowski at Penske Racing while Reed Sorenson appears to be the odd man out at Richard Petty Motorsports.

RPM, meanwhile, is putting the finishing touches on its merger with Yates Racing, which will put the Petty drivers in Fords next season. Elliott Sadler will run the first RMP Ford this weekend at Talladega while his teammates remain in Dodges. The move is the first step toward a shift that will see the entire organization running Fords next season.

More importantly, the merger brings together two of the biggest names in NASCAR – Petty and Yates – and two families trying to hang on in a sport threatening to pass them by.

Yates Racing, now run by Doug Yates, the son of one of the most famous car owners and engine builders in the sport, Robert Yates, has survived thanks to its affiliation with Roush Fenway Racing. Merger with Petty may be another big step in its survival.

Petty, meanwhile, has thrown his support behind the multicar team owned by George Gillett. Though it has won two races this season, the merger is an important step in possibly landing some manufacturer support and more resources.

Sadler, Kasey Kahne and AJ Allmendinger are expected to return to RPM next year, but the future of the organization is very much in limbo.

Kahne has been so frustrated by the organization’s direction – or lack thereof – that he has made no secret of his aggravation lately.

“If [the owners] want to go to Ford or Roush or combine or whatever their ideas are, [I] let them do their thing,” Kahne said. “I’m just focusing in on driving the car [and] working with my team because … we don’t care about all that other stuff.”

Kahne is expected to be another top free agent available next year, and whether he stays or go depends on the merger and the improvement the Petty-Yates team makes.

But perhaps the biggest mystery facing top teams is the decline of Roush Fenway Racing, one of only two organizations that normally challenge Hendrick Motorsports each year.

Roush won 11 races last year – three more than Hendrick – but has won only two this season, and none since the first two events of the year.

Roush’s Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle made the Chase again – they finished second and third, respectively, last year – but neither has won a race. Edwards is winless after a series-leading nine wins last year.

The only Roush wins this year came from Matt Kenseth, who won the first two races of the season and then faded so badly he missed the Chase.

So what’s wrong with Roush, and why has the organization fallen so far so fast?

With Edwards heading back to the scene of the worst crash of his career – the high-flying, fence-smashing spectacle at Talladega in April – there appear to be few answers in sight.

If teams like Roush, RCR and RPM are going to salvage disappointing seasons and gain some momentum toward next year, they better act fast.

With Johnson running away with the championship, they will be among the group of drivers and teams under the microscope in the final four races of the season.

Jeff Owens is a writer for NASCAR Scene, which is published weekly, 46 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information.