Lee Montgomery: Jimmie Johnson has a date with history
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson is on the verge of winning his fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
// Lee Holmes, NASCAR Scene
Related story: Final race of 2009 Cup season chockfull of scenarios for numerous teams
COMMENTARY
There are plenty of championship-clinching scenarios this weekend for Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson in the Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
You know the drill: Johnson needs to finish 25th or better to win the title, which would be his fourth in a row – an unprecedented feat in the history of NASCAR.
But let’s talk about some other scenarios, some you might like and some you probably won’t. This is NASCAR, and as Johnson has said recently, anything can happen.
Johnson leads 234 laps but is taken out on the last lap by teammate Jeff Gordon, who says after the race he is simply “sick and tired of seeing that guy win.” Mark Martin wins the race and the title when Johnson finishes 30th. “Gordon’s just jealous,” Johnson says.
Johnson qualifies second to Dale Earnhardt Jr., but after battling hard early in the race, Earnhardt Jr. loses it and slams into the side of Johnson’s car, crashing both. Their crews work to repair the damage in the garage, but the cars are so torn up that the drivers can’t tell which car is theirs. Johnson ends up in Earnhardt Jr.’s car and somehow makes up 35 laps to win the race, which of course is credited to Earnhardt Jr. Junior wrecks Johnson’s car after 10 laps, giving Johnson a 40th-place finish. Martin wins the title. “I won the race!” Johnson said. “Too bad it was in the wrong damn car.”
Formula One’s Bernie Eccelstone stages a publicity stunt, convincing Johnson to sign with Ferrari for 2010 with an annual salary of $48 million. There’s one catch: Johnson has to skip Homestead for a news conference in Rome announcing his move. Johnson’s wife, Chandra, talks him into it, going on a multimillion-dollar shopping spree in Italy. Gordon wins the title when Martin finishes 18th. “Channy said we just had to go to Rome,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Carl Edwards are playing Frisbee in the Cup motorcoach lot, and Johnson breaks both ankles when trying to jump off a golf cart to catch a Frisbee. The team tries to rig a device for Johnson to be able to start the race, but his feet can’t touch the pedals. Johnson gets a Did Not Start, and Gordon wins the title when he wins the race. “I should’ve known better than to play anything with that crazy Carl,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s airplane is grounded in Concord, N.C., so he starts to drive to Homestead. His car breaks down in South Carolina, and he starts to hitchhike. Holding a “Homestead-or-Bust” sign, Johnson is kidnapped by four men in a black Monte Carlo painted like one of Dale Earnhardt’s race cars and is never seen again. Gordon wins the title. “I miss Jimmie,” Gordon says. “But why did he get in that car?”
OK, seriously, none of these things will happen. But it seems to me that a majority of fans probably want them to. There seems to be an extraordinary dislike for what Johnson, Knaus and the entire No. 48 team are doing these days.
Blame the Chase For The Sprint Cup, some say. Fine, go ahead. But that’s ridiculous. My guess is Johnson still wins the last three championships – and this one, too – under the old format. The best team usually wins, folks.
Call them cheaters? Fine, go ahead. But my guess is they know they are perhaps under more scrutiny than any team in NASCAR history, so why risk going over the line? And that nonsense a few weeks ago about how Johnson’s car was legal but close to the tolerance? Nonsense. Legal is legal, and illegal is illegal.
Don’t like Johnson and Knaus? Fine, go ahead. But my guess is some of that is probably jealousy because your driver just can’t beat them. Get over it.
What Johnson, Knaus and the No. 48 team are doing is beyond words. My guess is what they are doing will go down in history as one of the greatest accomplishments NASCAR has ever seen.
Yet many of you look at it with disdain.
