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Mike Hembree: The Amazing Race
By Mike Hembree - Associate Editor
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson is on the cusp of winning his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
Three weekends remaining. Three potentially competitive venues: Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Homestead-Miami Speedway.
All things considered, this is shaping up as a really neat and intense race as we wind down to the final days of the NASCAR season. It will pay to be alert and watch each event carefully.
High-octane calculators would be needed to determine all of the possibilities as the sport’s leading drivers jockey for position with only 1,211 miles of racing remaining. After the up-and-down weeks of a long season that began in the winter cold of Daytona and stretched through a long, hot, wet summer, fans can be encouraged that the race remains so tight and the resolution so difficult to predict.
This is the way it’s supposed to be in NASCAR’s top series – talented, veteran drivers fighting it out for position, honor and dollars in the fading weeks of the season, with teams operating at full capacity, pristine cars coming off shop assembly lines and pit strategists working themselves into a near-frenzy.
Automobile racing at its finest.
It’s difficult to pick which driver you might want to favor in this frantic race for one of NASCAR’s key designations: Runnerup to the Champion.
The current leader is the ageless and street-smart Mark Martin, a man who knows something about these tight battles for second place – and how to win them. He’s managed to do it four times, no small accomplishment with the competition like it is today.
With three races left, Martin leads his teammate, Jeff Gordon, by eight points in the tight race for second. Gordon has been series champion four times, but no one should overlook his abilities in a close race for second. He’s been there, too, finishing second in 1996 and 2007.
And then there are fourth-place Juan Pablo Montoya and fifth-place Tony Stewart, drivers who have positioned themselves to be in range of second place and to be in the hunt for the coveted No. 2 spot as the season rolls into its critical phase.
In the past three seasons, the winners of the Runnerup Challenge have been Matt Kenseth (2006), Gordon (2007) and Carl Edwards (2008). The fact that the winner of this race has not been able to duplicate the performance in recent years is an indication of the difficulty of the task.
The world is watching as we roll into the season’s last calendar month.
Also watching this competitive battle for second is a guy named Jimmie Johnson. Above the fray (literally), he has little else to worry about in these days of wine and roses.
Mentioned Drivers: Jimmie Johnson
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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Comments
9 responses to "Mike Hembree: The Amazing Race". Post a Comment.
Rainier said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 8:24 AMI still can't believe the 48 may win 4 Championships in a row. I'm glad I have been here to watch it over the past years. It would be an absolutely amazing accomplishment.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 1:05 PMThis is total BS. The only amazing race was Talladega - these other three races combined will be lucky to see one darkhorse winner and 50 lead changes.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 1:11 PM4 in a row is not suppose to happen....
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» Confirm Abuse Reportralphminzlaff said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 3:39 PMWhat do you expect? This is the Hendricks- Gibbs racing league isn't it? I started following Nascar in the late 1950's. This has become a joke. I can find better things to do on weekends than listen to them praising Kyle and Jimmy. Listening to everyone you would think they were the only ones that mattered. I will not shop at Lowes or buy any candy made by Mars candy. If nascar loses enough fans they might learn.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSheilaLovesNASCAR said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 4:53 PMWhat is NASCAR supposed to learn? Jimmy is going for four in a row. Kyle is winning the Nationwide title. They talk about Jimmy, Kyle and Ron. Who would you rather they talk about? Jimmy is doing something that has never been done before. In my opinion, NASCAR should get rid of the chase, unless it wants Jimmy to get his 7 championships like Petty and Earnhardt, all in a row. Let Jimmy race 36 races and see how he finishes up. As it is, no one wants to watch the chase races. Because Jimmy always does well. He knows how to do well in those last 10 races. Get rid of the chase and let someone else be given a chance.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportminkee2 said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 5:24 PMJimmie has only run in the Chase format. How can anyone believe it would be different if we went back to the old format? The #48 team is on a roll. No one has ever won 4 Championships in a row. That makes me think he could do it in the old format too. Maybe it will be someone else's turn next year. GO JIMMIE!!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportpj4jj48 said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 6:26 PMMINKEE2 are you a new Nascar fan? Jimmie started full time in Cup in 2002 and raced 2 seasons in Cup under the old format before they started the new format in the 2004 season. He has never finished worse than 5th in any of his seasons. I'd bet money that if Nascar had never changed the points system the 48 team would have still been multiple champions under the old format too as they matured as a team. So Jimmie has race under both formats.
Report as AbuseRALPHMINZLAFF - You say you've been following Nascar since the 50's. So you couldn't stand Richard and his dominating team back in his day or DW in his day or Dale Sr in his day or Jeff Gordon in his day right? They dominated not just as thoroughly when they were at the top of their game but more so than Jimmie is today. I think we've had something like 14 or 15 different winners so far this season after 33 races. So that's way better than the year Richard won 27 races all by himself Granted they may have run like 60 races that year but he still won almost half of them and 10 in a row. There just wasn't as much attention because there wasn't so much media. No one but us southerners care much about Nascar back then.
Go Jimmie and Team 48! Get that 4th in a row!
Go Jeff and Team 24 for 2nd in points!
HMS 248 shop rules!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbigj said:
Nov 7, 2009 at 9:13 PMThe Chase sucks and so does this biased article..go back to the point system and just see that JJ would not be where he is today..a lot of the drivers have just given up racing for wins because Nascar keeps reminding them to move over when the chase drivers are near or not to race them too hard..give me a break..keep driving hard Keselowski and tell the other drivers their fans want them to race just as hard as you do for the win...go under dogs!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportoldfilmless said:
Nov 8, 2009 at 9:35 AM#4, If you have better things to do... why are you here on this forum? Go away, go do those things... let the rest us enjoy racing and the history that's being made.
Report as Abuse#7 --- love your response, I have said the same thing many times but you said it better, other teams have dominated as much or more so that the 48 in the past, but without email, cell phones, relentless internet coverage, tweeter, facebook, etc... etc... etc... there wasn't an outlet for all the whiners to complain on.
It's racing... the 48 deals with what it given it (rule /format) and wins. They are simply "that good".
No changes are needed by NASCAR, the other drivers need to step it up.
Oh... One change would be good... ban all the certified redneck fans from the sport.
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