Need for Speed

A NASCAR BLOG BY Jared Turner

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Do past champions have advantage?

Aug 5

Jimmie Johnson said last weekend at Pocono Raceway that he believes past champions in this year's Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup will have a better chance of winning the title than their counterparts in the 12-driver field.

I respectfully disagree.

In some seasons Johnson's theory might have some merit. But not this year.

Of the past champions likely to qualify for this season's championship-determining field, Johnson himself is the only one who has displayed legitimate title-winning tendencies during the present campaign. (He has two wins and has finished no worse than third in his last three starts).

The other former champions in contention to make the Chase - Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth - have not only failed to demonstrate the consistency necessary to win a title, but they also have exactly ZERO wins among them in 2008.

Sure, Stewart has been denied as many as three potential wins by late-race mishaps not of his own causing. And it's certainly reasonable to assume that past champions understand the rigors of the Chase better than a lot of drivers.

But a close examination of this season's top performers - Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Kasey Kahne - reveals that Johnson is the only past Cup champion of the bunch.

So far, there's been little evidence to convince me that one of those four drivers won't win the title.

Considering that Johnson is seeking a third straight crown - a feat matched only once before in NASCAR history - the odds appear to be in favor of a first-time champion when the checkered flag falls at Homestead in November.