How great would it be if Jimmie Johnson did this week what he did last week? Thoughts before Johnson mathematically locks it up...will he do it, or will it FINALLY be Mark Martin's turn?
Man, I'd like to second your bet but the Johnson/Knaus crew are bastards when it comes down to the final days. They always seem to pull it out of the fire. Not that a 70-point lead is dangerously close or anything. All he needs to do is NOT crash. I predict he'll go top 10 today.
He needed to do that in Texas too. Whoops. This is the second to last race, and you know guys are really pushing to get a win now. They're going to be going hard. I don't think Johnson will start the wreck, but I think he'll be the unlucky recipient. I'd love it if someone like Montoya wrecked him. Or better yet, Jr. That'd be great. You know NASCAR is gonna throw a fit if someone takes JJ out (on purpose or not). They'll penalize the shit out of them. But what if that culprit is Jr? They wouldn't know what to do.
Yeah, but how often do those guys fuck up? The fact that we're still talking about one of their fuck-ups a week later tells you the answer: not many. I don't know if Junior is the golden boy he used to be. He's gradually reduced himself on level with all of those guys who run 25-15th every week. He's no longer the first guy they run to for a quote or to get his reaction or to talk about where he's starting the race. Now, if Jeff Gordon takes out Jimmie you can bet you won't hear a word about it. It'd be "one of them racin' deals." Junior is about as unlucky as you can get this year, anyway. We won't hear from him today.
That big wreck today was all Junior's fault. You'd think he would know about getting down on the apron. Hell, the first race I ever went to was Phoenix, and he won the damn thing. I really think he's caught up in the "rock star" lifestyle & has lost focus on racing. Looks like JJ has it wrapped up again. I am kind of looking forward to the 2.5 months of team moves, hirings, firings & mergers.
Anybody else think it's strange that Chris Meyers is everywhere? He's on NASCAR's pre-race show, I watched a football game today where they cut to him on the side of the field, and about every other baseball game it seemed he was interviewing somebody in the stands. Did they clone him or something? Why is he at every major American sporting event, and how does he do it?
Alright, guys, everybody needs to do their rain dances or pray to their gods or whatever it is you do when you need to pull off a sports miracle. Let's all collectively hope that Johnson's car gets taken out sometime before Lap 20 and that Martin wins the race. Ready? On three. One, two, three....
Thank God that season is over. Here's to looking forward to something different next year. Anything. Jesus, I'd even settle with Kyle Busch being the man to beat. Did anyone else get a kick out of the Hamlin/Keselowski(sp?) saga in the nationwide series the last couple weeks? That was some entertaining shit right there.
The only thing -- well two things I guess -- that'd make me happier than that was if Mark Martin or Carl Edwards were in the lead. Ideally, the season would also somehow involve Dale Jr being banned for life from the sport. Great for JJ, I don't mean to belittle his historical accomplishment. The dude's a fantastic driver, with a fantastic crew chief, and perfect chemistry between them. But, as a fan (and a relatively new fan at that), it's really hard to watch. The problem, I believe, is with NASCAR. Not Johnson.
Blasphemer! How dare you utter an obscenity like that publicly! I agree. I read somewhere last week, in one of the bazillion articles extolling JJ as the 'best driver ever,' that his rise coincided perfectly with NASCAR's new championship format. They made it sound like this was a coincidence. Say what you will about the old method, but it certainly didn't allow the same guy to win it four times in a row.
Yawn. Whoever asked it a couple of pages ago....No, you're not the only one who has completely tuned NASCAR out this year. Jimmie is a good driver who drives for a team with a shitload of money and has a sneaky bastard for a crew chief who helps him get the most out of his car, but I don't believe for one second that he's the best ever. His four titles coinciding with the Chase is no coincidence at all, but kudos to him for exploiting it. The real problem is with NASCAR and the dumbshits who run the organization. They just couldn't help themselves, so they had to go and change the entire format of the series with the Chase. I thought it was a good idea about 4-5 years ago, but it's really a fucking joke. The only reason they did it was because Kenseth won the title in 2003 after only winning one race that year. (They find ways like this to dick Jack Roush....They instituted the "four teams only" rule after he got all five cars in the Chase in 2005) They're going to have to do something drastic to get me to tune in and watch a race more than about once a month....drastic meaning go back to the way the sport was 10-15 years ago. The thing that pisses me off the most is the media. I realize that Fox/ESPN can't really criticize NASCAR during broadcasts, but very few commentators/analysts will call them out on their bullshit when it happens. Drivers have to be the ones doing it, and they end up getting fined for it. There's no way NASCAR is the second most popular sport behind football anymore. Hell, it's lucky to be in the top five at this point. Brian France and company will figure all of this out once all the sponsors leave and they can't sell more than half the seats at each track, then it will be too late for him to do anything about it. Idiots.
This should make y'all happy. New rule changes. Bump drafting will be reinstated at all the Superspeedways, where cars will also be allowed to go faster due to a larger restrictor plate. The rear wing will also be replaced by a rear spoiler (so it'll look cooler, and ideally not get airborne anymore... though those crashes were awesome to see). NASCAR is now taking the "let drivers drive" approach, and ideally they will be a little more lax on some of the other contact rules (and penalties) in the future. After all, the contact and crashes are what gets the fans.