Baseball Manager Billy
Martin said, "Everything looks better when you win. The girls are prettier, the cigars taste better, and the trees are greener."
I imagine that’s especially true in NASCAR, except you don’t
see drivers of this era smoking.
Every now and then in the world
of sports, a player or team will lay down a performance that transcends the normal. The 1972 Miami Dolphins won all fourteen
regular season games, two playoff games and the Super Bowl to cap the NFL’s only undefeated season.
The 1995 Chicago Bulls,
riding the amazing ability of three superstars, Michael Jordon, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, shattered the single season
record winning 87 of 100 games. In Motorsports, John Force Racing, with his fifteen NHRA Funny Car Championships, has
raised the bar to perhaps an unreachable number.
Is the Hendrick Motorsports
(HMS) performance of 2007 equitable to any of the above? Probably not, but it is in the same zip code. With the
rest of the Chase mathematically eliminated from contention, it will take 267 trips around the Miami-Homestead Speedway to
crown one of the HMS drivers champion. In a sense, Jeff Gordon can not win the championship. Jimmie Johnson can
certainly lose it by mistake or misfortune and give the title to Gordon.
Brian France has got
to be chewing nails. This is in no way the prize fight that NASCAR had hoped for when introducing the Chase format.
Enough has been reported about the dominance of the HMS teams. I don’t need to spend a lot of time echoing what’s
already been said. The numbers speak for themselves:
Times Hendrick cars in
Victory Lane
18
Times Hendrick cars in
Top 2
4
Times Three Hendrick
cars in Top 5
4
Times Two Hendrick cars
in Top 5
17
Times a Hendrick car
not in top 5
5
Times Hendrick cars DNF
9
(4 for Johnson)
Johnson’s ten victories
have punctuated his place in the sport. Only thirteen times since 1972 has a driver won ten or more races in a season.
He is in good company. In the 1974 season Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough each won ten times.
The best racing at Homestead-Miami
is shaping up to be for that tenth position in the Chase. With only 116 points separating positions eight through twelve,
any one of five drivers could take tenth place and earn their seat on the podium in New York.
The other races will be
between Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for that thirteenth spot one position outside the Chase. Also, the race between
Petty Enterprises (#45), Bill Davis (#22) and Glen Wood (#21) for that 35th position in the owners points guaranteeing them
a spot in the first five races of 2008.
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Sadly, this weekend’s
race has the potential to be the biggest yawner yet; two cars racing for the championship; forty more trying to stay
out of their way. The racing God’s have a way of turning the wheel of fate under these circumstances. Look
at the 1992 championship. A hard charging Ernie Irvan took out Davey Allison on lap 204 ending a great season for the
young driver and leaving Bill Elliott and Kulwicki left to battle for the championship. Kulwicki won by the narrowest
of margins. So, anything is possible.
The worst case scenario
would be for some young gun, whose career hinges in the balance, to get Johnson caught up in one of those racing
deals that hands the trophy to Gordon. Someone in the media would surely dub him the "Steve Bartman" of NASCAR.
Of course the 24 team would rather win it on skill than on Johnson’s bad luck, but should that happen they would not
turn it down. Either way, Rick Hendrick gets the check.
For every race fan out
there, I hope the Hendrick driver of your choice brings home the champions trophy.
In contrast, this has been
a season of disappointments for others. Toyota’s freshman effort has been less than stellar. During the
course of the season Toyota teams have attempted to qualify the Camry 251 times,
and 98 times have failed to do so. This gives them a qualifying grade of 60%. Where I went to school this was
a solid F.
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Michael Waltrip’s
performance this season goes beyond disappointing. The intake manifold scandal at Daytona drove a stake through the
heart of the upstart Michael Waltrip Racing. They failed to qualify for the next race at California speedway,
starting a string of eleven races where Waltrip did not qualify (DNQ). He ended the season with a disastrous 19
DNQ. On three other occasions, Terry Labonte stepped into the #55 Toyota managing to race it into the field once,
qualifying 25th, but needed to use a champions provisional to qualify in the other two attempts. On a high note, Waltrip
did score one of two poles for Toyota this season. Unfortunately he will
have to qualify or race his way into the Daytona 500 next year. Heading into this weekend’s race at Miami,
the No. 55 car sits 40th in owner points, with no chance to get into the top 35.
So the 2007 Nextel Cup season
is racing to a close. The end is not yet written, but the handwriting is on the wall. One of two drivers will
be our next champion. In a season of highs and lows, winners and losers, the drama is unfolding with the excitement
of a root canal. Rick Hendrick and his group is the cream that has risen to the top. What’s it going to
be like next year with an Earnhardt in the stable? This is not your daddy’s NASCAR.
2006 StockCar Review.
