Ah what a busy day!!!! (^o^)/ It's pretty much euphoria right now with SPEED's return and Jimmie Johnson's dominating run at Phoenix International Speedway this afternoon!!! Haha I'll keep this short…Johnson's 7th win of the season gives him a 141 point lead over Carl Edwards, the only other driver still in contention and Johnson will only need finish 36th or better next week at the finale at Miami's Homestead! Jeff Gordon's engine woes gave me quiet a scare today!!!!! Thank goodness the #48 held up! ^o^ I know it's still premature to celebrate and I'm still no doubt nervous as nothing's guaranteed in racing ever but Kurt Busch's post race interview comments gave me goosebumps!! Who'd ever thought that was possible for a Hendrick motorsports fan?!! Anyway in any case Kurt really struck a chord with me! ^-^ And as far as Johnson being critisized as being and I quote…"too nice"….I would never want him to change ever and having met him in Las Vegas a few years ago makes that sentiment even stronger. Don't ever change Jimmie…you're the best!! Just like Jeff Gordon you're priceless! And to think that Cale Yarborough's legendary accomplishment is within reach now!….three championships in a row in racings' grandest stage?….I hope so! ^-^ Cautiously optimistic though…it's not over yet! 🙂
wow a 141 point lead? to me that's allot but I don't get their point system.I've been following F1 this whole year and that championship came down to a singe point! whew I was soo biting my nails at the edge of my seat! Hamilton over Massa by one point, one position on the last race at the last corner, doesn't get better than that. When they say its not over till its over, I feel so bad for the Ferrari team celebrating too early then being let down. Well at least there are good guys there like you say. Just about all the F1 guys are jerks for next year, Coulthard was a good guy but he just retired.good luck
LikeLike
A few years ago NASCAR tried to jumble up their point system in an attempt to add more intrigue to their championship run. Many call it the "Matt Kenseth" rule change as after he ran away with the championship holding an insurmountable lead and had just one win to show for it all season long over 36 races NASCAR made the move to the current system which uses a final "Chase" playoff. But really all that Kenseth proved was that consistency can win a championship but I guess they feel that a change was needed back then. After the first 26 races of the "regular" season are run, only the top 12 (used to be 10) drivers are eligible for the championship and their points are reset to be equal across the board from 1-12 with the exception of 10 bonus points for each "regular" season win that they had earlier. So if the 5th place driver had 4 wins while the third place driver only had 2 wins, they would in essence switch positions accordingly. So with the "regular" season's 26 races points accumilation being tossed out before the start of the "Chase" races it really bunches up everyone really closely! Hmm…if it had not been for the "new" "Chase" format Jeff Gordon (a four time cup series champion) would probably now have at least 6 championships to his name under the old points format. But they wanted closer points so….I feel bad for Jeff though. But good has come from this too as there have been much closer points races for the championship in the past and it did come down to the final race at Homestead with everything and every position on the track meaning winning the championship or not. This year Jimmie Johnson (my fave along with Jeff Gordon!) just dominated the Chase and with a lot of the other Chase drivers having bad races with equipment failure, engine woes, or getting into wrecks (many not of their making) his lead just grew to what it is right now with just one race remaining.I know this is totally biased as a Johnson fan but he really is doing something extra special by attempting to win three championships in a row in NASCAR's top series…and it's been 30 years since this accomplishment has been achieved by Cale Yarborough he being the only back to back to back champion ever in the series! Ah if Johnson does win his third in a row he'll be in elite company and definitely one of the greatest of all time in the sport…I may have goosebumps on Sunday! ^-^Wow 1 point is amazing!!! That is white knuckle conditions!!! Haha I'd be so nervous if my favorite driver were in contention with that kind of point separation….amazing!!
LikeLike
Joe Posnanski, one of my fave bloggers and now a columnist for SI.com, wrote an interesting profile on Jimmie Johnson, contrasting his rise to the top of NASCAR with two other racing legends.Interesting how aggressive Jimmie was at making the contacts needed to break into the big time arena.
LikeLike
Thank you for the article link! I was only aware of his persona from when he met Jeff Gordon and was recruited to drive for Rick Hendrick for Hendrick Motorsports. The comparisons and looking at the vastly different time periods of the drivers was fascinating! It's really paid off!…and racing's better for it! LOL (biased!) I know! 🙂
LikeLike