Get used to it, race fans. Jimmie Johnson is on the move.
2009 Brickyard 400 Lives Up to Legend Status
Okay, unless you’re a Jimmie Johnson fan, the end of the race had to be a letdown. NASCAR’s most boring driver might not just be the best driver active today but right up there with the most accomplished legends of the sport. The “who’s who” of Brickyard 400 winners reads like the book of champions as some of NASCAR’s most elite drivers from the last 15 years, most of whom have won championships. The multiple winners are Jeff Gordon, 4 wins, Jimmy Johnson, 3 wins, Tony Stewart and Dale Jarrett, 2 wins.
Still, what could have been is hard to deny. Suppose Mark Martin had won the race from the pole. Martin ran a valiant charge for the win at the end but couldn’t quite put it together to slip ahead of his teammate, Johnson. What a story it would have been to have Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Indy 500 winner take the trophy. He clearly had the best car in the field dominating most of the race and gaining the most laps led, but perhaps being a little nervous or over anxious, Montoya got busted for speeding on pit road requiring a drive through penalty that not only cost him the race and an 11th place finish, it also dropped him back one position in the standings. Tony Stewart, finally running his own racing team sporting the #14 for his car in honor of his racing idol, A.J. Foyt and also a former Indy 500 participant finished in 3rd. Any one of these three drivers would have made a much more satisfying story to tell than ….”Oh God, not him again.”
After the tire fiasco of 2008, this year’s race seemed to have the perfect tire for competition. Drivers changed tires at normal intervals corresponding with fuel stops. There were just three cautions for the whole race none involving big multicar pileups. So if everything was so smooth and clocklike did that mean the race was boring?
Hardly, while Juan Pablo Montoya leading in such dominant fashion for most of the race, there was undeniable tension something was going to break loose. Danger came to single cars having trouble. The journey to downtown Indianapolis proved disastrous for the series brat, Kyle Busch, after a rather successful stand to the west of town at O’Reilly Raceway Park finishing 10th in the Camping World truck race Friday night and dueling with Carl Edwards to wind up in 2nd place in the Nationwide race Saturday night, his downward spiral in the big series continued dropping a valve spring and exiting finishing a miserable 38th dropping four positions in the standings out of the Chase contending top 12 all the way down to 14th position in the standings. The #18 team has its work cut out between now and Richmond but given their ability to rattle off wins, a little hot streak could put Kyle Busch right back in the thick of the fight by September.
If ever there was evidence that Dale Earnhardt Jr. just can’t buy a break, racing a brand new car from the Hendricks garage, he qualified 3rd despite suffering from a nasty virus and looked good in practice. All looked well early in the race, then after the first pit stop, the engine blew which the ill-fated driver blamed on himself missing a gear during the restart. That the #88 team dropped another position in the standings to 22nd hardly seems to matter now.
Several drivers benefitted tremendously from their race at the old Brickyard. The Roush-Fenway crew needed strong finishes to attempt to maintain a run at championship contention. To that end, Greg Biffle jumped two places in the standings to 11th with his 4th place finish. While finishing 15th isn’t exactly championship form, it benefitted Carl Edwards enough to add a place in the standings to land in 5th swapping places with Denny Hamlin.
The bright spot in an otherwise dismal afternoon for Joe Gibbs Racing was rookie Joey Legano who had to start at the rear of the field. On a track that’s difficult to race through the field, the young driver soldiered on to a 12th place finish advancing one place in the standings to 19th where surely a final position in the top 20 would be seen as a fine success for a rookie driver.
The 2009 season has been pure hell for the once Happy Harvick. While this has been a tough season for Richard Childress Racing in general, Kevin Harvick’s #29 team has been the most snake-bitten perhaps not getting quite the attention such a dive would attract for all the publicity Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s tough season has attracted. Finishing in 6th was a major triumph for the struggling team.
Six races remain before the field is set for the chase in Richmond on September 12. As the Sprint Cup caravan moves on to its second voyage to Pocono next week, the Brickyard 400 helped make the championship Chase clearer. While Mark Martin would lead the Chase if he makes the top 12, a feat he went a long way to securing with his 2nd place finish now standing in 9th place. Jimmie Johnson is now tied for 2nd in wins with three with Kyle Busch, but for now Busch is out of the picture failing to place in the top 12. Tony Stewart leads the point standings but needs more than his two victories to get in control of the Chase in September. Meanwhile, the other driver with two wins, Matt Kenseth, is struggling just to stay in the top 12. From perhaps 6th place down, a couple of bad races could knock a contender out of the top 12. The drivers outside looking in with a realistic chance of moving into the top 12 would be David Reutimann, 68 points out; Kyle Busch, 82 points out, and Brian Vickers 120 points back. Clint Bowyer resides 151 points out of the top 12 but given RCR’s troubles this year and how his season has been languishing, it would take a tremendous serge to jump into Chase territory.
The more the season progresses, how can anyone bet against Jimmie Johnson getting championship #4 in a row. His chief competitor going for his 3rd title is Tony Stewart who is one of the sport’s strongest second half performers. Viewing Johnson’s performance with crew chief, Chad Knaus pulling together all the support efforts, the #48 team never looked better. Still, with Watkins Glen and Bristol standing in the way, these are two tracks notorious for shaking up the points standings.
The stage is set for one of the most meaningful races to play out in Pocono in years. The next six weeks will be loaded with intrigue as the field has seldom been bunched so closely together from fifteen through five. The heat is on as August approaches.
Okay, unless you’re a Jimmie Johnson fan, the end of the race had to be a letdown. NASCAR’s most boring driver might not just be the best driver active today but right up there with the most accomplished legends of the sport. The “who’s who” of Brickyard 400 winners reads like the book of champions as some of NASCAR’s most elite drivers from the last 15 years, most of whom have won championships. The multiple winners are Jeff Gordon, 4 wins, Jimmy Johnson, 3 wins, Tony Stewart and Dale Jarrett, 2 wins.
Still, what could have been is hard to deny. Suppose Mark Martin had won the race from the pole. Martin ran a valiant charge for the win at the end but couldn’t quite put it together to slip ahead of his teammate, Johnson. What a story it would have been to have Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Indy 500 winner take the trophy. He clearly had the best car in the field dominating most of the race and gaining the most laps led, but perhaps being a little nervous or over anxious, Montoya got busted for speeding on pit road requiring a drive through penalty that not only cost him the race and an 11th place finish, it also dropped him back one position in the standings. Tony Stewart, finally running his own racing team sporting the #14 for his car in honor of his racing idol, A.J. Foyt and also a former Indy 500 participant finished in 3rd. Any one of these three drivers would have made a much more satisfying story to tell than ….”Oh God, not him again.”
After the tire fiasco of 2008, this year’s race seemed to have the perfect tire for competition. Drivers changed tires at normal intervals corresponding with fuel stops. There were just three cautions for the whole race none involving big multicar pileups. So if everything was so smooth and clocklike did that mean the race was boring?
Hardly, while Juan Pablo Montoya leading in such dominant fashion for most of the race, there was undeniable tension something was going to break loose. Danger came to single cars having trouble. The journey to downtown Indianapolis proved disastrous for the series brat, Kyle Busch, after a rather successful stand to the west of town at O’Reilly Raceway Park finishing 10th in the Camping World truck race Friday night and dueling with Carl Edwards to wind up in 2nd place in the Nationwide race Saturday night, his downward spiral in the big series continued dropping a valve spring and exiting finishing a miserable 38th dropping four positions in the standings out of the Chase contending top 12 all the way down to 14th position in the standings. The #18 team has its work cut out between now and Richmond but given their ability to rattle off wins, a little hot streak could put Kyle Busch right back in the thick of the fight by September.
If ever there was evidence that Dale Earnhardt Jr. just can’t buy a break, racing a brand new car from the Hendricks garage, he qualified 3rd despite suffering from a nasty virus and looked good in practice. All looked well early in the race, then after the first pit stop, the engine blew which the ill-fated driver blamed on himself missing a gear during the restart. That the #88 team dropped another position in the standings to 22nd hardly seems to matter now.
Several drivers benefitted tremendously from their race at the old Brickyard. The Roush-Fenway crew needed strong finishes to attempt to maintain a run at championship contention. To that end, Greg Biffle jumped two places in the standings to 11th with his 4th place finish. While finishing 15th isn’t exactly championship form, it benefitted Carl Edwards enough to add a place in the standings to land in 5th swapping places with Denny Hamlin.
The bright spot in an otherwise dismal afternoon for Joe Gibbs Racing was rookie Joey Legano who had to start at the rear of the field. On a track that’s difficult to race through the field, the young driver soldiered on to a 12th place finish advancing one place in the standings to 19th where surely a final position in the top 20 would be seen as a fine success for a rookie driver.
The 2009 season has been pure hell for the once Happy Harvick. While this has been a tough season for Richard Childress Racing in general, Kevin Harvick’s #29 team has been the most snake-bitten perhaps not getting quite the attention such a dive would attract for all the publicity Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s tough season has attracted. Finishing in 6th was a major triumph for the struggling team.
Six races remain before the field is set for the chase in Richmond on September 12. As the Sprint Cup caravan moves on to its second voyage to Pocono next week, the Brickyard 400 helped make the championship Chase clearer. While Mark Martin would lead the Chase if he makes the top 12, a feat he went a long way to securing with his 2nd place finish now standing in 9th place. Jimmie Johnson is now tied for 2nd in wins with three with Kyle Busch, but for now Busch is out of the picture failing to place in the top 12. Tony Stewart leads the point standings but needs more than his two victories to get in control of the Chase in September. Meanwhile, the other driver with two wins, Matt Kenseth, is struggling just to stay in the top 12. From perhaps 6th place down, a couple of bad races could knock a contender out of the top 12. The drivers outside looking in with a realistic chance of moving into the top 12 would be David Reutimann, 68 points out; Kyle Busch, 82 points out, and Brian Vickers 120 points back. Clint Bowyer resides 151 points out of the top 12 but given RCR’s troubles this year and how his season has been languishing, it would take a tremendous serge to jump into Chase territory.
The more the season progresses, how can anyone bet against Jimmie Johnson getting championship #4 in a row. His chief competitor going for his 3rd title is Tony Stewart who is one of the sport’s strongest second half performers. Viewing Johnson’s performance with crew chief, Chad Knaus pulling together all the support efforts, the #48 team never looked better. Still, with Watkins Glen and Bristol standing in the way, these are two tracks notorious for shaking up the points standings.
The stage is set for one of the most meaningful races to play out in Pocono in years. The next six weeks will be loaded with intrigue as the field has seldom been bunched so closely together from fifteen through five. The heat is on as August approaches.
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