Can Someone Tell Me Please, Is There Still A Chase Going On?
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Has virtually every driver in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, save for maybe Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, resigned themselves to the fact that Jimmie Johnson has already all but sewn up his fourth championship?
I mean, we’ve got four races left at four of the best tracks on the circuit: Talladega, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. There’s still plenty of time and plenty of racing action to be had.
So, then, where’s the buzz? Where’s the trash talk? Where’s the wrestling-like banter that “We’re comin’ to get you, Jimmie”?
Just last week, Denny Hamlin conceded the title to Johnson – and that was before the Virginia native won on home turf at Martinsville on Sunday.
There’s no denying Johnson has gone through this year’s Chase unlike any other. He has taken the word “domination” to a whole new level. He could probably miss one or two of the next four races and still wind up winning a record fourth consecutive championship.
And, with the way he’s going, he will have the title locked up by Phoenix, if not having an outside shot to clinch at Texas next week if the stars, moon and sun all align in the right fashion. Heck, he could spend Homestead weekend at South Beach rather than at the racetrack.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but has this not been the quietest last few weeks that we’ve seen in the six-year history of the Chase?
Think about it. Where have been the big mid-week stories in print and online? Where have been the big TV packages about Johnson’s challengers? It’s almost like everything has morphed into a quiet drone, at best.
Where’s the drama, where’s the pathos, where’s the “we can still beat Jimmie” comments? Is Johnson simply that good that once he started going, everybody else knew there’d be no stopping him – so why even try?
Granted, there’s really only four drivers left in the Chase that still have a shot at Johnson. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon could put a serious dent in Johnson’s bid for a fourth championship if they go out and win the next couple of races. That would certainly tighten things up greatly.
Unless Johnson were to finish runner-up; than it’s a moot point: any advantage his closest competitors might gain by winning a race would be minimized if he was right behind them when they crossed the finish line.
And then there’s Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya. Eight points separate them from each other, leaving them 192 and 200 points, respectively, behind Johnson heading into this weekend’s race at Talladega.
If the No. 14 or No. 42 have good races Sunday, and Johnson has a better race – which would seem likely – they can pretty much hang up their championship hopes at that point. Even if Stewart or Montoya were to win on Sunday, they would not cut all that far into Johnson’s advantage – unless he was beset by mechanical issues or was involved in a big wreck, which is certainly still a possibility at ‘Dega.
Frankly, the only way Martin, Gordon, Stewart and Montoya are going to gain any significant ground is if they do great the next few weeks and Johnson finishes, oh say, 40th at Talladega and 43rd at Texas.
Yet even then, I’m not totally convinced that he still won’t win his fourth straight title.
We know that due to Carl Edwards’ spectacular wreck at ‘Dega this past spring, NASCAR will implement a new style of restrictor plates for this race to slow cars down a bit more, by close to 10 mph by some accounts.
But somehow, some way, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are going to find a workaround gameplan. You just know it’s going to happen that way.
As a result, don’t be surprised if Johnson winds up winning his fourth Chase race in the last seven.
But more than anything, instead of hoping Johnson wrecks out or his car busts, the guys that are still chasing him – and, for that matter, guys who have already essentially been eliminated from the Chase – still should not make it that easy for Jimmie to lock things up.
They should be spouting off at the mouth – in a good-natured fashion, of course – but trash talking, nonetheless. They should be giving reporters colorful quotes that will translate into big stories that those same reporters can’t wait to write and which fans would drool to read.
Guys like Stewart and Montoya should look straight ahead into a TV camera, point their fingers and say, “Jimmie, you better watch out, we’re coming to get you.”
I mean, Johnson’s uncanny superior ways in the Chase have made the playoff system boring enough. If his closest challengers have essentially already rolled over, it’s going to turn boring into unbearable for fans and TV viewers. That may be great for Jimmie, but it’s the last thing NASCAR needs.
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