Edwards Building Momentum Down Chase Stretch
Despite being nearly 200 points behind standings leader Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) with four races left, Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) never gave up hope of winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. He spent his time at the track telling anybody who would listen that the battle would come down to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Now, two races later, Edwards has done his best to back up his word. He won the last two races in rather convincing fashion and has cut Johnson’s lead in half with two races remaining.
The deficit is now 106 points heading into Phoenix International Raceway. Edwards sat on the pole for this race last year and led the first 87 laps before engine trouble knocked him out of the race. Johnson won the race to all but lock up his second championship.
Edwards’ back-to-back wins increased his season total to eight, tying him with Kyle Busch (No. 18 Pedigree Toyota) for the series lead. Johnson is second with six victories.
Out Front: Johnson Still Man To Beat
Carl Edwards may have momentum on his side, but Jimmie Johnson still holds a statistical edge in the championship matchup.
Johnson holds a sizeable points lead over Edwards, 106, and has seemingly mastered Phoenix’s one-mile track. Johnson has won the last two races at Phoenix and has finished outside the top 10 only twice in 10 attempts.
Edwards also has produced solid results at Phoenix, with three top fives and five top 10s in eight starts.
Johnson has an outside chance at clinching the title this weekend. He needs to gain 90 points on Edwards and 52 on Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M/Red Cross Ford) to clinch.
If Johnson finishes seventh or better in the next two races, he will clinch the title, no matter what another driver does.
Tale Of The Tape: Phoenix and Homestead
Johnson Edwards
Races 17 12
Wins 2 0
Top 5s 7 5
Top 10s 13 8
Driver Rating 108.1 104.5
Avg Finish 9.1 12.3
Gordon Looking For Win To Extend Streak
It is never easy for a competitor to go a full season without winning a race. It’s even harder when that competitor is a four-time champion who hasn’t gone winless since 1993. That is exactly the predicament Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) is facing with two races left on the 2008 schedule.
Gordon currently holds the longest active season winning streak, winning at least one race (Gordon has actually won at least two) each of the past 14 years. His best chance to extend his streak comes this weekend at Phoenix, a track at which Gordon has the third-highest pre-race Driver Rating. He finished 13th there earlier this year, but has 15 top-10 finishes in 19 career starts, including a win in April 2007.
Gordon’s chances for victory at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway aren’t as bright. Although Gordon has finished in the top 10 in seven of his nine Homestead races, the Miami track is one of two currently on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule at which Gordon has yet to win.
‘If we don’t win this season and then we don’t win next season, I’m going to be very disappointed,” Gordon said. “And no matter what, I’m going to be disappointed. I’m looking long term instead of just short term and I’ve had an amazing career and won a lot of races. One winless season isn’t going to be the end of it for us. We’re here for the long term.”
Although Gordon’s chances of extending his winning streak aren’t stellar, he is on the verge of two significant milestones. Gordon is currently 78 laps shy of passing Rusty Wallace for seventh on the all-time lap leaders list. In addition, Gordon needs 106 laps led to reach 20,000 in his illustrious career.
Longest Active Season Winning Streaks
Driver No. Years Years
Jeff Gordon 14* 1994-2007
Tony Stewart 10 1999-2008
Kurt Busch 7 2002-2008
Jimmie Johnson 7 2002-2008
Greg Biffle 6 2003-2008
Matt Kenseth 6* 2002-2007
* Driver has yet to win a race in 2008
Martin Hopes To Finish Job At Phoenix
Mark Martin (No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet) knows his team let one get away. The 49-year-old driver had one of the dominant cars at Phoenix International Raceway in April, leading 68 laps in what looked to be his first victory since October 2005. In the end, fuel strategy worked against Martin as crew chief Tony Gibson called him in for a splash of gas with 10 laps to go, relegating him to a fifth-place finish.
The finish has irked Martin enough that he changed his schedule to include another shot at PIR Victory Lane.
“We had a really, really fast car in the spring race at Phoenix and we are really looking forward to going back there this weekend,” Martin said. “We definitely had a car that could have won that race, and I know that Tony (Gibson) and the guys on the team feel like we have some unfinished business to take care of. Our goal is to go out with that win we have been looking for and hopefully we can finish the deal and put together a type of story-book ending in our last race this weekend.”
Martin traditionally runs well at Phoenix, with one win, nine top fives and 15 top 10s in 23 starts. After Sunday’s race, Martin will prepare for his full-time return to the series in 2009.
“I’ve really enjoyed the part-time schedule, but as soon as Phoenix is over, it will be time to shift gears back into full-time mode and going back to chasing that title one more time,” Martin said.
In The Loop: Harvick Knows Perfection At Phoenix
The 2007 Daytona 500, site of Kevin Harvick’s (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, took place 69 races ago.
Though the Victory Lane absences continue to grow for Harvick, success has not completely escaped him.
His record of 78 consecutive races without a DNF (did not finish) is broken with each passing race that Harvick completes. Plus, Harvick has made each of the last three Chases, and currently sits seventh in the series standings.
Statistically, that elusive win could come sooner than later.
Harvick, who will pull triple duty this weekend, has strong stats at Phoenix – and in one particular race, he was perfect.
Harvick swept Phoenix in 2006, earning a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in the November event. In that race, he had an Average Running Position of 1.2 and 72 Fastest Laps Run.
Over the last seven Phoenix races, Harvick has a Driver Rating of 106.7, an Average Running Position of 7.6, 130 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 85.4%.
Statistically, Phoenix breeds perfection. There have been seven perfect Driver Ratings since the stat’s inception in 2005. Two have come at Phoenix.
Along with Harvick’s 150.0, Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) also scored one in April of 2005 (the very first perfect Driver Rating). In that race Busch had an Average Running Position of 1.9 and 76 Fastest Laps Run.
Since then, Busch has struggled at Phoenix, scoring just one top-10 finish and one Driver Rating over 100.0. In the six previous Phoenix races Busch has run, he has a Driver Rating of 95.4, an Average Running Position of 10.5, 122 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 73.5%.
Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota), who has two more races as a Joe Gibbs Racing employee, should fare well at Phoenix. Stewart has finished in the top five in four of the last six races. In the last seven, he has a Driver Rating of 101.6, an Average Running Position of 10.1, 82 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 79.8%.
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