Week 8: Taming Texas Next For Johnson As History Looms
Reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) is exactly where he likes to be in early November — at the head of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup class.
And as series teams prepare for Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, he’s staring down some personal and historical benchmarks.
No driver has won four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. Johnson could be the first.
But the 2009 Chase hardly is over. Beginning Sunday, three races remain, which means Johnson has plenty to do to cement his position and fend off pursuers.
The closest are a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates — Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), in second and third place, respectively, in the Chase standings.
One, Martin, is a four-time series runner-up. The other, Gordon, is a four-time series champion himself.
Neither will yield.
Aside from Gordon and Martin, another Texas threat comes in the form of 10th-place Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford), who swept both 2008 races there.
Gordon Looking To Complete 2009 Texas Sweep
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon did more than simply win this past April at Texas Motor Speedway. He excised 12 years’ worth of frustration, finally capturing a victory at one of the few tracks where he hadn’t yet triumphed.
Sunday, he’ll begin Sunday’s Dickies 500 with larger stakes. In third place in the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Gordon trails leader and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson by 192 points and second-place (and teammate) Mark Martin by only eight points.
A rigorous climb? Yes, but Gordon does have the chops and stamina to capitalize should Johnson and Martin falter. The April win gave him seven top fives and nine top 10s in 17 Texas starts, plus the confidence to find his way to Victory Lane there.
Johnson isn’t the only Chase driver with momentum; prior to last Sunday’s 20th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway, Gordon had amassed five consecutive top-five finishes.
“We had been so close in the past,” Gordon said of his Texas travails. “But, whether it was me hitting the wall late in the race while leading or an electrical issue while leading, we just never were able to win – so to get that first win here was great for us. To get another win, though, we’ll need to take another step forward. If we showed up this weekend with the same setup we used in April, we’d run 15th. That’s just the way the sport is. Everybody is constantly learning and the competition is constantly getting better and quicker.”
Loop Data Says: Look Out For Roush Fenway Racing At Texas
Last Sunday at Talladega, Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Crown Royal Ford) ended quite a few droughts.
First, he ended a personal 86-race winless drought that dated back to July 2007.
Second, he ended a Roush Fenway Racing drought that dated back to this year’s first Auto Club Speedway race, won by teammate Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford). That was 30 races long.
Third, he erased the slate on the non-Chaser race-win drought. That slump lasted 23 Chase races, all the way back to teammate Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M /Super 33 Tape Ford) at Kansas in 2007.
Well, good things might come in bunches.
Though McMurray doesn’t own the best statistics at Texas, his teammates – and a couple other non-Chasers – do.
Topping the statistical list is Kenseth, both a member of the Roush Fenway stable and a non-Chaser. Kenseth won at Texas in 2002, and has finished in the top 10 in five consecutive Texas races. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Kenseth has a series-best Driver Rating of 105.8, an Average Running Position of 9.0 (second-best), 143 Fastest Laps Run (sixth) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 80.8%.
Also strong at Texas is Carl Edwards, who swept there last season, but is still looking for his first victory of 2009. In his nine-race Texas career, Edwards has a Driver Rating of 102.4 (fourth), an Average Running Position of 11.5 (fifth) and 260 Fastest Laps Run (second).
Biffle, who is coming off two consecutive top-five finishes at Texas, should factor into Sunday’s victory scenarios. Since 2005 at Texas, Biffle has a Driver Rating of 95.7 (fifth) and a series-high 263 Fastest Laps Run.
Also an interesting study this weekend is Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota), who will be with new crew chief Dave Rogers for the first time. Busch failed to make the Chase, and is looking to end a drought of his own: nine races without a victory.
Busch has yet to win at Texas, but he’s come close, finishing in the top 10 in four of the last six Texas races. In his nine-race Texas career, Busch has a Driver Rating of 94.8 (seventh), an Average Running Position of 12.9 (eighth), 127 Fastest Laps Run (eighth) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 62.1% (eighth).
Race-Best Driver Rating at Texas
(2005-Present)
Driver Date Rating
1. Tony Stewart 11/06 149.7
2. Greg Biffle 4/05 149.2
3. Carl Edwards 11/08 146.7
4. Carl Edwards 4/08 139.8
5. Jeff Gordon 4/07 136.3
Race-Best Average Running Position
at Texas (2005-Present)
Driver Date ARP
1. Tony Stewart 11/06 1.9
2. Jeff Gordon 4/07 2.1
3. Jimmie Johnson 4/08 2.3
4. Carl Edwards 4/08 2.4
5. Carl Edwards 11/08 2.6
Bold: Roush Fenway Racing drivers.
On The CAM: Jimmie Johnson
Three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was this week’s guest on the NASCAR CAM Video Teleconference.
Johnson: “This is an exciting time for sure, and there’s still a lot of racing left. And, things can go wrong but we’re in as good a position we could’ve ever hoped to have been in.
“I’m really trying to keep my head down and keep our team focused as well in doing the job the next three weeks. Not only do I feel like that’s important for the championship’s sake, but also because we have some good tracks coming up for us.
“I feel like we could win one or two races at the tracks left on the schedule. What got us into this position was racing hard and going for every point and until it’s mathematically locked up, we’re going to keep that mindset and try to get every point we can.
“I’m not sure what I would compare [four straight championships] to, but I didn’t think it was possible.
“I looked at what Jeff Gordon had accomplished – the race wins and four championships – and thought that was probably the last we’d see something like that with how competitive the sport is.
“I’m blown away and honored and enjoying every minute of what we’re doing here and hopeful that we can do it right these next three races and do something that’s never been done before.
So I’m excited about the potential that’s out there and there’s no way I thought it was possible, let alone with my situation.
“I know that people may find it hard to believe, but I’ve only been in a stock car for 10, 11 years and then in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, this is my eighth season now.
“So to have all this take place, it’s pretty shocking to me … I’ve worked very, very hard to get to this point and so has this team. And we’re enjoying every minute of it.”
Watch Out For Carl: Defending Dickies 500 Winner Could Be A Factor
It’s been a quiet season for Carl Edwards, who was pursuing reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson this time last year.
The 2008 series runner-up, Edwards won a series-high nine races, eventually finishing 69 points behind Johnson in the Chase standings.
This season? No wins for Edwards, who’s also had a very quiet Chase. He heads into Sunday’s Dickies 500 in 10th place in the standings, with a Chase-best finish of sixth at Auto Club Speedway four weeks ago.
But here comes Texas Motor Speedway, where Edwards swept both events in 2008.
Instant turn-around? Could be.
His win in last year’s season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway was the last time he visited a Victory Lane. Drought makes good motivation, not that the upbeat Edwards requires it, but Texas has emerged as a special place for the 30-year-old, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on him on Sunday.
If you require proof, Edwards also leads all drivers with three wins at Texas, more good karma. But just flipping ignition switches isn’t sufficient preparation.
“It takes a really, really good race car to win at Texas,” Edwards said. “That’s the bottom line. You have to have a very powerful engine and you’ve got to have a great aerodynamics package.
“Your crew chief and engineer have to have the car put together really well and sometimes you need great fuel mileage on top of that. It takes a lot to win in Texas.”
He finished 10th in this year’s spring event at Texas, with the three wins, three top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 13.4 in nine series starts there.
Keselowski Gets Jump On 2010; Replaces Stremme For Final Three Races
Three races remain in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, but for most teams, 2010 preparations have been underway for some time.
Penske Racing made one of the more visible moves this week with its announcement that Brad Keselowski will take over the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge for the rest of the season.
Keselowski already was to succeed David Stremme in that seat in 2010. Doing so now was deemed important for momentum’s sake.
“Penske Racing wants to give Brad an opportunity to work with the team and get to know the race car as we prepare for the 2010 season,” owner Roger Penske said. “These three races will provide a good base for both Brad and the team as we head into next year. Penske Racing also thanks David Stremme for his contributions to the team this year. We wish David the very best moving forward.”
Stremme, who finished 22nd last Sunday at Talladega, ends his tenure with 33 Penske starts.
Keselowski, who won the spring NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega for owner James Finch, has run 12 series races this season, five for Finch and seven for Hendrick Motorsports.
He’s currently in third place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, running a full schedule for the Hendrick-supported JR Motorsports.
Next year marks the first full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup season for Keselowski.
“I am very excited to begin working with the Penske Racing team and I look forward to competing in the No. 12 Penske Dodge in the final three races of the year,” Keselowski said. “We all have high expectations for next season and beyond, and being able to race with the team this year will only help us as we look toward 2010.”
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