Johnson is Trey-Rific!

Was there any doubt?  I mean seriously, did anyone really think that Jimmie Johnson wasn’t going to win his third straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship?  I think there was more doubt of the Detroit Lions actually winning a game than Johnson blowing his 141-point lead.

And just as predicted, the Lions lost to move to 0-10 this year, and Jimmie won to move to 3-0 over the past three years!  That’s right, three championships in a row!  Johnson tied Cale Yarborough’s 30-year mark as the only driver to win three consecutive titles.  And, he already has his eyes set on number four next season.

Three-peats are an incredibly impressive, tough to achieve, amazing accomplishment no matter what the sport.  In the big four sports, they are just as hard to come by.

In the modern era of the NHL, only the Montreal Canadiens 1975-1979 and New York Islanders 1979-1983 have won three (or more) in a row.

Remove the dominant Boston Celtics who won eight in a row from 1959-1966 during the early years of the NBA, and only the Chicago Bulls 1991-1993 and 1996-1998, and Los Angeles Lakers 2000-2002 have strung together three consecutive titles.

In baseball, the New York Yankees (26 total World Series Championships) managed the feat several times – pulling it off from 1936-1939, 1949-1953, and again from 1998-2000.  The only other team to do it was the Oakland Athletics, who conquered the feat from 1972-1974

Technically, in the NFL, there are no three-peat Super Bowl Champions.  However, the Green Bay Packers won the 1966 NFL Championship and went on to win Super Bowl I and II the following years.

So, now do you think what the 48 team did was remarkable?  I sure hope so!  He is in great company.

Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have mastered the system, proving themselves unbeatable in their pursuit of Yarborough’s mark. They’ve won their titles with consistency, finishing outside the top 10 just twice in this year’s Chase (15th-place at Texas and Homestead), and by winning eight of the last 30 Chase races (14 overall in the five year Chase format).

Carl Edwards again came up just short.  Finishing second to Clint Bowyer by 21 points in the Nationwide Series division, he needed Johnson to have bad luck and/or falter to have any shot at a miracle for the Sprint Cup title.

Cousin Carl again drove the wheels off the #99 Office Depot.  He led a race-high 157 laps en route to his series-best ninth victory of the season, and 16th overall between the two top NASCAR series.  However, in order to win his first title, Johnson would have had to finish 36th or worse.  That didn’t happen.

Edwards showed outstanding class and grace at the end of the race.  Immediately after his trademark celebratory backflip, he walked over to Johnson’s passing car on the track to congratulate him with a handshake.  He and Rick Hendrick were also found after the race exchanging congratulations.  As word has it, Carl playfully informed Rick that things would end differently next year.

If there is a driver on the NASCAR circuit today that has the ability to dethrone Jimmie Johnson, that would be Carl Edwards.  He has the confidence, drive, and skill to mix it up with the best of em’.  And, as much as I know people hate hearing things framed this way, had it not been for two poor finishes in the Chase (29th at Talladega and 33rd at Lowe’s), we’d be crowning Edwards as the Champion.  His other finishes in the Chase were three victories, a second, three thirds and a forth.  To go along with his seven victories this season, he also notched 27 top-10’s and 19 top-5’s.  Outstanding!

That being said, Johnson and his 48 team are still the kings of the mountain till someone else knocks them off.  His season statistically didn’t quite match that of Edwards.  He grabbed seven checker flags, along with 22 top-10’s and 15 top-5’s.  However, Jimmie and Company have proven over the past three years that you need to be the best when it counts most – in the Chase.  Johnson had an average finish of 5.7 over this year’s final ten races.  Exceptional!

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson!

Bowyer Wins First Nationwide Title

Clint Bowyer isn’t an electrifying driver. He doesn’t drive aggressively, rather he is more steady and calm on the track. His driving style and personality are quite similar to that of Jimmie Johnson. Now, he hasn’t quite mastered the art of winning in the NASCAR Sprint Cup the way Johnson has, but with a 56-point lead going into the Nationwide Series finale at the Ford 300 in Homestead, securing a championship would be a step in the right direction.

And Bowyer did just that. All he needed was to finish in the top eight to keep Carl Edwards from winning his second straight title. He did that easily, taking fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year despite winning only one of 35 races.

Bowyer fell out of the top 10 several times in the first half of the race. He actually trailed Edwards in points several times, but his team used a two-tire pit stop during a caution just past the halfway point to get its driver into the top five, and he managed to stay there the rest of the race.

In the end, it came down to two different types of seasons that led to the crowning of the Champion.

Bowyer’s season was all about consistency. In fact, his season was right on par with Matt Kenseth’s 2003 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship. That year Kenseth logged 25 top-10’s and 11 top-5’s, were as Bowyer this year logged 29 top-10’s and 14-top-5’s. However, each was only able to grab the check flag once during their victory campaign.

Edwards drove the #60 to another great Nationwide season. And in the last race of the year, he did everything he could, other than getting the five-point bonus for leading the most laps. Carl finished the year with seven victories, 22 top-10’s and 19 top-5’s. Unfortunately, it was his inconsistency that cost him back-to-back championships. He finished 20th or worse five times, and logged two DNF’s.

Congratulations Clint Bowyer!

Three-Peat for Johnson in reach after win at PIR

Just how good is Jimmie Johnson? Is he the best ever? Or is he just the best in the current Chase format? These are the comparisons that will be made (barring disaster) when  Johnson cruises home with his third straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship next week at Homestead.

It was just another day at the track for the 48 team. They led a race-high 217 laps out of 313, and no other teams were ever really able to mount a serious challenge to contend for the victory. Johnson now heads into next week’s season finale with a 141 point lead over Carl Edwards, and needs to only finish 36th or better to join the great Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in history to win three straight championships.

Edwards, who won the last two races and had closed the gap to 108 points coming into the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, finished fourth. Carl spent much of the early part of the race fighting with his set-up, but was able to get it together and move towards the front. Edwards, who is not mathematically eliminated, isn’t giving up hope. Listening to his post-race interview, he still believes he is alive, and plans to come out and give it 100%.

Even with a great run at Homestead next week, Edwards amazing year (and Chase) is most likely going to come up short. Carl has seven victories this season, and in the Chase came two of those, plus five top-5’s. A bad move at Talladega (29th) and unfortunate luck at Lowe’s (33rd) will have the 99 team wondering what could have been.

Even if your not a fan, you have to give it up to Jimmie. The man, as I have said in a previous post, is the King of the Chase. Yesterday’s win at Phoenix International Raceway was the 14th Chase win of his career and third this season. He has an amazing average finishing position of 4.67 over the past nine races.

Who can stop the 48 team? Who can even slow them down? One thing is almost for sure…it will have to be next season.