Has Jimmie Johnson Locked It Up?
Thursday November 5, 2009
As the Sprint Cup Series rolls in to Texas Motor Speedway for the 2009 Dickies 500 I have to ask. Has Jimmie essentially locked it up with three races remaining?
His lead is 184 points and the most Mark Martin could gain in one race is 161. So Jimmie has one full race lead over Martin with just three to go. Add to that the fact that Johnson has been stellar at Texas and Phoenix over the last few years and it is very difficult to imagine anyone but Johnson winning the 2009 Chase for the Cup.
I'm ready to call it. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for his unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Championship.
Comments
It’s a done deal! Some may be critical and actually I am a Jr fan….but Jimmy, Chad and the entire organization deserves credit for what they have accomplished!!!
No, Jimmie does not have it wrapped up yet. He will not have it wrapped up until he starts his car at Homestead. If he does win the 4th Championship in a row, what is to stop he from winning his 5th in a row? Everybody else is just racing for the money. 2010 will have to be the year for Dale Jr. to make his come back. If he does not make the Chase in 2010, he needs to step aside and let someone with full concentration step in and do the job. If Rick lets this go on to much longer, he will loose his credibility.
Absolutely, but it is also time for Nascar to realize that one team can not be as good as the 48 team without doing something that is outside of the normal and they have to be very unset that they can not find out what they are doing. If they do find out that the 48 teams has been doing something that is not allowed by Nascar, will they take away his past Championships? I don’t think so, they could not be that forthright and we will never know.
It is all over, its been over for a while now. JJ and his crew are the best in Racing period. They know how to win. 3 races left all he has to do is stay clean, no DNF’s. Wait until next year when he wins his 5th in a row.
My daughter,son and I have watched NASCAR for years. We have now stopped watching it due to the fact we know who is going to win and it is no fun anymore. We are tired of Jimmy Johnson I would rather see JOE BLOW win at least it would be different. I hate it NASCAR has ruined the sport. Be GENTLEMEN! What a laugh. We like to see the drivers get in to arguments that makes the race fun. It has gone to the dogs as many fans know!!!!!!!!
Jeez, Linda & BadBob, what a couple of DUMB comments. Bob, do you really believe JJ & Chad & Rick are cheating? What is the basis for your arguments? They win a lot! I suppose you believe in the tooth fairy also. Linda, please, JJ is winning because he is a good driver & has by far the best crew chief in racing. I would even go so far as to suggest that Chad is as big a factor as JJ. I say this & I am not even a fan of JJ. At this stage however, he is the best.
Yeah, know what you are saying here, sure is a shame looks poor old Mark Martin is going to be the bridesmaid again for what 3rd or 4th time. I hate it sure wish things could be different. Don’t seem fair for some reason.
Jimmie is the winner again! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!! Not a big fan but rather see him than 24.Was a #3 fan so really don’t care. It’s just not the same for me anymore.
Ian, what a dumb comment. What is the basis for your arguments?
and suggestions don’t count as reliable sources for fact
Speaking of dumb comments if you don’t think chad will cheat look at his past record. He knows how to cheat and he does a good job of it, if you think they are just lucky then you are dumb. It took nascar a long time to find Chads trickery with the front end of jimmie’s car last year. Jimmie is a good driver but not that good! If you are not cheating you won’t win! Good luck to jimmie on your seventh championships to come.
I think that NASCAR wanted Jimmie to win 3 in a row and now 4 in a row. I’m not sure how they are helping him, but I think there are many other good drivers and cars that if things are truly even there would be more competition.
I am a huge fan, I have been since 1995…but now I’m hardly even interested in seeing the race anymore. The enjoyment is being sucked out of the sport.
I don’t think Jimmie Johnson has anything locked up unless it’s fixed. You see nobody can run kinda bad all season then when its the last 10 races they run perfect, whats up with that he didn’t do good till the end of the season you know he’s doing something to the car that nascar is overlooking just cause they want him to win he don’t deserve it and they need to open their eyes. I say if he wins the cup again then it’s FIXED!!!!!!!!!!
No, All it will take is Jimmie getting into a wreck on the first lap and put him out of the race and that will erace his big lead.
The fix is in Nascar should be called WWECAR. How does some one start out so bad then when it comes to the end he running 2X as good than everyone eles
I hate the chase !!!!!!!!!
I’m not a 48 fan, but if you’re gonna hate, hate with your facts in order.
He will not have it wrapped up until he starts his car at Homestead.
Actually, if he amasses enough points (196) over second leaving Phoenix, he doesn’t need to to start his car at Homestead.
We have now stopped watching it due to the fact we know who is going to win and it is no fun anymore.
There have been 13 other winners this season and in 27 of the 33 races run so far, Jimmie Johnson hasn’t won. Sure, he’s tops on the charts in terms of wins, but only by one race over Mark Martin and two over Kyle Busch.
You see nobody can run kinda bad all season
Bad all season? After the 4th race, JJ was in the top 10 and never looked back. After the Autism Speaks 400 (race 13), he was top 2 or 3 until a few races into the chase. He amassed the second highest number of wins in the first 26 races with one DNF? That’s running ‘kinda bad all season’? Have you seen how the Childress cars are running? Or Dale Jr? That’s rather myopic view of ‘kinda bad’.
There are myriad, rational reasons to dislike NASCAR right now — the chase is controversial at best, them telling the drivers how to act and fining them for being out of the behavior box is ridiculous, hell, if you want to hate NASCAR for Chad being penalized previously, it can all be well justified with a modicum of effort.
But the conspiracies? Think about it… NASCAR ratings are tanking. After every race, these threads, the threads on ESPN boards, on the NASCAR.com comment section are filled with people ‘leaving’ or ‘abandoning’ NASCAR (when in reality, most of them are only saying they are because they keep posting the same thing every week). NASCAR stands absolutely nothing to gain by conspiring to put Jimmie in the championship circle year after year. Nothing. If the great masses of defectors are to be trusted at all, he’s the most boring, vanilla, corporate, yawn-inducing driver ever. Rigging it so the sympathetic favorite for his first, or the wild child beating his personal attitude demons or the aging statesman of the sport looking for his elusive 5th title would not only garner interest, but make for way better headlines. Conspiracies of that magnitude take smarts, and look at what NASCAR’s done this year with the rules and all… they’re not smart enough to pull off a conspiracy to boost the most boring driver on the planet to the #1 spot 4 years in a row.
Jimmie and Chad are methodical. Cold, and calculated. Listen to them during the race… listen to the way Jimmie describes the way the car’s handling, then take some time to watch NASCAR Performance and TWIN and see exactly the type of insight Chad brings to understanding the car and how to make it bend to his whims.
He’s gotten his hand slapped many times, but not since he and LeTarte did in 2007 at Sonoma. He’ll push the boundaries, but if he’s someone smart enough to do what he does with a car, let’s be honest and admit to ourselves he’s smart enough to not willingly risk a 150-pt penalty to his driver.
NASCAR has said ‘here’s the way the season runs and the last 10 races are the most important.’ Chad and Jimmie have simply answered that with how they structure their season. What people should be angry about is why no other crew chief and driver pair has put this as high a priority as they have.
Johnson may be the best ;however all I can say is BORING.
At Talledaga Nascar about kills Ryan Newman with their insane rules ,nose to tail racing ,and a spoiler that “‘flies”" the car in a spin,rather than keeps it on the ground.
At Texas ,what ,7 cars on the lead lap and they call this a sporting event? I,m about done watching Nascar races