by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
Three to go! I haven’t always been a fan of the Chase format that decides the Cup Champion, but it has grown on me this year. Of course it is the only thing we got nowadays. When it first started, back in 2004, it was so that NA$CAR races would be more competitive after mid-season and increase fan interest. Oh yeah, and to keep the TV ratings up. The Chase has been called the “Matt Kenseth Rule” because of the way Matt won the last Winston Cup Championship. He had only one win that year along with 11 top fives and 25 top tens in comparison to sixth place finisher Ryan Newman who had eight victories with 17 fives and 22 tens. You kinda’ wonder just who was doing the calculus that season, don’t ya? Well not really, because you and I both know that NA$CAR wouldn’t make a mistake about something like that, right?
Even that year, the last race of the season was pretty much the decisive one with Kenseth beating Jimmie Johnson by only 90 points. I really don’t think that a driver running away with the Cup with two or more races left to run should make NA$CAR change the format. Fans lose interest simply because of that? Each race is exciting to watch just to see your driver try to win it. The playoff version didn’t make me and a lot of people at the time happy with the change. With the name change to Nextel and Winston leaving, what the heck? Why not have a Chase for the Cup? Well for 3 years now, like I said, the Chase hasn’t been popular with me. But I think this year I will back off the criticism and just enjoy the last 3 races.
After Atlanta, Jeff Gordon is 9 points ahead of Johnson and a buck-eleven in front of Clint Bowyer with 3 to go. That means there’s going to be some real racing coming up for us fans. Any one of those guys could be the last Nextel Cup Champion. The real deal is that the next 3 spots with Carl Edwards at 261 behind, Kyle Busch at 319 and Tony “Smoke” Stewart 322 away, aren’t yet mathematically out either. After the sixth position, the drivers there would probably need an intervention from Mother Nature to win the championship. Makes me wonder if the teammates of Bowyer and Edwards will be helpful to get them up from during a race so that they can have a shot or will they let them do it on their own.
Now I don’t mean to take anybody out or anything like that, but we all know the old saying, “with a little help from my friends.” A draft here or a push there or even a tad of a block somewhere else could make a big difference. If I was Richard Childress, I think I would want Kevin and Jeff to help Clint when and if they can, just like Jack Roush would want. Will those owners tell or ask their guys to do so? Hmmmm, maybe. Those drivers that knew they were out of it could help their teammate. But if they started now, in these last three, perhaps they would make the difference at the end. Seems to be a very interesting equation that could fall into the last of the playoff series, doesn’t it?
Now if you look back at the old way of scoring at deciding a champion, it looks like this: Gordon would still be in 1st place and Johnson in 2nd, but not 9 away. It would be more like 439 points back. Bowyer wouldn’t be hugging third with 741 back, he would be swapping with Stewart (who’s at 5th) the new way and at 624 points out. Edwards would still be in 4th at 718 off Gordon’s pace, but then he’s pretty much out of it along with Clint. The real change is Denny Hamlin, who would move from 10th to 6th trailing 753 points. But like the other two, he’s pretty much out of it also. When I look at it like that, it seems alright. For goodness sake, please do not let Brian France see or hear me say this: the Chase makes sense. There, I’ve said it, but don’t ya’ dare repeat it!
Don’t you know that Rick Hendrick hopes that Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t repeat Sunday’s race with a crash? (Ya know that Jr. does too.) Dale will test a Hendrick’s COT there this week and by the time this article makes print, he should have already. Man, Junior sure took a hit on the wall today after driving like a mad man, or rather, his usual self. All the talk of him being winless this season has got his guff. He really wants to win one more than ever, and I want him to also. I know that if he doesn’t, he will be even more determined to get them next year. I have been looking for my crystal balls (I’ve got two of them) and they are nowhere to be found. I need to look into the future and see just how Jr. is going to do with Gordon, Johnson and Mears, not that I think he won’t do well. It’s just that when you are the FNG anywhere you work, whether it’s in NA$CAR or selling widgets, if there are big names already there, the row may be just a little too hard to hoe.
Yeah, yeah, I know this don’t sound like me, and I’m not sucking up to the Junior Nation (of which I am a card-carrying member – no they did not take my card back) but I want Dale to run with those guys. I think he will have feelings for DEI, and you know there will be thoughts every time he’s on the track racing against one of their cars. But he’s on his way to the big time and a championship with HMS, you can count on that. I said a few weeks back it may take awhile, and it just might, but the way he has been driving the past couple of races shows that, if the momentum continues through to 2008, it will be soon. He’ll have the stuff and the crew to do it with. Move over Jeffy and Jimmie, there’s a new guy in town and he’s ready to run with ya’. A return to DEI is something that will happen much later in his career, I truly believe (as I think he does too).
Well I am not supposed to do this, because my publisher and friend Will asked me not to (and he’ll more than likely edit this out), but a few weeks ago we started negotiations for my new season’s contract. Yes, I’m a year-to-year guy. It seems that with all the space I take up writing about NA$CAR, there’s less room for advertising, which means less money for him. I know I do take a lot of space rambling with my thoughts (and a little about the news, but you have to admit there has been some news in these articles). Now, I know that there are some that will be delighted if I do not return next season, but hopefully some of you would be sad. We will be trying to reach an accord and that ain’t no Honda in the next couple of weeks. To be honest, it don’t look pretty.
I won’t go into details (just like the UAW and GM wouldn’t) about how much I make now or how much I want to stay on, because if y’all knew it would only make your head swim. It seems that I didn’t read the super fine print last year at this time, about how I had to make the top twelve NA$CAR writers in the country for the last ten weeks of the season, so now I have to make concessions. Well, dang it, I really tried, but sometimes ya’ just come close and now Will has got the pendulum swinging, so I may not be back. I will keep y’all informed one way or another. Perhaps by a secret code, which I’ll devise soon. Maybe in a series of hand signals or an arrangement of words in these paragraphs that you can pick out and get the message I’m sending. Whatever the case may be, remember that you can reach me at tinynascars@yahoo.com, and if it ain’t NA$CAR, It ain’t s**t!!
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