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FOURTH WIN IN A ROW FOR JOHNSON
By Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:15 AM EST
PHOENIX, Ariz.-Jimmie Johnson is only one race away from the 2007 Nextel Cup Championship.
Even Jeff Gordon conceded the 2007 title to Johnson after Sunday's race. "It's over," said Gordon, who finished 10th. "Those guys have done it flat out and they deserve the recognition."
Jimmie Johnson won his fourth race in a row, Sunday, in the Checker Auto Parts 500, and now leads his teammate Jeff Gordon by 86 points with only one race left in the season.
Johnson didn't have the best car at the start of the 312-lap race. He qualified sixth, but stayed near the leaders until after the mid point in the race. He took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. with 24 laps to go, and was never challenged for the front spot.
"I'm just doing my job," said Johnson. "I'm also dumbfounded. I don't mean that I'm not feeling a ton of excitement right now, but I'm just as shocked as everyone watching."
When asked what he thought of the last race of the season at Homestead, FL, Johnson replied, "We'll have to go to Homestead and be smart and see how things shake out. It's going to be a stressful weekend.
"Last year it was pretty stressful. We've only got seven more days until we do it again. I'll try to keep my mind clear and not worry about the things I can't control, and focus on next weekend."
Unfortunately, it has been a two-man battle between Johnson and Gordon for this year's championship, which has diluted the drama attached to the 10-race chase.
"It's not good for the sport, no," Richard Petty said. "It's too cut-and-dried. You've got no competition. You've got competition between two teams within the same team. That don't get it done as far as the general public.
"If one of these drivers happened to be Earnhardt, it might be a little different. When you get Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, they're the same. They've just got different names."
Polesitter, Carl Edwards had engine problems on lap 106 after leading 89 laps, lost 46-laps in the garage area, and finished 42nd.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. just lost the handle on his No. 8 coming out of turn-4 during lap 119, hit the inside wall, and wound up 43th.
Johnson, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-10 finishers.
Top-12 Chase contenders after 35 of 36: 1. Johnson-6572, 2. J. Gordon-6486, 3. Bowyer-6331, 4. Kyle Busch-6185, 5. Stewart-6169, 6. Kenseth-6103, 7. Harvick-6093, 8. J. Burton-6089, 9. Edwards-6067, 10. Kurt Busch-6056, 11. Truex-6009, 12. Hamlin-5973
HORNADAY CLOSES GAP IN TRUCK SERIES
Craftsman Truck Series driver Ron Hornaday finished second Saturday night at Phoenix, and series points leader Mike Skinner was eighth. Skinner started the race with a 57-point lead over Hornaday, but the margin was trimmed to just 29 points as the series heads into the final race of the season at Homestead.
Top-10 leaders: 1. Skinner-3865, 2. Hornaday-3836, 3. Kvapil-3411, 4. T. Bodine-3404, 5. Benson-3367, 6. Crawford-3358, 7. Musgrave-3074, 8. Crafton-2933, 9. Sprague-2886, 10. Darnell-2784
Top-10 Busch Series leaders: 1. Edwards-4640, 2. Reutimann-4069, 3. Leffler-3875, 4. Harvick-3868, 5. Ragan-3670, 6. Hamilton Jr.-3525, 7. Leicht-3443, 8. Ambrose-3343, 9. Biffle-3316, 10. Kenseth-3311
Carl Edwards wrapped up the Busch Series title last week at Texas.
LEGENDS OF RACING SERIES FORMED
Former NASCAR stars David Pearson, Harry Gant and Geoffrey Bodine are slated to compete in a new racing series next year, according to officials from Old School Racing.
The Old School Racing Champions Tour will hold 10 races in 2008, all on tracks 0.75 mile or less. The season begins May 18 at Concord (N.C.) Motor Speedway and ends Feb. 12, 2009 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway.
Other drivers expected to compete include Dave Marcis, James Hylton, Derrike Cope, Phil Parsons, Jack Ingram and Larry Pearson. Eligible drivers are former winners in any of NASCAR's top three series, former ARCA, CART or IndyCar champions or former Indianapolis 500 winners. All drivers must not be competing full time in any of those series. Drivers will compete in identically prepared cars furnished by OSRCT.
"I have been an ARCA truck series team owner for many years, have a few wins under our belt, but OSR is the most exciting thing I have ever been involved with in racing," said Gene Weaver, a managing partner of the series. "These drivers are legends in auto racing, and I hope that OSR can provide a platform that will allow us to show them how much we appreciate what they have done for this sport.
"They deserve recognition as the pioneers of racing, and it is the least we can do for them at this stage of their lives."
Other tracks on the schedule are Eldora Speedway in Ohio, Flat Rock Speedway in Ohio, Music City Motorplex in Tennessee, Springport (Mich.) Speedway, Southside Speedway in Virginia, Hickory (N.C.) Speedway and South Boston (Va.) Speedway
IT'S TIME TO MOVE, SAID PETTY
Richard Petty said that after 58 years at the same location in Level Cross, NC, it was time to move the Petty Racing operation closer to Charlotte.
"We hated to leave level Cross, but for us to be more competitive, we need to move," said Petty. "It's not the buildings and stuff as much as it is the personnel we hope to be able to attract."
Their new facility will be the 85,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by Robert Yates Racing in Mooresville, NC.
"The Yates building came up a little while ago and we said, 'Hey, this might be a good place to go see if it will work like we want to before we go spend a lot of money and all that stuff.' It's not exactly a location that we would choose, but it's closer than Level Cross," continued Petty.
"I was born in the house right beside our present shop and I've always worked out of there. A couple of years we worked a little bit out of Kannapolis (NC) with Curb, but we still had the shop operating. We're not closing the shop down, per se, we're just trying to figure out now what we're really gonna do and put into the shop part of it.
"It's kind of hard for us and for the people around the community to accept 'hey, they're not there anymore'. We hate that part of it, but again we feel like we have to go forward and to try to keep up. NASCAR is growing and we just felt like we had to try to look at us growing somewhere a little bit down the line too. This is our first venture into something like this. One thing about it, we're gonna be like a yo-yo. We're gonna always have this home if we need to we can always come back.
"I don't know that from the kids' stand point that it's that much personal being in Level Cross except that it's their home. The race part probably isn't as important to them as it's where grandma lives, ya know? I think that's probably more important than the race shop per say especially as NASCAR grows and used to, we ran all the races right close and the kids could go to all the races then we got to going all over the Untied States, they couldn't go to them all so the time changes on that."
Petty said they had no plans to entirely abandon their current Level Cross shop, and at least a portion of it would remain open in some capacity.
This Weekend in Racing
All three of the major NASCAR series will end their 2007 racing season this weekend at the 1.5-mile Homestead, FL track.
Fri., Nov. 16, Craftsman Trucks Ford 200, Starting time: 7:30 p.m. (EST); TV: Speed Channel; Distance: 134 laps; Defending champion: Mark Martin.
Sat., Nov. 17, Busch Series Ford 300, Starting time: 4 p.m. (EST); TV: ESPN2; Distance: 200 laps; Defending champion: Matt Kenseth.
Sun., Nov. 18, Nextel Cup Ford 400, Starting time: 3 p.m. (EST); TV: ABC; Distance: 267 laps; Defending champion: Greg Biffle.
Racing Trivia Question: What year did Matt Kenseth win a Nextel Cup Championship?
Last Week's Question: Which car number will Dale Earnhardt Jr. use in the 2008 Nextel Cup Series? Answer. Car No. 88.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodgesnews@earthlink.net.
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