Racing Roundup November 9 - 11

Busch Breakdown : Arizona Travel 200

In a Nutshell : The Arizona Travel 200 was another Busch Series crash fest. The race saw the caution flag fly 11 times for 46 laps—almost one quarter of the race—and was also stopped under the red twice. Clint Bowyer was strong early in the event, leading 28 of the first 30 laps. (He would have led all 30 if not for an orchestrated lead change allowing teammate Scott Wimmer the opportunity to get out front to secure five bonus points toward the owners’ championship for the No. 29 team.) Greg Biffle also showed some strength during the first half of the race, leading from lap 46-66. At lap 85, Kyle Busch asserted himself, leading until lap 117 when Matt Kenseth stuck his nose in front. Busch regained the lead on the following lap and never looked back, winning the Arizona Travel 200 in dominating fashion.

Behind Busch, Kenseth, Bowyer, Wimmer and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Top 5 finishers. The remainder of the Top 10 was comprised of Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, Jamie McMurray and Ron Hornaday, Jr.

Who Should Have Won: Kyle Busch was, without a doubt, the dominant car of the day. Busch led more than half of the race’s 203 laps and made several outstanding passes during the event. However, Matt Kenseth hounded Busch, and might have had a shot at passing him for the win if it were not for a powersteering failure during the race.

Three questions you should be asking after the race this weekend.

*1) Is Sam Hornish that bad?

Sam Hornish seems like a fish out of water when it comes to racing in fendered race cars. He has finally qualified for his first Cup race after six failed attempts, and he has been very unimpressive in the Busch Series, with a best finish of 15th and the rest of his finishes 25th or worse. It is hard to believe that a IRL and Indianapolis 500 champion is that poor of a driver. In 2008, it is going to be a very high pressure season for Hornish to prove that he belongs in full-bodied stock cars.

*2) Is starting races during “primetime” worth risking driver safety?

Once again, the late laps of a race were marred by all sorts of carnage because the setting sun blinded the drivers. Races used to start in the middle of the day and it was rare that the sun would have such an impact on the drivers’ vision. Now, the races start late in the day to try and garner that elusive casual fan demographic, and, as a result, the setting sun is endangering the safety of drivers. The sanctioning body needs to look into bumping up the start times again to keep drivers from being hurt.

*3) Has NASCAR become a little too liberal with the red flag?

The Busch Series race was stopped twice for red flags to clean up accidents. The Truck race was also stopped to clean up a messy wreck and repair the inside wall on the track. Fortunately, NASCAR has realized that the red flag is in the stand for a reason. This was the fifth time in the last nine Busch races that the race was stopped under the red flag at the end of the race. The fans do not want to watch the cars parade around at caution speed, and it is refreshing to see that NASCAR is now willing to use the red flag in order to get the track cleaned up and to make sure that the fans get their money’s worth out of the races.

Worth noting/points shuffle:

Carl Edwards already secured the driver’s championship last weekend at Texas, but the owner’s championship was still up in the air heading into Phoenix. Denny Hamlin did not have a good race and finished the Arizona Travel 200 four laps down in 28th place. Scott Wimmer was able to finish in fourth place which was enough to secure the owner’s championship for Richard Childress Racing once again.

After winning Saturday’s Busch race and Friday night’s Truck Race at Phoenix, Kyle Busch has a chance to go down in history. If he is able to win the Cup race, he will be the first driver to win all three major touring division races in a single weekend.

Jason Leffler had another very quiet Top 10, further solidifying his position as the best “Busch only” driver in the series. Lefler is third in points, 350 ahead of Bobby Hamilton, Jr., the next highest Busch only driver in the point standings.

Michael McDowell, who will be driving for Michael Waltrip Racing in some Cup races next season, continued his development with a solid 14th place finish in only his second ever Busch start.

Buschwhacker watch:

Buschwhackers in the race: 16
Starting spots taken by Buschwhackers YTD: 600 of 1455
Buschwhackers finishing in the top 10: 7
Buschwhackers finishing in the top 10 YTD: 244 of 340
Races won by Buschwhackers YTD: 31 of 34
Buschwhackers ranked in the top 10 in Busch Series points standings: 6

Quoteable:

“I needed to learn more, but that is where we are at right now. We’ll just keep working away at it and see what happens.” Sam Hornish, finished 39th, on what he learned about the car for his first Cup race on Sunday

“We just got tight, right in the middle of the corner. We thought we had it fixed but it came back here at the end. We never give up so we’ll see what happens. You never know what might happen in front of us.” Kevin Harvick during the red flag with three laps to go in the race

“To go out winning a race means an awful lot, it’s all these guys here. They work their guts out, they work their hearts out in the shop in order to prepare us and get us ready for the racetrack.” Kyle Busch, his voice choked with emotion, after his final Busch race for Hendrick Motorsports

Next up:

The Busch Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend for the season finale Ford 300. With the Championships already decided, the race will be all about winning and making impressions for next season. Casey Mears holds the qualifying record, set in 2004, with a speed of 177.936 mph, and Matt Kenseth is the defending race winner. You can catch the race broadcast on ESPN2 and MRN radio at 4:00 PM on Saturday, November 17th.

www.frontstretch.com

*1) Is Sam Hornish that bad?

Sam Hornish seems like a fish out of water when it comes to racing in fendered race cars. He has finally qualified for his first Cup race after six failed attempts, and he has been very unimpressive in the Busch Series, with a best finish of 15th and the rest of his finishes 25th or worse. It is hard to believe that a IRL and Indianapolis 500 champion is that poor of a driver. In 2008, it is going to be a very high pressure season for Hornish to prove that he belongs in full-bodied stock cars.

Yes ;D

Fourth straight win for Johnson stretches lead
November 11th, 2007

Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Jimmie Johnson won Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 Nextel Cup race, the ninth of 10 events which make up the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." Peaking at just the right time Johnson won his fourth consecutive race to open up an 86-point edge over Jeff Gordon.

The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.870 ahead of runner-up Greg Biffle.

The victory was Johnson's 10th of the season, first at PIR and 33rd of his "Cup" career.

"I'm lucky to be in cars that are capable of winning races," said Johnson. "I'm just as shocked as everyone watching and couldn't be more proud of this race team.

"Those guys are on an unbelievable roll...and we're just coming up short at a crucial time," said Gordon after his 10th-place finish.

It was all Carl Edwards early on as the pole winner pace the field through the first portion of the race. Meanwhile, the "race-within-a-race" between Gordon and Johnson was staying tight as expected. Both were sitting in the top-five and eyeing each other carefully.

Edwards continued to show the way despite taking just two tires at the first pit stop.

Also of note was the No.5 Chevrolet of Kyle Busch. The lame duck Hendrick Motorsports driver was trying to accomplish a feat which had never been done in all of NASCAR's long history. Busch won the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday and the Busch race on Saturday and a win on Sunday would be a series first. No driver has ever won all three NASCAR races in a single weekend. Busch started the race 38th on the 43-car grid, but by lap 75 was up to 13th.

A caution flag on lap 85 slowed the race and sent all the leaders down pit lane. Edwards, who took just right-side tires the first time, took all four this time and returned to the track in second place behind Martin Truex Jr. Johnson and Gordon came out third and fourth, respectively.

Then on lap 106 Edwards suddenly announced that he was down a cylinder. The No.99 team pulled down pit lane, but his chance at the win was over. The team looked at the plug wires, hoping one had fallen off, but that wasn't the case. Edwards pulled his Roush Fenway Racing Ford behind the wall, his day over.

"That was a race-winning car there, I was just cruising around having fun," said Edwards.

With Edwards on the sideline, Johnson inherited second place behind Truex Jr.

Lap 118 saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. slam the inside wall pretty hard in turn two ending his day. It appeared he just got too loose coming out of the turn and lost it.

Gordon used the caution flag to pit while leaders Truex Jr. and Johnson stayed out on the race track. Gordon came out 15th right in the middle of the action. A dangerous move if something happened around him. Johnson chose the safer route staying near the lead and hopefully keeping any trouble in his rearview mirror.

Up front it was still Truex Jr. and Johnson, but Kyle Busch cracked the top- five by lap 130 and was looking for the sweep.

Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and Kasey Kahne got together to bring out a caution flag on lap 137 and the leaders pitted. Now Gordon, one of those out of sequence with the leaders was five spots ahead of Johnson in fourth place.

Truex Jr. and Johnson were still fast and weaving their way through the top-10 and back towards the top. They were seventh and eighth when Kahne and Tony Raines had a problem to slow the action with the seventh caution of the day.

Gordon could get no higher than third as they reached the mid-point of the race, while Johnson was still coming. The No.48 Chevy was up to fifth and Truex Jr. was seventh.

Gordon was still working hard and finally got around David Stremme for second behind Matt Kenseth.

Could he get around Kenseth to lead a lap (and earn the five-point bonus) before he got caught by Johnson and Truex Jr.?

On lap 171 Johnson caught Gordon. They fought side-by-side for a couple of laps, but Johnson's tires were newer and it was inevitable that Johnson would make the pass.

After the pass of Gordon, Johnson was about three and-a-half second behind Kenseth. But he wasn't making any headway as the field passed the 187-lap mark.

However, when Kenseth pitted for fuel on lap 188, Johnson inherited the lead and five points. By lap 190 Truex Jr. also got around Gordon for second place. Disappointed that he could not lead a lap, Gordon pitted on lap 199 going down a lap to the leaders.

The No.24 team held their collective breath waiting for Johnson to pit and get back on the lead lap. Finally on lap 219 Johnson pitted and Gordon survived.

On lap 233 Dave Blaney spun to bring out caution flag No.8. It set up a final pit stop for everyone. Ryan Newman took just fuel to grab the lead while Johnson and Gordon took four tires each, coming out sixth and eighth, respectively.

Right after the restart, Kenseth swept around Newman and so did Tony Stewart, who's No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet had suddenly come to life.

Gordon had a little problem with Harvick with 52 laps remaining and Gordon's left-front fender began to rub on the tire. But there was no way he was going to stop with the championship on the line.

A debris caution flag with 43 laps to go, gave Gordon a chance to save his day. A number of teams came in and Gordon came out still 12th with a chance to catch his teammate.

Truex Jr. was the new leader with Johnny Sauter (neither driver stopped), Kenseth, Stewart and Johnson making up the top-five with 40 laps to go.

But it was not to be today for Gordon. Johnson began a late-race march towards the front while Gordon couldn't move up the charts. Johnson and Kenseth renewed their battle from last week with Johnson winning again taking second place on lap 283.

Now it was leader Truex Jr. on old tires trying to hold off Johnson on fresh rubber. There were 25 laps to go. The two leaders were side-by-side with 24 laps to go, but Johnson's better tires prevailed.

Kenseth, also on newer tires got past Truex Jr. as did Biffle but did he have anything for Johnson?

Twenty laps remained and the margin was 0.799 seconds between Johnson and Kenseth. The gap was getting larger not smaller. Biffle got around Kenseth and was suddenly the fastest car on the track, but time was running out. He would need a caution flag to have a chance to race for the win.

"I felt like we got something at the end and maybe we would have won this thing if we had found it at the beginning," said Biffle.

There was none, however, and Johnson won for the fourth consecutive time stretching his championship lead over Gordon to a gigantic 86 points.

Kenseth, Stewart and Newman completed the top-five. Busch came up short in his attempt to sweep the weekend finishing eighth.

The final race of the 2007 Nextel Cup season is scheduled for next Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We just have to go down there and be smart and see how it shakes out," said Johnson.

RacingOne Rewind: Phoenix

A look back at Jimmie Johnson's 33rd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series win in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway including news, notes and observations by the RacingOne staff.

Inside Line

Jimmie Johnson outran Greg Biffle to the checkered flag for his fourth straight win, 10th of the season and increased his lead in the Chase to 86 points over his teammate Jeff Gordon. Complete Results

Keys to Victory Lane

Johnson passed Martin Truex Jr. with 23 laps to go and never looked back on the way to his first career Cup win at Phoenix.

Zero to Hero

Kyle Busch started 38th and finished eighth, coming up a little short of a Phoenix weekend sweep which included Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series wins.

Hero to Zero

Carl Edwards started on the pole and was running away with the lead in the first third of the race but was knocked out by a blown engine and finished 42nd.

Rookie of the Race

Juan Pablo Montoya was the best of the freshman class, and the former Indianapolis 500 winners, with a 17th-place finish.

Notables

Kevin Harvick took the green flag 34th and finished sixth. Martin Truex Jr. finished seventh for his second-straight top 10. And Jeff Burton came home ninth for his fourth top 10 in his last five starts.

Chase for the Cup

Johnson brings an 86 point lead over Gordon into next week's season finale at Homestead. All he needs to do is finish 18th or better to wrap up the Cup.

Checker Auto Parts 500 Loop Data Leaders

# Average Running Position: Martin Truex Jr. - 3.1
# Fastest Early In a Run: Martin Truex Jr. - 125.777 mph
# Fastest Late In a Run: Matt Kenseth - 122.821 mph
# Fastest in Turn 1: Johnny Sauter - 110.272 mph
# Fastest in Turn 2: Matt Kenseth - 109.966 mph
# Fastest in Turn 3: Greg Biffle - 114.289 mph
# Fastest in Turn 4: Kevin Harvick - 114.528 mph
# Fastest Laps Run: Matt Kenseth - 54
# Fastest on Restarts: Martin Truex Jr. - 123.520 mph
# Most Passes During Green Flag Conditions: Bobby Labonte - 102

Pit Stops

# Jimmie Johnson captured his 33rd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series win in his 218th start. Detailed Active Driver Wins
# Johnson won the 167th race for car owner Rick Hendrick. Detailed Active Car Owner Wins
# This was Johnson's 10th victory and 23rd top-10 finish in 2007. The last driver to win 10 races in a season was Gordon – who won 13 in 1998.
# Johnson became second driver to win at Phoenix from the sixth position. He also became the 89th driver overall to win a race from that starting place. Starting Position Facts
# Johnson led two times for 55 laps, including the last 23. Lap Summary
# Johnson won the 26th race of the season for Chevrolet. It was also the 621st overall win for the manufacturer. All-Time Manufacturer Wins
# Greg Biffle's second-place finish was his fifth top five of 2007.
# Matt Kenseth gained four positions in the standing with his third-place finish.
# Tony Stewart recorded his first top five since New Hampshire in September with a fourth-place finish.
# Ryan Newman's fifth-place finish was his first top 10 at PIR since 2004.
# Kevin Harvick scored his fourth consecutive top 10 at Phoenix with a sixth-place finish.
# Martin Truex Jr's seventh-place finish was his first top 10 in four starts at PIR.
# Kyle Busch's eighth-place finish was his fourth top 10 in six starts at PIR.
# Jeff Burton finished ninth for his fourth top 10 in his last five starts in the Chase.
# Jeff Gordon (10th) has now finished 12th or better in his last 13 starts at PIR.
# The 312-lap race saw 10 lead changes among six drivers.
# 10 caution flags were thrown for 42 laps.
# The Checker Auto Parts 500 lasted 3 hours, 01 minutes, 46 seconds.

Lug Nuts

# One more race Junior fans, one more race.
# Again, Jeff Green was replaced by Jeremy Mayfield why?
# Sterling Marlin had to feel good about finishing ahead of two DEI cars.
# Sam Hornish Jr., Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier have all had better days at Phoenix, albeit without fenders.
# Joe Nemechek and Tony Stewart reportedly had a few words after the race after their get together on the track early in Sunday's race.
# Kasey Kahne's new black hairdo was anything but Lucky.

Garage Talk

# "I just lost it off 2." -Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
# "Those guys have just flat-out killed everybody." -Jeff Gordon
# "They are as good as any group I've seen, including Jeff in his heyday when he was winning 10 races a year." -Matt Kenseth
# "I drove like an idiot all day and finally wrecked." - Kasey Kahne

RacingOne Rating

On a scale of one to 10 rattlesnakes that were rustled out of "Rattlesnake Hill" overlooking Turns 3 and 4, we'll give Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 a seven. Another Jimmie Johnson win, sure, but overall the race was pretty enjoyable with passing behind the leaders, action and some drama sprinkled in throughout the afternoon. Phoenix is becoming a two-groove track and whether it's the COT or not, it's still a track we look forward to every year. Now we finally fly the checkered flag on the 2007 season next Sunday and crown a champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Ford 400.

www.racingone.com

Big Finish for Bourdais

It was a fitting end to a remarkable Champ Car World Series career for four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais, as the Frenchman claimed his eighth victory of the season and the 31st of his Champ Car career in the Gran Premio Tecate presented by Banamex at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Despite the fact that he was penalized 22 seconds off his originally-allotted 75 seconds of Power To Pass for an infraction during the Sunday morning standing start practice session, Bourdais started second and calmly stalked polesitter and race leader Will Power through the early stages of the race. He made his move on the Australian rising star on Lap 24, taking advantage of his Power To Pass to sweep into the lead in Turn 1. The quadruple Champ Car champion retained the lead through both rounds of pit stops with customary outstanding service from his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing crew, while a late full-course caution period for debris in Turn 4 did nothing but reduce Bourdais' margin of victory. Bourdais was never challenged and crossed the stripe 1.906 seconds ahead of Power to claim the victory.

The eight victories for Bourdais this season was a personal best, topping the 2004 and 2006 championship-winning seasons in which he earned seven wins in each season. It also moved him into a tie for fourth place on the all-time list of Champ Car victories in a single season. It was Bourdais' third victory in five career starts at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and he has finished inside the top two in four of his five career starts at the venue. He is now tied with Al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy for sixth place on the all-time Champ Car victory list with 31.

Bourdais clinched his unprecedented fourth Vanderbilt Cup in the penultimate round of the 2007 season at Surfers Paradise and closed out the year--and his Champ Car career--with a total of 364 points. He finished 83 points ahead of Justin Wilson, 364-281, and departs Mexico City on Sunday evening for a test session in Barcelona with Scuderia Toro Rosso, for whom he will drive in Formula 1 in 2008.

Power wrapped up a breakthrough Champ Car season with a second-place result, his best result since a victory in Round 7 at Toronto. It was the Team Australia driver's fifth podium result of the season, in which he also claimed his first career Champ Car victory in the Las Vegas season-opener. Power finished the year fourth in the championship standings, two positions better than his previous career-best points result of sixth, which he achieved in 2006.

Although he stalled his car on the race's standing start and fell to the rear of the field, Oriol Servia capped a season that he began without a ride by charging to his third podium result of the season with a third-place performance in Mexico City. Servia did not join the series until Round 2 at Long Beach--where he substituted for an injured Tracy at Forsythe Championship Racing--and moved from FCR to PKV Racing prior to Round 13 at Surfers Paradise. His showing in Mexico City allowed him to move from ninth entering the race to sixth in the final pmint standings.

American rookie Graham Rahal secured fifth place in the final Champ Car World Series point standings with a fourth-place performance in the Gran Premio Tecate presented by Banamex. Like Bourdais, Rahal was also docked 22 seconds of Power To Pass for the same infraction in standing start practice, but he too overcame the penalty to earn his fifth top-five result of the season. The fourth-place run was Rahal's best since finishing third three races ago in Zolder.

Rounding out the top five was Tracy, who had by far his best permanent road course performance of the season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The Canadian missed Rounds 2 and 3 at Long Beach and Houston due to an injury he sustained in practice at Long Beach and recorded his seventh top-10 result in 12 starts this season. Despite missing two races, he wound up the year 11th in the championship standings.

Simon Pagenaud finished sixth in the race and eighth in the championship to complete his rookie Champ Car season, while Bruno Junqueira finished seventh to equal his position in the final championship standings. Mexico City native Mario Dominguez wound up eighth in the Pacific Coast Motorsports machine after being penalized one position for crossing the line at the exit to Turn 17 multiple times. Nevertheless, Dominguez still earned the bonus point for improving the most positions from start to finish. PKV Racing's Neel Jani finished ninth and Wilson -- who suffered mechanical problems after running the early portion of the race inside the top five -- completed the top 10.

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With race to go in the Chase, Gordon concedes to Johnson
November 11, 2007

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -With one race to go, Jeff Gordon conceded the Nextel Cup championship to teammate Jimmie Johnson on Sunday.

``It's over. It's over,'' Gordon said after Johnson won at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, his fourth straight victory. ``Even if we win it, it's because they have problems. While we'll accept it, we don't want to do it that way. Those guys have flat-out killed everybody. And you've got to give credit where credit is due.''

Gordon finished 10th Sunday, leaving him 86 points behind Johnson heading into the season finale at Homestead. He and Johnson are the only drivers with a mathematical chance of winning the championship. Johnson can win by finishing 18th or better.

Gordon, a four-time series champion, dominated the regular season and built a lead of more then 300 points before the field was reset for the Chase for the championship. After 24 races, he led Johnson by 523 points.

After dominating during the first part of the season, he said he was disappointed with how he's ending it.

``I thought this was our year to get another one, and we're just coming up short here at the crucial time,'' he said.

Gordon knows how Johnson is feeling. Gordon was the last driver to win four straight races, in the summer of 1998.

JUNIOR LOSES IT: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s frustrating season took another bad turn when he wiped out on the 118th lap.

Earnhardt failed to finish for the ninth time in 35 races, and for the third time in the last six races.

``I just lost it off (Turn) 2,'' said Earnhardt, who had won twice on this track. ``I got up there a little high and it just came around. I tried to save it the best I could, but I couldn't.''

With one race to go, Earnhardt's string of seasons with a victory is in jeopardy. He has won at least one race every year since 2000 but hasn't won this year.

Next week's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is his last race driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He's leaving the team for Hendrick Motorsports next season.

EDWARDS GOES BUST: Sitting on the pole for the first time since the 2005 season finale, Carl Edwards was having ``a blast'' early on. Then his engine went bust.

Edwards led for the first 87 laps before his No. 99 Ford broke down.

``I mean, I was out there just having a blast,'' Edwards said. ``I could go just about as fast as I wanted, so you don't get that very often. It's too bad it blew up.

``It was something important in the engine,'' Edwards said. ``I don't know what it is, but we don't have many engine failures. It's too bad to have one on this day.''

Edwards dropped four slots in the points standings, to ninth.

END IN SIGHT: The end of the season can't come fast enough for Kasey Kahne, who got into an accident with Tony Raines midway through the race.

``That there was driver error,'' Kahne said. ``We've only got one week left, so I'm happy about that. I drove like an idiot all day and finally wrecked. We were slow. We were way off the pace.''

Kahne was evaluated and released from the infield medical care center.

Raines' car is owned by Arizona Diamondbacks executives Jeff Moorad, the general partner and CEO, and Tom Garfinkel, executive vice president & chief operating officer. It featured the Diamondbacks' National League West championship logo on the wheel well.

BUSCH RUN ENDS: Kyle Busch failed in his bid to become the first driver to sweep all three of NASCAR's national series at the same track on the same weekend.

Busch started 38th and finished eighth, holding on to fourth in the points standings. Busch followed his Friday night Truck Series win with a victory Saturday in the Busch Series.

OPEN WHEELERS: There were three Indianapolis 500 winners in a NASCAR field for the first time - Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish Jr. Montoya finished 17th, the highest by a rookie. Hornish finished 30th and Villeneuve had an accident and was 41st.

PIT STOPS: With Johnson's victory, a Hendrick Motorsports car has won 18 of the 35 NASCAR races this season. ``I think that's a pretty cool stat for Hendrick Motorsports,'' crew chief Chad Knaus said. ``We're always pushing and always trying to make our race cars faster.'' ... Matt Kenseth finished third, giving him six top-10 finishes in 11 races at Phoenix.

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Checker Auto Parts 500K

The Key Moment – With 24 laps to go – how ironic – Jimmie Johnson on new tires muscled his way past Martin Truex, Jr. on worn tires and drove off into the sunset at Phoenix – putting himself in perfect position for a second straight title.

In a Nutshell – Lately, races have started off slow, then gotten exciting at the end. Sunday’s race started slow and then petered out all together. It’s Jimmie Johnson’s world … we just live here.

Dramatic Moment – The restart after the tenth caution period featured the only real racing of the event, with Johnson and Matt Kenseth battling to get by Truex to take the race lead.

What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. Or just about almost anything but the pending Chase finale. This year’s version has failed to grab the attention of the general population like few things other than that TV show Cavemen. Few people bother to acknowledge its existence, and those chosen few who have been exposed to it don’t much care for it … with the exception of some zealots you wouldn’t want dating your daughter.

Mathematically, it isn’t over; but the Fat Lady has laid aside her Cornish Hen feast and is starting to warm up at the opera. It’s Johnson’s title to lose now.

Chase architect Brian France said this week he sees proof that the Chase format is working. He notes how hard Jimmie Johnson worked to win the race at Texas to lay claim to five extra bonus points. In fact, France says he was so impressed with Johnson’s effort, he called him this week to congratulate him. Which leads me to believe Jimmy Johnson, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, is still confused about who that babbling idiot that called him in the middle of the night was.

Richard Petty raised a few eyebrows this week saying that the Jeff Gordon / Jimmie Johnson points battle wasn’t good for the sport. As per the King, having two drivers from one team race for the title just isn’t good; he went a bit further, claiming that Johnson and Gordon are so similar that they are “the same person with a different name.” Unfortunate, since nobody could ever make that claim back in the era when the King and Bobby Allison seemed to be scrapping over the title at the end of each season.

Did Jeff Gordon’s own frustration doom his title chances? His car seemed slower after the bumping match with Kevin Harvick. The bump Gordon gave Harvick seemed to take the 24’s front end out of alignment.

Should they put Kasey Kahne on suicide watch tonight? His frank interview after his wreck sure did make it sound like he was giving up.

Phoenix (and some other tracks) needs to look at adding the SAFER barriers to the inside walls. Andy Lally took a savage hit in Friday’s Truck Series race. The impact was so hard that the pit wall was actually cracked. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun out in Sunday’s race and made hard contact with the inside wall.

Looks like the Truck Series title has come down to a two man battle, with Mike Skinner having a 29 point lead over Ron Hornaday going into the series finale. And oddly enough, this tight points battle has occurred without monkeying with the points with ten races left to go in the CTS season.

Home electronics big box retailer Best Buy has announced they are changing their sponsorship from Haas CNC Racing to a Gillett Evernham team. Based on this year’s results, that’s a bold leap from the frying pan into the fire.

Here’s an odd statistic. According to SPEED TV, Mike Bliss led 54 laps at Phoenix in Friday’s CTS race. Those were the first laps led by a Dodge driver this season. For the record, prior to this year Dodge drivers had won two of the last three Truck Series titles. So far this season, Toyota drivers have won 11 races, Chevrolet pilots have scored eight wins and Ford drivers have won five times.

In the Busch series, Chevrolet has claimed 21 wins to Ford’s seven, Dodge’s four and Toyota’s two victories.

Maybe it’s just been a long frustrating season for some of them, but it surely does seem that drivers a lap or more down aren’t showing the leaders much courtesy these days.

Was Jacques Villenueve trying to send a less than subtle message to someone? He chose the middle finger of his left hand to scratch his eye while being interviewed after his wreck, with his other four fingers drawn into the palm.

When it comes to playing hardball, Bruton Smith could teach Curt Schilling a thing or two. When Cabarrus County voted to block construction of the new drag strip at the Charlotte Motor Speedway complex, it seemed a no brainer. Local citizens were upset by the noise a drag strip would cause. Across the nation, even existing drag strips are constantly under fire by folks who moved into new developments near the track and many are being shut down or seeing their use severely restricted. (At which point, with no drag strip to race at, kids start racing in the streets, causing a whole new level of havoc.) But in Smith’s case, he told those politicos if he wasn’t welcome he’d just move his entire race track complex elsewhere, costing the area over one hundred million dollars in lost tourism revenue. The whispered cost of a tax incentive program to calm Smith and make him stay in Concord is now said to be approaching 75 million dollars in taxpayer funds.

The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune

Carl Edwards started from the pole and dominated the race, leading the first 86 laps. He was dogging Martin Truex, Jr. for the lead again when his engine expired.

It seems like old times. All three of the Michael Waltrip Toyota entries failed to earn starting berths for Phoenix.

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to win a race this year to keep his six season winning streak alive, he’s got one more race to do so. At Phoenix, Earnhardt lost control and hit the wall hard … but hey, at least he wrecked before the engine blew up!

Tony Stewart might have had a car strong enough to make a run on Johnson, but his efforts were hampered by uncharacteristically sloppy work on pit road by his team.

The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune

Kyle Busch had a career weekend with wins in Friday’s Truck race and Saturday’s Busch Series event, coupled with a Top 10 finish on Sunday.

Despite the bumping match with Jeff Gordon that could have put them both into the wall, Kevin Harvick came away with a sixth place finish at Phoenix.

Considering how hard he hit that wall, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was lucky to walk away frustrated but on is own two feet.

Worth Noting

* The win was Johnson’s fourth in a row and his tenth of the season. (Prior to this season, the most events Johnson had won in a year was eight in 2004.) Johnson and Gordon have combined to win the last six Cup races on the circuit.

* Greg Biffle (2nd) had his best finish since his alleged and irregular victory at Kansas. Kevin Harvick (6th) also scored best finish since Kansas.

* Matt Kenseth (3rd) enjoyed his fourth straight Top 5 finish.

* Tony Stewart (4th) had his best finish since Loudon at the beginning of the Chase.

* Ryan Newman (5th) has Top 5 finishes in three of the last four races.

* Kyle Busch (8th) has Top 10 finishes in four of the last five races.

* Jeff Burton (9th) has three consecutive Top 10 finishes for the first time since Bristol, Martinsville, and Texas early this spring.

* Jeff Gordon (7th) has now tied the modern era (post ’72) record for Top 10 finishes in a season with 29.

* Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (43rd) finished dead last for the first time since Pocono last July. This was his ninth DNF of the season; for comparison’s sake, he has just seven top 5 finishes in 2007.

* The Top 10 finishers drove seven Chevys, two Fords and a Dodge. Brian Vickers in 21st was the top finishing Toyota pilot. The top 5 drivers in the points all wheel Chevys, too.

* Juan Pablo Montoya in 17th enjoyed the best finish earned by a rookie.

What’s the Points?

Johnson continues to lead the points, and needs only finish 18th next week to clinch the title. Jeff Gordon remains second, and is the only driver with a mathematical chance to catch Johnson. Clint Bowyer remains third but is mathematically eliminated; Kyle Busch remains fourth, but is 147 points behind Bowyer.

Matt Kenseth had the best day in the points, moving up four spots to sixth. Carl Edwards had the worst points day, falling four spots to ninth.

Tony Stewart moved up a spot to fifth in the standings. Kurt Busch fell a spot to tenth.

Kevin Harvick took over seventh in the points from Jeff Burton.

Denny Hamlin displaced Martin Truex to take over the bottom spot in the Chase, buoying Truex up to eleventh.

Ryan Newman took over the “Best of the Rest” spot (13th) from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who falls a spot to 14th. Junior trails Newman by 58 points heading into Homestead.

Greg Biffle’s second place finish moves him to 15th place in the standings while Casey Mears drops to 16th.

Kasey Kahne fell two spots to 19th, allowing Jamie McMurray (17th) and Bobby Labonte (18th) each to move up a spot.

Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic) We’ll give this one two cans of flat generic stuff that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Next Up – The great lumbering ungainly beast that is this year’s Cup tour staggers into Homestead listing badly to port, spewing smoke, and dented beyond recognition of its once former glory. While Homestead still isn’t one of the greatest tracks on the circuit, it wins Most Improved honors after the latest recreation with variable banking and it might provide for a nice sendoff for a badly wounded sport. One way or another, after next week it’s over. And the huddled masses let out a jubilant “Hosanna!”

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