One race to go and without some sort of disaster happening to old “5-time” he may very well become old “6-time”. Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Team did exactly what they needed to do while his competition had a miserable day. Johnson’s point lead surged to 28 points after Johnson finished 3rd while Matt Kenseth finished a miserable 23rd.
For the first time this season we saw a full grandstand. Perhaps the other tracks on the NASCAR circuit should be in contact with the folks at Phoenix International Raceway for tips.
By the way, is there a more beautiful setting for a NASCAR race than Phoenix? It is an absolutely magnificent setting.
Here are 5 questions to ponder after the Phoenix Race:
1) Have we seen the last of Mark Martin? Despite receiving offers to run next season, Martin has not accepted any. Martin did not mention retirement after the race Sunday but he sure did sound like he was considering it. The 54 year-old Martin said, “My life is going to change. I’m not having to quit before I’m ready.” It certainly won’t be the same without seeing the classy Martin at the track.
2) How in the world could Kenseth have such a crap car Sunday? Someone has some explaining to do. There was some chatter that Kenseth shouldn’t have run the Nationwide Race on Saturday. Was the car builder, Crew Chief, and Crew also racing? If I’m Joe Gibbs I’m asking some real serious questions about how this happened. You can talk about Kenseth all you want, but that car was garbage and that’s on the team.
3) Why didn’t Gordon pit? We’ve questioned several of Alan Gustafson’s decisions this year but this one was a big, HUH? With Gordon out of contention for the Chase the teams focus should be on winning races. With a caution with 30 laps remaining and Gordon in 5th place all the cars ahead of Gordon did not pit. For some reason Gustafson kept Gordon out with zero chance to win the race while all the teams behind him pitted. At the restart we watched Gordon move towards the rear of the field. A dumb decision.
4) How can you run out of gas leading the race? Someone else has some explaining to do. These cars run a lot better with fuel in them. The #99 team needs to figure that out. They had a potential win taken away by a calculator. A dumber decision.
5) Has anyone ever said anything more dumb about Jimmie Johnson? Last week Brad Keselowski actually was quoted as saying that racing Jimmie Johnson hard is his weakness. Yep, Jimmie Johnson who has to now be considered among the greatest of all time doesn’t race hard. You’ve got to be kidding me. Mr. 1-time critiquing Mr. 5-time (maybe soon to be 6-time). There were two great examples of Johnson’s driving capability on Sunday. Dumb, meet dumber, meet dumbest.
On to the season’s finale we go at Homestead-Miami Speedway. My picks:
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Wishful thinking?)
2) Jimmie Johnson (The champ leaves no doubt)
3) Matt Kenseth (They can’t miss the setup 2 races in a row, can they?)
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