Johnson beat Denny Hamlin by 39 points and Kevin Harvick by 41 points to capture his unprecedented fifth straight title. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr.—who both have seven titles—have won more championships than Johnson.
It was an odd start to a new year, with the Daytona 500 being stopped twice due to a crack in the racing surface at the sport’s premier race. The marathon was capped off by the beginning of a season of rebirth for Jamie McMurray, who, in his first race for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, visited victory lane in the grandest fashion, beating Dale Eanhardt Jr. back to the stripe to capture his first Daytona 500 win.
Little did McMurray know, it was the start of something only done twice before.
Johnson had a less-than-stellar start to 2010, finishing 35th in the Daytona 500. But, true to Johnson’s championship form, he came back and won at California. Johnson was the beneficiary of a late-race caution where he beat then-leader Jeff Burton to the line to stay on the lead lap during a scheduled green flag pit stop. It led Kevin Harvick to mention that Johnson had a “lucky horseshoe.” Johnson admitted some luck was involved, but he was in position to win late.
“Yes, we were lucky today,” Johnson retorted. “But you don’t get lucky and win four championships and 48 races.”
That was February. If anyone decides now that Johnson was lucky in winning number five, come talk to me. What we saw this season from Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus was pure skill and genius. As much as NASCAR fans rag on Jimmie Johnson, somewhere down the road they’ll all look back on this as one heck of a run.
But has Johnson’s dominance come at the expense of his teammate, and good friend Jeff Gordon? After Gordon won his fourth title in 2001, he began the “Drive for Five.” After nearly a decade of trying, Gordon still has four titles to his name, and the young kid he brought into the Hendrick organization has surpassed him.
Gordon has won one race in the past three seasons, and by the time May rolled around, Gordon was beginning to show his frustration with not winning. “It’s a little disappointing we haven't won some races yet,” he said after the Richmond race. “If we keep doing this, those will come. We got to keep putting ourselves in position.”
But the man in position for the biggest races of the year was Jamie McMurray. After winning the Daytona 500, McMurray fell off the face of the NASCAR world for a little while, but what better place to start making headlines again than at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
Jamie McMurray became the third driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season. Even though he sat just 151 points outside Chase contention after kissing the bricks, the Chase was the furthest thing from McMurray’s mind.
“Everyone wants to make the Chase,” he said. “Getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 means more to me this year than making the Chase. This year or in 10 years, the guy that won that race one time everybody will talk about. The guy that finished third in the points, nobody cares.”
The only other drivers to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season? Dale Jarrett in 1999, and Jimmie Johnson in 2006. Of course, it’s Johnson we’re all praising and chatting about today, and if Johnson isn’t the main storyline going into 2011, what are we thinking?
Five straight was a preposterous idea, and many media types picked Denny Hamlin as the man to knock Johnson off his throne. Hamlin was leading the points heading into this weekend’s final race, but fell way short of finally dethroning the current king of NASCAR.
Can he do it in 2011?
“I didn’t think that [the 48 team] showed the strength this year that they had in years past and that opened up the door for teams like myself and a few other teams to win a lot of races. Not only that, we really stepped up our program over these last couple of years and obviously with all of the wins that we had it's a good feeling to go to the race track and know you can win on any given week,” said Hamlin after the race in south Florida on Sunday.
It’s about ten weeks until we officially see some real racing action but as a NASCAR fan, you’ve got to be excited about the upcoming season.
I am. And I know there will be plenty to talk about as the offseason rolls along. I’ll see what I can dig up, and come January, I know that there will be a huge countdown to the Daytona 500, as per usual. I hope you’ve had fun this 2010 season following NASCAR news and notes. Next year can only be better.
No comments:
Post a Comment