Hello Nascar fans. What a great season ending race. It was another victory in a stellar season for one driver and a three in a row championship for another! Here is how events unfolded in today’s Ford 400.
Well on this the last Sunday of the season for 2008, this is the way the guys lined up off pit road for the start of the race.
David Reutimann 44 UPS Toyota
Scott Speed 83 Red Bull Toyota
Matt Kenseth 17 DeWalt Ford
Carl Edwards 99 Office Depot Ford
Kevin Harvick 29 Shell/Penzoil Chevy
David Ragan 6 AAA Ford
Jamie McMurray 26 Crown Royal Ford
Kyle Busch 18 M&M’s Toyota
Reed Sorenson 41 Target Dodge
Martin Truex Jr. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy
There were 15 lead changes in all today among about five drivers. The majority of those were exchanges between Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards who ended up leading the most laps again this weekend. There were 7 cautions today and most of them were for drivers sliding and or cutting a tire and slamming the wall. There were only a couple early on that only involved a spin or debris on the track. At one point towards the end of the race, Carl Edwards was within less than 60 points of catching Johnson who ran slightly back behind the leaders within the top 5-10 in the field for most of the day and finishing the day 15th for the race but taking home his third consecutive Sprint Cup Trophy. This victory today assures Johnson’s place in Nascar history alongside the legendary Cale Yarborough as only the second driver to ever win back to back to back championships.
Tony Stewart ended his season and his career with Joe Gibbs Racing after ten years together as a team with their main sponsor Home Depot. Tony finished his day in 9th place and said that he wished to extend his congratulations to Jimmy and his team and that he doesnt expect anyone will touch the record again for another 25-30 years. However, there may be another challenge or history making event to beat as before they even left the stage at victory lane, the Lowe’s team was already discussing strategy on how they could now turn their attentions to winning a fourth straight championship!! That would truly be history making! But as aggressive and competitive as they are and have been consistently over the last three years, who’s to say that they cant and wont. Even though I’m not his biggest fan, I wouldnt hedge my bets just yet. True the new season hasn’t yet started, but imagine the momentum and high these guys will be on from winning a third straight championship! They probably feel like supermen, like they can do anything, including win again. Congratulations go out to the entire team and Hendricks Motorsports for providing them with the equipment and attitude needed to pull this off. It was definitely an incredible season!
Here is the final points results after today’s season ending Ford 400. Results posted are only for the chase contenders.
Jimmy Johnson 6684
Carl Edwards 6615 -69 points behind the winner
Greg Biffle 6467 -217
Kevin Harvick 6408 -276
Clint Bowyer 6381 -303
Jeff Burton 6335 -349
Jeff Gordon 6316 -368
Denny Hamlin 6214 -470
Tony Stewart 6202 -482
Kyle Busch 6186 -498
Matt Kenseth 6184 -500
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6127 -557
Dale Jr. commented that he was glad he had the oppurtunity to race as part of the Hendricks Team and that he was grateful for the chances he got this year because of Hendricks and he is excited and looking forward to next season. Edwards who won today’s race and scored an impressive 9 wins this season finished the season in stellar fashion only 69 points behind Johnson. I think Carl will have plenty to look forward to in the coming season and with any luck, maybe he will win the championship next season. Besides, those backflips are something to see!!! A name noticably missing from today’s race roster was Mark Martin. Mark who finished the season 28th in the points, will be back next year and will give some of these young guns a run for their money when he joins the Hendricks stable of drivers and teams up with Johnson, Gordon, and Dale Jr. to really mix it up next season. Of course Tony is leaving behind his sponsor of ten years Home Depot for a new sponsor and a new number too next year as he assumes double duty as both owner and driver of his car. Rookie of the Year nominee, Regan Smith is wondering about his future for next season what with the DEI/Ganassi merger. The merger means DEI will virtually cease to exist, that was never what Dale Jr. or his father wanted for the company he built with the hopes that his son Dale Jr. would one day run. Dale Jr. says he has tried to keep himself removed from the events surrounding the merger and just views it as everyone else does from the outside.
Well those are just a few things that will be coming our way during the off season. I hate to see this season end but soon another exciting season will start and there will a lot to talk about in between. Well again, congratulations to the Lowe’s team for getting ’er done and I will see you back here again on Wednesday. Have a great rest of the weekend. Until then fans keep on racing!
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