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Controversy and hard feelings fuel the Chase for the Sprint Cup
NASCAR works best when there are clearly defined lines drawn in the sand and clear sides to take: Ford vs. Chevy, Petty vs. Pearson, Earnhardt vs. Wallace, Waltrip vs. Yarborough.
Rivalries fuel the sport.
Good guy vs. bad guy.
Veteran vs. upstart.
And if there’s controversy and hard feelings involved, so much the batter.
We just got one of those lines in the sand Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, where Jimmie Johnson’s stirring late-race charge to victory gave us the biggest moment so far in this year’s edition of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Johnson’s ninth victory at Martinsville might not have been the Game 7 moment NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France talked about when this crazy playoff format was introduced in 2014, but it was at least a solid Game 5 or Game 6 moment.
And, more importantly, Johnson’s victory means there are two -- at least two -- sides for fans to choose from while the championship is determined over the final three races of the year.
There’s the Johnson side. A title run for Johnson seemed like an impossibility after his Hendrick Motorsports team performed poorly over the summer before turning up the wick for the Chase. But now it’s here and very real.
With the victory, Johnson is guaranteed to race for a championship in three weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he and three other drivers will race for the title. And if Johnson wins, he’ll match Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt for the most championships ever.
Then there’s the Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota side, which features four of the remaining eight title hopefuls, including the defending series champion Kyle Busch and 2003 champ Matt Kenseth. It’s a virtual certainty that JGR will get at least one or two drivers into the final round and maybe even three.
But thanks to Johnson’s victory at Martinsville, JGR will not have four drivers racing for a championship at Homestead.
If you’re a JGR fan, you understandably probably don’t like that, but from a racing perspective it’s a good thing.
No disrespect to anyone at JGR, affiliated with JGR or fans of JGR, but having one team only in the final would have been a disaster from a PR perspective: Nobody wants to see championship settled solely among drivers from one team -- no matter what the team.
Instead of an all-JGR finale, now there’s a choice: Johnson vs. Gibbs.
And, depending what happens in the next two races, it could be Johnson vs. Gibbs vs. Kevin Harvick and/or Joey Logano or Kurt Busch.
Add to that the fact that the scoring was, um, convoluted at Martinsville, with people complaining about the half-hour long caution period and who did or didn’t benefit under yellow and all of a sudden there’s some energy around the Chase, which there was precious little of in the first six races.
Now, there’s drama, disagreement and compelling storylines to follow.
No matter who wins -- and all eight drivers still have a shot -- this Chase that began on such a lukewarm note might actually turn red-hot by Homestead. Wouldn’t that be great?
