I'm sure you all know that classic song by Glen Campbell called "By
the time I get to Phoenix." Well, that was the song Jimmie Johnson
was singing before Sunday's race at Texas.
Unfortunately for Jimmie, he got taken out of the race on
Sunday and ended up with a 38th-place finish.
Poor ol' Sam Hornish Jr. has just had a terrible run of luck
the last few weeks. Sam's a good guy but unfortunately he has had
problems the last few weeks, including yesterday when he took
Johnson out. Sam had been making a lot of progress but it just
seems like he has been going backwards the last few weeks. In Sam's
defense, it did look like David Reutimann might have touched him
some and got him loose.
You do have to respect how Johnson, Chad Knaus and that
entire team refused to give up. They went to the garage with a
totaled race car. It took an hour for everyone to thrash on that
car and they were able to get it back out on the race track. It was
able to maintain minimum NASCAR required speed on the track and
they were at least able to salvage some points moving up from 43rd
position to 38th. It just showed the strength and heart of that
team to rebound the way they did in the face of adversity.
Sure, Johnson lost a lot of points, but you also have to
remember that he had built up an incredible point lead, so he had
some to lose. With a 184-point lead, you can have a bad race. He
still rolls into Phoenix this weekend with a 73-point lead, which
is still the second-largest point lead in the history of the Chase
for the Sprint Cup with only two races to go.
That margin is still a substantial lead and it really only
gives his teammates, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, a little hope.
Other than that, it is pretty much the same as it was. The good
news for Martin going to Phoenix this weekend is it's where he won
in the spring. So that gives him some confidence.
Now the downside for Martin is that Johnson also runs really
well at Phoenix. If Jimmie were to leave Phoenix with a lead of say
40 points or greater, then it's going to be extremely hard to go to
Homestead and beat him. Homestead-Miami Speedway is a big, wide
racetrack so you can sort of stay out of trouble and keep your nose
clean. Johnson would only have to run as hard as he needed to keep
Martin and Gordon in sight and then cruise to his fourth straight
championship.
The thing that really stuck out Sunday was the dominance of
the Busch brothers. Kyle was in his Toyota and Kurt was in his
Dodge. Boy did they put on a show and what a real duel it was. Kyle
said during the race that it reminded him of battling it out with
Kurt years ago in the Legends Cars in Las Vegas.
It did make you wonder if Kyle was going to be able to make
it on fuel since he stopped a few laps earlier than Kurt did. Sure
enough, that made the difference as Kurt had enough fuel and Kyle
didn't.
It would have been neat though to see Kyle win all three
races last weekend. He came into Sunday having already won the
Truck and Nationwide series races. Anytime someone has a chance to
either set a record or break a record, I would like to see them do
it. When you have a chance to do something like that, well you need
to capitalize on it.
It's just like Johnson having a chance to win four
consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships because it has never
been done. Someday years and years from now, young race fans will
ask "Remember when Jimmie Johnson won four championships in a row?"
That's what makes setting or breaking records so special.
Obviously what makes them special is they are so hard to do.
So if it's hard to even set the record, then breaking it is even
that much harder to do. So I want to see Jimmie win his fourth and
I would have liked to see Kyle win all three events at Texas.
Unfortunately it didn't happen for Kyle and the verdict is still
out on Jimmie.
The other thing I found interesting in Sunday's race was
there didn't seem to be a lot of engine failures. Texas is a tough
track. You are talking about a 500-mile race. That shows how the
teams and their motor programs have evolved because in years past,
that race would chew up engines left and right.
It was really hard to believe how Jeff Gordon struggled the
way he did Sunday at Texas. He sat on the pole and had been running
really well in all the practices. I've noticed a pattern with that
team that when they are "on," well they are really good. By the
same token, when they are "off" even a little bit, they really seem
to struggle. They seem to struggle to put a whole race together.
They run good at times but can't seem to keep the car running well
enough for an entire race.
If you remember, Gordon won the spring race there. It was his
first-ever win at Texas in all the time we have been going there.
If you heard him in his postrace interviews he admitted that Texas
still has his number. As he mentioned, they were good in the spring
but this time they were right back to where they were before.
Unfortunately not being able to keep the car good all day Sunday,
it kept them from capitalizing on Johnson's misfortune and making
up a lot of points.
Gordon winning the pole reminded me that I had been worried
about the way the No. 48 has been qualifying as of late. He started
way back at Martinsville but was able to get through it without any
issues. He started back there Sunday and it's what bit him this
time.
It seems to me there has been a change in philosophy over
there with that team. In the past it seemed they spent more time
and effort in either winning the pole or getting the car as far
forward as they could and then worrying about the race.
Now in the last few weeks it looks like they are more worried
about the race setup and spending much less time worrying about
qualifying. Sunday should be a wake-up call to what can happen when
you don't get that car up front. Maybe they need to worry a little
bit more about getting out front and staying out of trouble.
So anyway we head to Phoenix. While Mark and Jeff have a
little bit of hope left, I still believe it is Jimmie's to lose. I
don't think having a bad race and losing a lot of points will
affect that team. I figure we will see Jimmie run well at Phoenix
like he always has. While they may run just a tad more
conservative, don't look for a major change in strategy because
it's simply not in Jimmie and Chad's DNA to do that.
