I spent the weekend in Homestead working for the Speed Channel. I
just had a blast. I did practice shows, I did the truck race, I did
a special edition of "Trackside" and I did the prerace show with
Kyle Petty.
What a pleasure it is to work with Kyle. He truly is a breath
of fresh air. I think we complement each other. We are both
outspoken, and we try to tell it like it is without getting into
too much trouble.
What an incredible weekend of racing that started with an
exciting truck race Friday. We got to see Kevin Harvick win his
second race in a row. We saw him wrap up the owners championship.
Kyle Busch had some issues, so that pretty much decided the owners
championship.
I love watching the strategy in the truck series. We saw it
again Friday. The races are shorter than the Cup events. If you
aren't pretty close at the start of the race, then you don't have a
lot of time to work on it. You also have to make quick decisions
about taking tires or not because you don't want to run out at the
end. There's just so much pressure in the pits of what to do, when
to do and how to do. It sure is fun to watch and even more fun to
be doing it from the TV booth.
I heard a guy on the radio over the weekend call in and say
that Dale Earnhardt Jr. should run a few truck races to get his
confidence back. You know what? That is a great idea. He could get
out there in a truck with Harvick and Kyle Busch and be
competitive. It might be the shot in the arm that he needs to
jump-start things again for him. Trust me, winning will do that, no
matter what it is you are competing at.
Saturday night saw Kyle Busch wrap up the 2009 Nationwide
championship. Man, what a season he had, winning nine times this
year. I thought it was pretty neat how he held off Carl Edwards and
won the race Saturday night. The finish of that race was exciting,
but to me the entire race was good all night long.
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There was a lot of back and forth stuff. We also saw Denny
Hamlin and Brad Keselowski put on a show. I will say it again: I
don't like it when I see guys using racecars to get even with each
other. It has far-reaching consequences. It becomes bigger than
just the two of them at that point. There are crew members,
equipment, sponsors, you name it.
Trust me, I understand rivalries. I have been in many. I love
'em. We need them in our sport desperately. Rivalries are part of
our sport. Like Mike Helton told us on "Trackside," NASCAR has to
be the police and not let things like that get out of hand.
You saw an example of that on Sunday when they penalized Juan
Pablo Montoya two laps for what he and Tony Stewart were doing to
each other. Once Juan Pablo got his car fixed, he obviously went
back out there to spin Tony out and he did. NASCAR can't tolerate
that. It has to be controlled.
Now, on the other hand, if guys want to get out of their cars
and trade fists with each other, I am perfectly fine with that.
Just don't use your racecar. It's just too dangerous, and it can
affect other people. I don't love people taking racecars and
wrecking them with them. That's definitely not what they were
intended for.
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As you saw, the title of this article is "Confidence
personified," and to me, it is what that No. 48 team represents.
They live it every week, but I have to say, they showed it more so
this past weekend at Homestead. Knowing that all Jimmie had to do
was finish 25th or better Sunday, the question really became how he
was going to race.
When Jimmie sat on the pole, I thought that sent a pretty big
message to everyone of how they were going to race. The way Jimmie
drove that race was something impressive, too. He didn't hold back.
They didn't race conservatively. That No. 48 team raced like they
knew how to race. They raced to win.
The other thing that can't be overlooked was that Jimmie also
drove a very intelligent race. He raced when he needed to, and he
made sure he never really put himself in harm's way. He found his
comfort zone, but it was always right there in the top five or six.
It was very impressive how much confidence they all had in each
other. They raced hard and brought home yet another championship.
Another championship means four in a row, folks. That's
NASCAR history. No one has ever done that in our sport. Jimmie also
won by the biggest point margin since the Chase was established. Do
you realize this was Rick Hendrick's ninth championship? That ties
him with the old Petty Enterprises for the most.
Hendrick Motorsports is also the only team to have drivers
finish first, second and third in the year-end point standings.
Since Jimmie made his first Sprint Cup start in 2001, he has 22
more wins than all the other drivers. He leads all drivers in
top-five and top-10 finishes. He has the best average finish of all
drivers since he started in 2001. The list just goes on and on.
Here's one that I find totally amazing: Since he has entered
NASCAR Sprint Cup, Jimmie has finished in the top five in points
each year. Not only does it how good he is, but it also clearly
shows how consistent the guy is.
People want to say it's the car. People want to say it's his
crew chief, Chad Knaus. People want to say it's his owner, Rick
Hendrick, and all the resources he brings to the table. You know
what? Every time you look around inside that car, there is only one
person behind the wheel, and his name is Jimmie Johnson. He has
proven over the last eight years he is the best there has ever been
to get that car to the checkered flag. There's simply no question
about that.
Doesn't it make you wonder what Matt Kenseth is thinking?
Matt was the catalyst for the Chase being created because of his
runaway championship a number of years ago under the old points
system. Well, let's face it, since the Chase has been created,
Jimmie has made it his personal playground.
There were some other notable firsts this past season, that,
believe it or not, don't have a thing to do with Jimmie. Three guys
won the first Sprint Cup races of their careers — Brad
Keselowski, David Reutimann and Joey Logano. The funny thing about
the Keselowski win is that was the first lap he led in Cup, and it
just happened to be the one to the checkered flag at Talladega.
Speaking of Joey winning his race, he was the youngest driver
to do that on the Cup level. Tony Stewart became the first
owner/driver to lead the Sprint Cup points since the late Alan
Kulwicki did it in 1992. Mark Martin made his 1,000th Sprint Cup
start. Do you realize there have only been three drivers to do
that?
This has been an exciting year. Think about Kyle Busch. Not
only did he win the Nationwide championship, but he also won a
total of 20 races again in Cup, Nationwide and the truck series.
Here's another amazing stat: Kyle led enough laps in all three
series in 2009 to go around the world.
On the negative side of things, there were six drivers who
won races last year but failed to win anything in 2009. I am
talking about some pretty big names in our sport, too. Let's start
with Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer,
Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton.
It's interesting to me that only 11 drivers won a pole
position this year. That is the fewest since 1993. I think that
shows the effect of not having the Budweiser Shootout style race
anymore. With the manufacturer now picking the entries for that
event, winning the pole seems to have lost a little bit of its
luster. So other than getting to pick the first pit at the track,
the effort to win a pole seems to have diminished.
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Of all the teams that struggled all year long, I think it is
safe to say Richard Childress Racing showed signs of improvement
over the past few weeks. I think that's some positive momentum they
can work off to show big improvements in 2010.
After a wild and crazy Nationwide race, Denny Hamlin had to
love being able to pull into Victory Lane on Sunday for the Cup
race. I still think that if he hadn't had some mechanical issues
early on in the Chase, then Jimmie might not have walked away with
the championship so easy this year. That FedEx Toyota of Denny's
sure did have some good runs.
I also thought it was really special for Denny Hamlin to
acknowledge my brother Michael in Victory Lane on Sunday. Michael's
going to run a few races next year, but how many is still up in the
air. But Sunday marked the end of his full-time driving duties.
It's just another era coming to an end. Since 1972, there has
always been a Waltrip in the field. Just like when there wasn't a
Petty, Allison or Jarrett in the field, now it'll be a sad day in
the Waltrip family when one of us isn't out there. My brother has
been a great representative for NASCAR. He also won our Super Bowl,
the Daytona 500, twice. Yup, his older brother can't even say that.
But don't worry, ol' Michael isn't going anywhere. He will remain a
team owner as well as a broadcaster.
While this has probably been the biggest year for complaints
about NASCAR, I still think it has been a great year. When you sit
down and analyze the data, there's some pretty cool things that
have happened. Don't forget, unlike most other professional sports,
we have a very short down time period. Racing at Daytona in 2010
really isn't that far away.
Don't forget the Awards Banquet is on Speed Channel this year
and will be held for the first time in Las Vegas. As we head toward
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. I hope everyone has a safe
and happy holiday season.
