Daily NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson (left) is the only driver with any competition for a NASCAR series championship in this weekend’s trio of races at Homestead. Also pictured: Kurt Busch, who only has to start Saturday’s race in order to win the Nationwide Series title, and Ron Hornaday, who has already clinched the Camping World Truck Series title.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - There may not be much of a race for the Sprint Cup championship, but it’s the only one left as NASCAR closes its season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson’s comfortable margin the Sprint Cup Series is the only one left to defend on what is, optimistically as it turns out, billed as Ford Championship Weekend.

Ron Hornaday’s fourth championship has already been clinched in the Camping World Truck Series, and all Kyle Busch has to do is start (which, of course, he will) in the Nationwide Series. The former completes its season with Friday’s Ford 200, and the latter closes down after Saturday’s Ford 300.

Mark Martin will have to gain 109 points on Johnson to win the Cup championship in the (predictably) Ford 400, and that’s about as likely as the Buffalo Bills coming back to make the NFL playoffs.

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MEANS SOMETHING HERE–No Ford driver has won the championship since Kurt Busch in 2004, and it won’t happen this year either, but Roush Fenway Racing has claimed the last five Ford 400s.

Greg Biffle won the season finale in 2004, ‘05 and ‘06. Matt Kenseth won in ‘07 and Carl Edwards in ‘08. Jack Roush has been the owner of six Homestead winners overall.

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TRACK HISTORY— Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted its first race in what is now the Nationwide Series in 1995. The now-Sprint Cup Series made its first visit in 1999, and the track began hosting the final races in all three touring series in 2002.

The track has always been 1.5 miles, but it opened as a track with four distinct turns, similar to Indianapolis Motor Speedway but shorter. Those four turns, laid out in a smaller space, created turning angles deemed dangerous, and the turns were rounded when the track was reconfigured for the first time prior to inclusion on the Cup schedule.

The banking of the turns was changed - tapered from 18 degrees on the bottom to 20 at the top - in 2003.

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ROOM AT THE TOP–Hendrick Motorsports drivers Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon have combined to win 13 races. Tony Stewart, whose team derives its chassis and engines from Hendrick, has won five more.

Combined, that’s 51.4 percent of the races to date.

The biggest casualty of Hendrick-Chevy domination has been Roush Fenway Racing, whose victory total has plummeted from 11 in 2008 to three so far this year.

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Jamie McMurray (26) takes the chechered flag ahead of Kasey Kahne to win the AMP Energy 500 on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Associated Press)

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Watching the early laps of Sunday’s Amp Energy 500, NASCAR officials must have thought their dapper band of aristocrats ungrateful.

Oh, wise guys, huh?

Messrs. Mike Helton, John Darby, et al., after designing a car that facilitated something called "bump drafting," declared it taboo in the turns of Talladega Superspeedway. For most of the day, having been commanded to abridge the racing, the drivers seemed just to give up on doing it at all.

For the record, Jamie McMurray won the race by that greatest of Talladega virtues. He happened to be in front when the demons of Hell rose up from the earth behind him.

For much of the day, the cars lined up at Talladega. Not in lines. In one line. This hasn’t happened in many years. No one waxed nostalgic, either.

"It didn’t affect my race at all," said Kasey Kahne, who finished second.

"They tried to take away an opportunity for us to wreck," said champion-apparent Jimmie Johnson.

As for McMurray, the feel-good story - he’s being legislated out of his ride at season’s end - was obliterated by a 16 cars being obliterated near the end. Imagine watching "The Sound of Music" for two hours, then having the screen shift unexpectedly to the last hour of "Jaws."

Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water.

Slumbering fans in front of the press box occasionally came back to life when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead. He led nine laps.

But the third victory of McMurray’s career - 31 races since a Ford driver had visited victory lane — ended like D-Day began. As McMurray took the white flag in the lead, 13 cars invaded the trioval as if it were a beach.

"This is a different type of racing than what we do (normally)," said McMurray. "It’s even different than Daytona because handling is irrelevant here. It’s all about just kind of getting in the right groove and having a really good engine."

Nothing that happened before lap 185 much mattered. That’s a when a chain reaction went nuclear for Ryan Newman, whose Chevy seemed bent on achieving escape velocity. Newman got out of his car, having been trapped upside down for quite some time, and didn’t react well.

"It’s just a product of this racing and what NASCAR has put us into, with this box and these restrictor plates with these types of cars. Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other," said Newman. ‘Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison and all those guys have always done that. I don’t think (NASCAR) thinks much of us anymore.

"We’re supposed to be racing all day long, and I think we lost a little bit of that luster."

The first 150 laps of the race were variously described as a tire test, a model for high-speed rail and a cricket match, which doubled as an insult to fans of exciting cricket. It looked precisely as if drivers, having been sternly lectured in the drivers’ meeting to be good boys, had decided to rebel against the schoolmarms.

Then, just when all seemed lost, Mt. St. Helens erupted.

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Denny Hamlin celebrates winning the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, his second victory of the season. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Chevy Rock & Roll 400
Richmond (Va.) International Raceway

By the way, he won: Denny Hamlin, who has come close repeatedly, finally won at Richmond, though his victory was somewhat overshadowed by the struggle of those behind him to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

And the Chase? A four-time race winner, Kyle Busch, didn’t make it. Brian Vickers made it for the first time. Matt Kenseth didn’t make it for the first time.

Surprises: Sam Hornish Jr. finished eighth after finishing sixth in the former Richmond race.

Disappointments: Roush Fenway staggered into the Chase with Greg Biffle finishing 13th and Carl Edwards 16th. The only Ford driver to win this year, Kenseth, finished 25th.

Notable numbers

6 – Denny Hamlin’s career victories.

8 – Difference between Vickers making and Kyle Busch missing the Chase.

19.5 – Tony Stewart’s average finish in the past four races.

247 – Difference between Stewart point lead (+237) before the race and, thanks to the Chase format, his deficit (-10) after it.

Quotable quotes

“It’s not the points we didn’t get in this race. It’s the conglomerate of points we sacrificed all year.” – Kyle Busch.

“Nobody gave up. It was a two-and-a-half-year program from scratch, and there was a lot of pressure from peers, fans, media, and we’re finally here.” – Brian Vickers.

“Everyone on this team did an amazing job. To be honest, big deal. We’re in. The car went away late, but we just did what it took to make it.” – Juan Montoya.

“This is my house. It has been for the last two years. We just didn’t get the win to show it.” – Denny Hamlin.

“We don’t have the finishes to show for it, but we’ve got the speed, and it’s a matter of getting to work and see what we’ve got.” – Jimmie Johnson.
 

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