Ah, the NASCAR season's over, but I'm still busy. I've been on a bunch of radio shows, co-hosting three shows (last Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday) on Sirius XM's NASCAR Channel 128. I put together a post-season wrap-up and have been finishing some NASCAR-related free-lance projects. I'm trying to get the docket cleared this week.
Yesterday, I completed an expense report and wrote correspondence to several airlines regarding frequent-flier miles. This morning I completed the annual benefits sign-up and registration for my company's benefit plans.
I've got to catch up on personal-finance matters today: pay some bills, run some errands. Next week I hope to work on some creative writing. I've written a manuscript I need to try to sell. I've got to put together some packets to send to publishers. I also need to try to find some places to play music, and I'm planning to put together some packets to take by music venues.
Writing -- both fiction and songs -- is kind of the fun part. Trying to find interest in them is hard and tedious, but, obviously, necessary. I think I'm going to put together a DVD of live-music videos to leave with bar owners and the like.
Sometime during the offseason, I'm going back to Nashville to play music at 3rd & Lindsley again. Each Tuesday morning during NASCAR season, I appear on WNSR-AM 560 to talk about the sport and answer questions from callers. In April, I played music at 3rd & Lindsley, and a good many of the radio show's listeners came. Greg Pogue and David Coleman at WNSR want to put on another music appearance and what is known in the business as a "meet 'n' greet." It's just a matter of finding the best time.
Another project I should work on is finding a place to play music when I'm at Daytona for Speedweeks 2011.
I'm sorry I don't have much to offer this morning in the way of insight and observation. Maybe all the menial tasks I've been completing have sort of dumbed me down. I've just got to get out from under a mountain of such tasks.
“We’ve got a lot of racing left, but when we’re winning at places we’re not supposed to, you better watch out.” – Jimmie Johnson, after winning the Food City 500 at Bristol.
“I like Jimmie as good as anybody, but for the sake of the sport, one of the two of us (Harvick, Hamlin) needs to make something happen.” – Kevin Harvick, during the Chase.
“Two tires won the race, but when you’ve got two tires in dirty air, it’s no good.” – Dale Earnhardt Jr., after finishing eighth in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas.
“The ‘48’ (Johnson) is testing my patience. I’m hard to get mad, and I’m (ticked) off.” – Jeff Gordon, after the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.
“If we’d have kept those guys a lap down, that would’ve been selfish.” – Dave Rogers, winning crew chief, on allowing a mass ‘wave-around” during an early caution period in the Heath Calhoun 400 at Richmond.
“When you play at home, that’s when you want to win the most.” – Tony Stewart, from Columbus, Ind., at Indianapolis.
“He's real aggressive. That's cool, but when he starts affecting me with his aggressiveness … I just will not put up with it. I've been around here long enough. I just will not tolerate it.” – Jeff Burton, referring to Kyle Busch, after Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
“There’s just a pit that develops in your stomach and doesn’t go away. It’s the championship pit, and it’s there.” – Jimmie Johnson.
“Points? I chipped away, but I didn’t chip away much.” – Kyle Busch, after a fourth at Martinsville.
“In the World Series, when a pitcher’s not doing his job, they put another one in that can.” – Johnson, referring to pit-crew swap at Texas.
“I wonder if anyone else will ever win five of these things in a row, but next year we’re going for six, so away we go.” – owner Rick Hendrick, after Johnson extended his consecutive championships.
“I won't turn on the television, watch any racing. Remove myself from it. I know what I need to do, what my team has to do. I don't want to hear what anybody else has to say.” – Johnson, before the final race.
“I don’t know if part of that is coincidence, or just that those guys who win championships are really good. I don’t know, but it isa difficult race track. You have to do everything right.” – Matt Kenseth, noting the overlap of Indy winners and Cup champions.
“Bristol is a lot like Watkins Glen. You never know what’s going to happen.” – Harvick, naming one thing the two have in common.
“We have a way of forgetting the way history really was. … I think we tend to forget that even the great race teams go through struggles.” – Jeff Burton.
“If I sat down and planned it, we would win every Chase race and I would win the championship. But plans don’t quite work like that.” – Kyle Busch, whose Chase struggles continued.
“Mathematically, it’s possible. Realistically, I don’t think so.” – Jeff Gordon, asked about the possibility of a driver winning the Chase without winning any races.
“There’s a lot of psychology that goes into racing, but all of that goes out the window once the race starts.” – Carl Edwards
“If you get in a problem (at Martinsville), it’s normally because you are a root of it.” –Stewart
“It’s amazing what the Chase format does to the nerves and to the teams and the drivers.” – Kurt Busch
“If the roles were reversed, I would be saying the same thing. As a competitor, you’re tired of the same guy winning. I guess I understand where they’re coming from and what they’re saying … I don’t necessarily agree with it. I think it would be great for someone to win five straight.” – Johnson, who did.
Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson (C), his daughter Genevieve Marie, his wife Chandra (R), crew chief Chad Knaus (2R) and Lisa Rockelmann (R) pose outside the Bellagio Hotel and Casino Resort during Day 1 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champions Week on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: Getty Images)
Jimmie Johnson has already been crowned as Sprint Cup champion for the fifth consecutive year. Now he is being … celebrated.
Champion’s Week is taking place in Las Vegas, Nev., leading up to the Dec. 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at one of Sin City’s premier resorts, Wynn Las Vegas.
After a 28-year run in New York, NASCAR moved its banquet and related activities to Las Vegas in 2009. The Speed cable/satellite channel will again televise the event on Friday night at 9 p.m. EST.
Comedian Frank Caliendo and country rockers Rascal Flatts will entertain. Joining them is “Viva Elvis by Cirque du Soleil, a special performance of dance, acrobatics and music celebrating the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley.
The awards ceremony will be attended by approximately 300 fans, along with drivers, team owners and industry leaders.
The ceremony culminates several days of activity involving Johnson and the other 11 drivers who qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Activities begin today with a NASCAR Street Tour, a Pit Stop Tour and an event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chasers for Charity.
On Thursday, Dec. 2, the annual NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon was scheduled to include presentations to the championship crew chief, Chad Knaus; Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Kevin Conway; and Most Popular Driver. A Victory Lap was scheduled in which the top 12 drivers motored down the Las Vegas Strip in their respective race cars and a presentation of the Key to the City from Mayor Oscar Goodman and Commissioner Tom Collins. A fan event, NASCAR After the Lap, with question-and-answer sessions with drivers and an interactive Coca-Cola Fan Zone.
Mark Martin has another year in his Hendrick Motorsports contract; Kasey Kahne waits a year for his Hendrick slot, racing in 2011 with Team Red Bull. (photos: Getty Images)
- The shuffling of three Hendrick Motorsports teams is really something of a no-brainer. Jimmie Johnson was the only HMS driver to win a race … not to mention a championship.
- It certainly makes some sense from a public-relations viewpoint. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fans were displeased with Lance McGrew, and Jeff Gordon’s fans were displeased with Steve Letarte.
- Now Earnhardt Jr. can breathe new life into both his career and Letarte’s. Or vice-versa. Or together.
- Who benefits the most? Probably Gordon, who gets Alan Gustafson from Mark Martin. Now Martin’s crew chief is McGrew.
- Martin has no contractual plans beyond 2011. In 2012, Kasey Kahne comes on board at Hendrick Motorsports. Martin is sort of keeping the seat warm while Kahne spends a year at Team Red Bull.
- Richard Petty, raising money to keep the team that bears his name afloat, recently announced his intention to field Fords next year for A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.
- A hot offseason topic is the change being pondered by NASCAR regarding the Nationwide Series. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski plan to run both Cup and Nationwide full-time again next year.
- Some have suggested limitations in the number of races Cup drivers can run in the other major series. Others say drivers should only be allowed to receive points in one major series of their choice. The latter change would make owner points more significant.
- Sprint Cup cars will be changed to increase manufacturer awareness in 2011. The cars representing Chevy, Toyota, Ford and Dodge will have more distinctive noses.
- Sam Hornish Jr.’s NASCAR career may be in jeopardy if sponsorship cannot be secured to keep him at Penske Racing … and keep Penske Racing and Dodge with three regular entries.
Most improved driver: “Flame On” Harvick. Least improved auto manufacturer: Ford.
HIGH: Jimmie Johnson won a record fifth consecutive Sprint Cup championship, which is even more impressive in that no one else in the sport’s history as won more than three.
LOW: The exhortation of NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton – “Have at it, boys” – proved to be emblematic of the season that followed. An on-track feud between drivers Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski boiled over in both the Cup and Nationwide Series. No one was hurt, but the crashes were scary and obviously intentional.
* * *
HIGH: Denny Hamlin’s run for the championship was inspirational and heartbreaking. Hamlin persevered in spite of a knee injury that required surgery … while he continued to race. He led Johnson by 33 points with two races remaining – and won two more races -- but wound up losing the championship by 39.
LOW: Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued to struggle. Ninety-three races have passed since his most recent victory. He will begin his fourth season at Hendrick Motorsports with his third crew chief, Steve Letarte. (A fourth, Brian Whitesell, just took the reins for one race.) He finished 21st in the standings and collected only three top-five finishes.
HIGH: Another driver who didn’t qualify for the Chase won the season’s two most prestigious races. Jamie McMurray captured both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
LOW: Upset at being criticized, NASCAR officials tried to fine two drivers, Hamlin and Ryan Newman, in secrecy. Naturally, word leaked out, leading some to wonder what else the ruling body was hiding.
HIGH: The season’s two races at Talladega Superspeedway produced a total of 175 lead changes. The individual numbers were 88 and 87, the two highest such totals in the sport’s history.
LOW: Two of the sport’s more dignified drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton, exchanged blows after Burton inexplicably wrecked Gordon’s Chevy under a caution flag at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 7. It’s difficult to buy Burton’s explanation that he didn’t mean to do it on purpose.
HIGH: The Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Camping World Truck Series, Austin Dillon, actually won two races.
LOW: The rookie of the year in Cup, Kevin Conway, never finished higher than 14th and was 35th in the point standings.
HIGH: The most improved performance came from Kevin Harvick, who improved his average finish from 19.9 in 2009 to 8.7 in 2010. Under the point system in place prior to 2004, Harvick would have finished the season with 295 points more than any other driver.
LOW: Even though three of its drivers made the Chase, and Edwards won the season’s final two races, Ford’s NASCAR program still had a disappointing year. Chevys won 18 Cup races, and Toyotas won 12. Fords won four, and Dodge’s one-team, three-car effort claimed two.
Jimmie Johnson is starting to be more monarch than champion. The Sprint Cup championship seems to be his by divine right, even though it’s actually determined by points.
Five in a row? Richard Petty never did that. Dale Earnhardt never did that.
Nobody, at least nobody in NASCAR, ever did that.
What in the name of John Force (the drag racer who did that) do Johnson, and crew chief Chad Knaus, and owner Rick Hendrick, and Jeff Gordon’s pit crew, think they are doing?
This sport is supposed to be competitive. That’s what NASCAR said when they implemented a Chase, and a generic car, and double-file restarts, and “green-white-checkered finishes,” and “lucky dogs,” and “wave-arounds,” and smaller gas tanks, and bonus points for winning during the regular season, and Lord knows what they did that we’ve already forgot about.
It may take the Supreme Court to stop Johnson. Or the Tea Party.
NASCAR can’t stop him. Forty-two other drivers on the track can’t stop him.
Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick gave Johnson the toughest run he’s had during the streak. Incredibly, he actually trailed Hamlin going into the final race. Hamlin finished 14th in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnson finished second and just won the title by 39 points this year. His previous margins, going backward, had been 141, 69, 77 and 56. He actually lost a championship by eight points back in 2004, but that was a weird year. Bush got reelected that year. The Cup champion was named Busch, Kurt Busch, and he too lost a tire but won anyway.
Remember back decades ago, when the Pittsburgh Steelers or the San Francisco 49ers were talking about “one for the thumb”? Sprint Cup champions get rings, too. Johnson’s now ready to fill up the other hand.
Knaus is the crew chief, but the team might as well be led by John Wooden, realizing, of course, that this is impossible since the great basketball coach passed away. Knaus, quite obviously, can suffice.
Hamlin won two more races than Johnson. Carl Edwards won the final two races. Kevin Harvick was more consistent than Johnson, which used to mean something. All have some of that hope that, yes, springs eternal.
The hope isn’t as strong, though, as it was back in 2005.
Team owner Rick Hendrick and drivers with swapped crew chiefs: Mark Martin (who now has Lance McGrew), Dale Earnhardt (Steve Letarte), and Jeff Gordon (Alan Gustafson).
First, a preface. On Monday night, I was on Mojo Nixon’s Sirius NASCAR Channel show, “Manifold Destiny.” I noted that many Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans had been suggesting, no, demanding, that Earnhardt be given crew chief Chad Knaus, who assisted Jimmie Johnson in winning the last five Sprint Cup championships.
I said that, based on my knowledge of both men, Junior and Knaus wouldn’t get along for 15 minutes. I then said that I thought Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s crew chief, would be a better match for Junior.
The next day Hendrick Motorsports announced that it was swapping the teams of the three drivers other than Johnson. Letarte moved to Earnhardt’s team. Lance McGrew moved to Mark Martin’s team, and Alan Gustafson moved to Gordon’s.
It looked as if I had had inside information. I hadn’t. It was just an observation that happened to occur the very next day. It made sense to me. I guess it made sense to Rick Hendrick, too. Skill is rewarding, but luck is more fun.
On Wednesday, I co-hosted another Sirius NASCAR (Ch. 128) show, “Trading Paint,” with Danny “Chocolate” Myers, who worked with Dale Earnhardt for years and is still affiliated with Richard Childress Racing.
On the day before, while driving, I had listened to some of the NASCAR Channel, just to see what everyone was talking about. Everyone was talking about the Hendrick moves and still were when Choc and I answered their calls and talked about them for most of four hours.
On Tuesday, while I was listening, almost everyone had been angry, particularly the fans of Earnhardt and Gordon.
On Wednesday, while I was talking to them and trying to answer their questions, most all of them had reconsidered.
The transition didn’t particularly surprise me. It’s not unusual for people to overreact on first impression, then think it through and come around. The near unanimity of the change is what surprised me.
The day before, it was the same show, Choc paired with his regular sidekick, Rick Benjamin. I was just substituting.
That made me the variable, I guess, but I don’t really think that had anything to do with it.
Monday was just a great day. I worked all morning, as is the case with every Monday, then just did little things all afternoon.
I read. I went out back of the motel, where the water laps up to a sandy area walled off from the water, and played my guitar, once in the afternoon and then at dusk. A guy I saw at MFB (motel's free breakfast) asked if I was the guy who was playing guitar last night. I told him yes, and he said, "You were good. Really good."
Hah. What does he know?
I was on Mojo Nixon's NASCAR show last night on Sirius XM. "Manifold Destiny." We talked about what sets Jimmie Johnson (and crew chief Chad Knaus) apart from the rest in NASCAR.
Mainly, though, I didn't think about NASCAR on Monday. Well, I mean, other than writing all the copy for "NASCAR This Week," our syndicated page that appears in newspapers across the U.S. and Canada. And a day-after column. And a blog.
I had my encounter with the little sea bird (see video blog here). I had a good supper. I read a few of the stories about Sunday's Ford 400 written by colleagues.
Remember: I didn't think that much about NASCAR. Who am I kidding? It takes over your life.
I needed Monday. It's been a while since I had "one of those days" that brought my temper up close to a boil. I didn't completely lose it, hence the notation "up close to a boil." Things piled up on me, though. I was detained in the lobby because I didn't have the proper sticker affixed to my NASCAR hard card. When I finally got to the press box, it was very hot and I discovered its location had been changed and its size greatly diminished. Because it was so boxed in on either side by luxury suites -- and because it was so narrow, and because there was a large column right in the middle -- the only place to see was on the front row, and until shortly before the race started, the sun was multiplying through the glass and causing that front row to sizzle a bit (not literally).
There were other aggravations but no need to waste excessive words here, lest I come across as just another spoiled journalist.
So I spent a good deal of the day pissed off and trying to control myself. It's not altogether a bad thing. I usually write best when mildly aggravated. The sarcasm bites more.
On Monday, though, I was happy, relaxed and unworried. The season was over (though I'm going to be very busy for at least the next week). I'd had a night to sleep on the frustration. The little bird gave me some perspective. Playing guitar is my refuge from the maddening world.
I finished off a book and stopped by a local bookstore to buy another. I had a nice conversation with the lady at the bookstore about literature. If I'm here (as in "staying in the Keys," as opposed to Miami), I guarantee I'll stop by her store again next year. The three video blogs offer some evidence of the range of my moods. The first was shot in the Homestead-Miami Speedway infield. I'm really relaxed and content. The second was after all the pre-race frustrations. I'm talking to the air out on the stairwell, more for therapy than entertainment. The third was the next afternoon (Monday), when I felt as content and philosophical as some mystic. Or ascetic. Or some other word that ends with "-tic." I would think none was "lunatic."
One side of me wishes I had a few more days to clear my mind here in Key Largo. Another can't wait to get home.
I'll be co-hosting NASCAR shows on Sirius (NASCAR Channel 128) on Wednesday (11 a.m.-3 p.m.), Saturday (noon-3 p.m.) and Sunday (noon-3 p.m.).
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. As a general rule, Thanksgiving is all good. The family gets together and it's pleasant. Christmas can get petty. Or maybe it's just that I get tired of normal life.
I've been a gypsy too long.
It was a good day at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Carl Edwards on Nov. 21, who won his second consecutive race, leading 190 of 267 laps and becoming the sixth Ford driver in the past seven years to win the race. (Photos: Getty Images)
- It took Jimmie Johnson 327 races to win five championships. It took Dale Earnhardt 390. It took Richard Petty 654.
- In Petty’s defense, the seasons were quite a bit longer in his heyday.
- Johnson has never won at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished second in 2004, when he fell by eight points to Kurt Busch in the Chase, and this year.
- The popular notion that the champion needed to win the final race proved laughable. Of the three contenders – Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick – only Johnson led a lap, and he led only one.
- Winning the final two races would appear to give Carl Edwards quite a jumpstart on 2011. Edwards went winless in 2009 after winning nine times in 2008 and also winning at Homestead. Asked about being cast as title contender in 2011, Edwards said, “Don’t do that again. It didn’t work worth a damn (in 2009).”
- Only Petty and Earnhardt, each with seven titles, have won more than Johnson. His, of course, have been in a row.
- How can NASCAR tinker with the Chase, given the results of the season just ended?
- A Ford driver has won the Ford 400 six times in the last seven years. Coincidence?
- Edwards’ new gimmick is greeting the fans by joining them in the grandstands after his celebratory back flip. Wonder how that’s going to work if a victory is, shall we say, controversial?
- Kyle Busch’s overall victory total in 2010 was 24: three Sprint Cup, eight Camping World Truck and 13 Nationwide.
In the end, it was -- again -- all about Jimmie Johnson. But what mattered most in winning his fifth consecutive championship? And what is rawest and newest challenge that he faces? These questions imagined by Ovalscream's imagination in his post today.