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Co-written by Patti Rodisch and Dustin Parks
The final weekend of the season is here and all three of NASCAR touring series will crown a champion. The NASCAR writers this week will discuss whether or not Jimmie Johnson’s dominating run is good or bad for the sport, what will Ron Hornaday’s place in NASCAR history be, should the Nationwide series have a Chase format, and finally what their picks for the finale at Homestead-Miami on Sunday are.
Jimmie Johnson has to finish at least 25th or better no matter what Mark Martin does on Sunday to win the Championship. We know Johnson has the Championship all wrapped up, but is this unprecedented achievement good or bad for NASCAR?
Patti Rodisch: It all depends on who you ask. In my opinion I think it can be good for the sport, but I can also see the other side that says it could be bad for the sport. Personally I think that what Johnson will accomplish is an amazing moment for this sport. Winning a championship is hard to do period, but to do it four times is incredible to see. I like history and I look forward to being in the moment when he does win the title on Sunday. But not everyone thinks like me.
The flip side is one driver dominating like he has, can and has turned fans away. You can say they are not true NASCAR fans to not appreciate what is being done, but that is also not very fair. Nobody likes to watch the Yankee’s win the World Series every year, or theDetroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup every year. The sport would become predictable at the point in the season you don’t want it to.
You want it to be a battle. You want the championship to come down to a final race, the final laps of the season. It obviously does not always come down to that. Johnson and his team have done exactly what they should have done. Beat the system and beat your competition. Now the competition needs to step it up to beat the NASCAR version of the Yankee’s. In the long run though, if no team can step up and beat Johnson that is not a good thing for a competitive sport.
Dustin Parks (dustie24): This is hard to say because the sport has not seen such domination from a driver since Johnson’s teammate, and part-owner, Jeff Gordon won three championships within four years plus 40 races. That was done at a time where NASCAR was on a major upward climb. Gordon had his haters during that time, but really it didn’t turn fans away.
Today, domination has a little different meaning. Gordon was dominant all those years for the entire schedule, but Johnson has been dominant when it mattered the most, in the Chase. So his domination takes a different meaning. If you think about it, there have only been three Chase champions, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Johnson.
He has figured out the first 26 races are important for positioning, not so much points. Then, when the final 10 start, it was time to get rolling.
Johnson’s domination is different than that of Gordon, or that of any of the great drivers because it takes place in such a short part of the season. However, it is the most important part. For me, there’s no issue with a driver and team knowing how to win championships.
Ron Hornaday clinched his fourth championship on Friday night in the Camping World Truck Series. Where will Hornaday rank not only in the CWTS but in NASCAR overall when he retires?
Patti: He will and should be considered as one of the best to ever drive the wheel in NASCAR. What he has done on a weekly basis is incredible. We saw it early in the season winning five races in a row and controlling the points lead all the way to the finish.
He joins Earnhardt, Petty, Gordon, and more than likely Johnson among drivers to win at least four championships.
Hornaday fits well in the truck series, a blue collar man who beat and banged for every position. He has stayed loyal to this series throughout his career and because of that he has found the most success. Hornaday is like a Gordon or Johnson in NASCAR Sprint Cup or what a Sam Ard was to the Nationwide series.
Hornaday is the best in CWTS and we will see that again on Friday when he officially wins the title.
Dustin: Hornaday without question is one of the best drivers in the sport, and the fact that his greatest moments came outside the Cup Series put him on a different level. Hornaday did not have much success when he ran in Cup, so he stepped down and raced in Nationwide and Truck.
And let’s face it, his niche in NASCAR is driving the trucks. His run of four consecutive victories over the summer gave him the points lead, and afterwards it was just a race for second.
There will be a time when Hornaday must hang up the helmet and driving suit, but when he does he will be going out on top. Hornaday will go into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, there is no question about it.
A Nationwide Series question. We have seen the Sprint Cup Series implement a Chase, but should the Nationwide Series? Do you think it would improve the competition?
Patti: I have been saying yes all along. A Chase format would give struggling organizations something to fight for down the stretch heading into the playoffs. Not only that, but what a better way to sell a sponsor than to entice them with a possible Chase appearance.
Also look at the tracks, if the title is undecided and going down to the wire, tracks will sell tickets. Meaning the series will be making money in the process. I think overall the competition would improve, those drivers sitting 10th on back would have a lot more on the line, if one or two bad finishes meant them missing the Chase.
The format doesn’t have to be exactly the same as the Sprint Cup, but at least giving this series a playoff system would make the final races interesting. You will still have the start and park drivers and those who are also-rans but instead of third and fourth place being separated by over 800 points. One bad race by the leaders and a few others are right back in the championship hunt.
A Chase format could and would change the dynamic of the series for the better.
Dustin: I’m actually up in the air about this idea, not so much from a competition standpoint, but more of an identity standpoint. The Nationwide Series is completely different than the Cup or the Trucks, so they would have to do something a little different.
The thing right now is that many of the Cup drivers are racing in the Nationwide Series, which brings exposure, but what about those teams that are struggling and are just racing in that series? They almost get put on the back burner and not talked about as much. Guys like Stephen Wallace, Brenden Gaughen and Justin Allgaier aren’t getting the exact same attention as a guy like Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle or Tony Stewart do.
If they really want to make the series interesting, limit the amount of Cup drivers that can race in the series. Don’t eliminate them entirely, but limit the amount of drivers who want to run the entire Nationwide schedule plus the Cup schedule. That will give those guys who are exclusive to the Nationwide Series a better chance.
Here we are at the final race of the season. Homestead-Miami Speedway is the host of the final weekend of NASCAR for 2009. Who do you predict will be in victory lane in Sunday’s Ford 400?
Patti: My pick on Sunday is Greg Biffle. After a disappointing 2009 season that has seen Biffle struggling to contend on weekly basis. He made the Chase but has barely been a factor in the final 10 races.
Heading into Homestead-Miami, Biffle has found past success, from 2004-2006 he won three consecutive finishes.
His last two races at the track have not been as easy, but still Biffle is a strong pick on Sunday and I think he will finally get his first win of the season and carry some momentum into the off season.
Dustin: I’m going to pick the winner of the first two races at Homestead, Tony Stewart. Sure, the track has a little different configuration than when he won those races, but I think the track is more his style now than it was then.
When Stewart won, the track was flat and it was more about being in the right position at the right time. Now, the track is along the lines of Stewart’s preferred style of track. There’s multiple groves, high banks, and it is a lot faster.
What a way to cap off such an incredible season for Stewart and his entire organization. I’m going with Smoke to burn up the competition Sunday night.
~NOTE~ Amanda Dipaolo will be back next week for the Thanksgiving edition of On The Throttle.
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