Don’t engrave that Sprint Cup trophy yet

By Mike Smith (contact)

Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 | 9:47 p.m.

What is it about winning at Atlanta that sets a driver up for a win at Texas? Carl Edwards won both races in 2005, Tony Stewart in 2006 and Jimmie Johnson in 2007.

In a huge roll of the dice, the No. 99 team accomplished what seemed unthinkable by stretching 69 laps out of a tank of fuel to win the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Edwards and his team figured they had nothing to lose and the gamble paid off with a 77-point reduction in Johnson’s lead, which left Edwards 106 points behind the No. 48 car. It was strange to see a car crawl to the finish line, but it took a nail-biting feat like this to add a little excitement to the typical single-file racing we experience at Texas. For much of the race, Edwards had a seven to nine-second advantage over the second-place car. Explain to me again why this track has two races in a season?

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Several people I talked with this week were ready to hand Johnson the Sprint Cup. Now isn’t the time to start engraving that trophy.

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Johnson led no laps and finished 15th. It was his worst finish in the Chase. A little experimentation with the car’s setup didn’t pay off as the team struggled to make the car handle properly. Eventually, the team was able to adjust the car to Jimmie’s liking, but he never made up a one-lap deficit that kept the No. 48 car in the middle of the pack for the entire race. I’m not counting this team out yet. Next week the teams will be in Phoenix where Johnson and his crew won earlier this season. As long as Johnson leads by 161 points after Phoenix, he will win the championship no matter how he does at Homestead. One thing is for sure; in the next two races drivers won’t be racing conservatively to preserve a points lead. Instead, they will be racing aggressively to preserve or obtain a points lead.

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It was great to see some unusual names running in the front of the pack. Jamie McMurray looked like he had the car to beat after a two-tire pit stop put him in the lead late in the race. David Reutimann and Juan Pablo Montoya also had good runs. Clint Bowyer also ran well and finished 4th.

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Hats off to ESPN for footage of how organized the No. 48 team is in the pits. The image of the team’s engineer patting Chad Knaus’ back as a signal that the car’s fuel cell was full gave us an indication of how this team remains on top of its game. I wonder if other teams have similar procedures?

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Rubbin’ is racin’. Wreckin’ is reckless. I agree with NASCAR’s decision to park David Gilliland after he send Juan Pablo Montoya into the wall and ruined the great run Montoya was experiencing. Regardless of what happened between the two drivers on the previous laps, deliberately punting a driver at full speed and sending him into a spin that results in a wreck is dangerous behavior.

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Did you see all of those empty seats? I don’t know that reducing ticket prices will fill the seats for 2009 if the current economic climate remains stormy. Attendance was down by 20,000 last week at Atlanta. The sport is just going to have ride this out until people have disposable income again.

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Finally, since we are electing a new president, I’d like to announce the top priority of a hypothetical Mike Smith administration. I would pursue legislation to make gasoline free and to require that all vehicles sold in the United States would have a minimum of 400-horsepower.

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