Jimmie and Chad must already have 2009 on their minds

By Mike Smith (contact)

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008 | 8:37 p.m.

What can be said about Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus that hasn’t already been said? Not much. But I do think one of the key elements to their history making performance is that consistency on the track comes from consistency back at the shop. After the race, Chad commented that the No. 48 team, for the most part, has had the same group of people working for the team since its inception.

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I hope I don’t hear another person contend that the points system needs to be tweaked because of Jimmie’s three-peat. The fact that one group has figured out how to be the most successful organization isn’t a reason to change the rules. Why should the No. 48 team be punished for succeeding? It’s up to the other teams to rise to the standard that Jimmie’s team has set.

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Tony Stewart was a little emotional in his pre-race interview regarding his last race with Joe Gibbs Racing. If he’s emotional now, just wait until he’s piloting a new, untested team in a hostile economic environment with an auto manufacturer that has driven itself into a ditch. I don’t wish Tony any ill will, but winning races is tough enough in a good environment.

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It was nice to see that the end of the race wasn’t moved to another channel. When I heard that ABC/ESPN had moved the end of the Phoenix race to ESPN 2 so that “America’s Funniest Home Videos” wouldn’t be interrupted, I was at a loss to understand why a race in the Chase would play second fiddle to a show of silly video clips. But leave it to David Poole of the Charlotte Observer to put it into perspective for me. Poole pointed out that ABC/ESPN had run all of the commercials allotted for the race. So that revenue stream had reached its end. Meanwhile, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” had its own block of commercials and ABC/ESPN decided not to interrupt that new revenue stream. I’m sure anyone who recorded the race was very disappointed that they had to go to YouTube to view the finish.

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I bet Dale Earnhardt Jr. is breathing a sigh of relief. I doubt he would want to be saddled with a 50 percent stake in a racing organization that’s trying to remain viable by engaging in a shotgun marriage with Ganassi Racing . Does Teresa regret letting Dale Jr. go? I don’t know if we will ever hear an honest answer to that question. Worrying about crossing the finish line first is a big enough burden for Dale Jr. to carry. Winning would be even more of a challenge if he also had to contend with the distraction of righting the Titanic.

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