Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

The field for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Chase for the Championship” is set and there are no surprises. Clint Bowyer is the twelfth, and final, qualifier for the run to Cup. Going in to the “Chevy Rock and Roll 400” at Richmond this weekend both David Ragan and Kasey Kahne had a shot at squeaking in to the top 12. But Ragan had trouble early in the race and Kahne was never a factor, so all Clint Bowyer had to do was stay on the lead lap and that’s exactly what he did.

So now that we have the twelve finalists for the Championship, and the points for those twelve have been re-set, it should be anybody’s race, right? Well, maybe not. Even though Kyle Busch has had a dream season with eight wins and he goes into the Chase with a commanding lead, he also has had some inconsistently poor finishes. Carl Edwards has six wins on the year and two more top ten finishes than Busch, but he also suffered some bad luck and poor performances.

Its third place Jimmie Johnson that everyone should be watching. Since NASCAR instituted the “post season” series, there have been 40 “Chase” races. The number 48 team of Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have finished in the top five in twenty of them, and have 11 wins. That is, by far, the best “Chase” record of any team. When these guys arrive in Daytona for the first day of testing in January, they are focused on the “Chase”. During an interview over the weekend, Knaus said that all of the cars for the ten races in the “Chase” were lined up in the shop, ready to go! These guys are prepared. If Johnson and Knaus three-peat and win their third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, it should not be a surprise to anyone.

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The season finale for the IRL at Chicagoland Speedway just may have been the best, most exciting motor race ever! It had two and three wide racing throughout the field for most of the race. And the closest finish in the history of the series. It came down to the number one and number two in season points (Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves) running side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel at 219 mph for the last two laps and finishing no more than two or three inches apart. It took race officials several minutes of reviewing the electronic scoring and the video tape to determine who actually won.

Afterwards, Castroneves was walking down pit lane with his crew, not sure of the result, when a TV reporter told him he had won the race. Meanwhile Scott Dixon was in victory lane receiving his check for winning the 2008 Championship.

Dixon didn’t need to win the race or even finish in the top five to clinch the Championship. He could’ve cruised to the title. But instead he ran as hard as he could, and raced with Castroneves. He did it because he’s a racer, and he wanted to win. It was great stuff!