Random Notes on the Final Race Weekend of 2008.
Monday, November 17th, 2008By: Drew Hierwarter
Okay, the suspense is finally over. Jimmie Johnson has won the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
In all the hype and media coverage of him being only the second driver since Cale Yarborough in the seventies (’76, ’77, ’78) to ever win a third consecutive championship, no one has mentioned Yarborough’s car owner at the time, Junior Johnson.
Johnson, Junior that is, not only won three in a row with Yarborough, but he won three more championships with Darrell Waltrip driving (’81, ’82, ’85).
Only Rick Hendrick (8) and Petty Enterprises (10) have won more championships as car owners.
Johnson, Jimmie that is, won by the widest margin (69 points) since “The Chase” was instituted.
In fact, in each year of “The Chase” to date, the Championship has been won by a wider margin.
If NASCAR was still using the old points system, it would’ve come down to the same two guys at the end, but Carl Edwards would’ve only been 54 points behind Johnson coming into Homestead, not 140+ like he was this year.
In fact, if the old points system was still in use, the championship would’ve been closer every year than it has been with “The Chase”.
On Friday night Johnny Benson won the final “Craftsman Truck Series” championship by only seven points over Ron Hornaday, Jr.
Sears Craftsman tool brand is leaving NASCAR and next year the truck series will be sponsored by Camping World.
On Saturday Clint Boyer won the Nationwide Series championship, his first ever, by only 21 points over Carl Edwards.
In spite of winning both races in Homestead, Carl Edwards finished second in both the Sprint Cup and the Nationwide Series by a total of 90 points!
To help teams cut expenses, NASCAR has announced a total ban on testing at any track that holds a NASCAR sanctioned event.
Most of the larger teams have “test teams” whose only job is to conduct testing at various tracks. Let the layoffs begin.
Coming in to the NHRA Finals in Pomona
When John Force beat Tim Wilkerson in the first round, three of them where eliminated, leaving only Cruz Pedregon and Robert Hight with a chance.
Then Cruz’s brother Tony Pedregon took out Robert Hight in their first round match-up, handing the championship to Cruz.
Cruz Pedregon also won the event, his third straight. (
The Top Fuel championship was decided two weeks ago in Las Vegas.
Jeg Coughlin clinched the Pro Stock Championship just by qualifying for Pomona.
The smoke from the wildfires around Southern California blanketed the track in Pomona and gave an eerie atmosphere to the event.
This weekend marked the end of the major racing season for 2008 in the US.
As of this writing there are only 90 days until the 2009 Daytona 500.