The Last Raceday of 2009!

Ok...so I'm a little late in posting. My 3 readers were all out of town today anyway, so nobody noticed.
It all comes down to this race. Homestea-Miami weekend. Ron Hornaday wins his 4th Trucks Championship. Kyle Busch won his 1st Nationwide Championship.
And it looks like Jimmie Johnson will win his unprecedented 4th consecutive Sprint Cup Championship.
I'd like to see Mark Martin pull off a miracle and win the race and the Championship, but I don't think it's gonna happen.
My predictions for today:
3). Jimmie Johnson
2). Mark Martin
1). Tony Stewart....and, yes, I am cheating because Tony is leading right now at the 82nd lap.

It has been a fun, but long, season. I am looking forward to a couple of months away from the track. I will fill my time with basketball, football and hockey...plus getting to hang with Sandy and the boys!

Have a great offseason and have a great Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! See you in 2010 on Ridin' Shotgun!

And then there were two....

The Valley of the Sun...Phoenix, Arizona. There are two races remaining in the 2009 race for the Sprint Cup. After last weekend's incredible outcome, there is now a points chase again. When Jimmie Johnson was spun out by Sam Hornish on the 3rd lap of last week's race in Texas, the damage done to Jimmie's number 48 cost him 111 points in the chase. So now, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon are within distance and Kurt Busch, coming of the win at Texas, has an outside chance. Jimmie didn't qualify well in Texas, so he started the race in the wrong place. Had he not been in the middle of the pack, he wouldn't have been near any of the marginal drivers who weekly cause accidents. He rectified that with a great qualifying session on Friday. He will start 3rd and, I imagine, will quickly get himself to the front to lead a bunch of laps. He does very well in Phoenix. Mark Martin won the spring race here, so if he can get the season sweep, things could be very interesting in Homestead next weekend.
Today's race is called the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. You may be thinking, "Hmmm...since this is a 1 mile track and they are only running 312 laps today, how could it be the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500?" Great question. The 500 is kilometers. Why, you ask? I guess that's what Google is for. Today's race will be a pit strategy race, and no one is better than Chad Knaus...so.....
Predictions for today:
3). Jeff Gordon
2). Mark Martin
1). Jimmie Johnson
And I think this is how the Chase will finish next week in Homestead.
Have a great Raceday!

3 to go...

We're back in the great state of Texas this weekend for the 2nd time this season with the 8th race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson has pretty much sewed up his 4th consecutive Cup. With a win today, he can clinch the Cup. The Phoenix and Homestead folks are both pulling for him to finish 43rd, so the Cup can be awarded at their tracks, but Jimmie is very strong here in Texas and the 48 team will not beat themselves. His record breaking performance has been remarkable. In my humble opinion, his lack of personality takes some of the luster off the wins. He's a nice guy, but seems so corporate and robotic. His crew chief, Chad Knaus, has more personality and co-hosts one of our weekly programs, Nascar Performance. He shows off a bit of his personality on that show, and shows even more when the "red light" is off. He's a really funny guy who, self admittedly, has no life outside the track. He eats, breathes, sleeps and lives racing. I guess that's why he's about to win his 4th Cup in a row.
Today's race is the last 500 mile contest of the season. Today's weather will be overcast all day, so the grip should be good with multi-groove racing all day long. Kyle Busch has won twice already this weekend winning the truck race on Friday night and the Nationwide race Saturday afternoon. Now while my dislike of Kyle Busch is well documented here on Ridin' Shotgun, I honestly would like to see him sweep the weekend with a win today. I know that's like a Red Sox fan rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series, but I would like to see him do his trademark bow from a third vehicle in three days.
My predictions for today:
3). Greg Biffle
2). Mark Martin
1). Kyle Busch
Have a great Raceday!