Ladies and gentlemen your 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion is...Part 1

It’s finally here. After suffering through the holidays, long dark, cold winter nights and Sundays with grown men throwing pigskin balls around, the last full week of the NASCAR off season is behind us.

This week Daytona will hold their annual media day followed by the draw party for the Bud Shootout Saturday night. And while the NASCAR media tour was held earlier this month, and Goodyear and some of the teams have tested at tracks around the country, Saturday night engines will be fired and racecars will take to the track in anger.

As the 2010 season gets underway and the points start to pile up with the running of the Daytona 500 the following Sunday no longer will fans and the media have 2009 to reflect on, but they will have 2010 to look forward to.

Even before the season gets underway with the drop of the green flag there are several storylines already brewing, and drivers who are already favorites for the crown.

Once the green drops, Jimmie Johnson will cease to become the current Sprint Cup champion and switch to the defending Sprint Cup champion. There’s been a lot of talk about the last several years being the ‘Johnson Era’. He is after all NASCAR’s first consecutive four-time champion. And as the season gets started very little has changed since the final lap at Homestead last year. Yes Johnson found out he will become a father this year, but that’s not until July (Foot note here, if you map that backwards looks like Jimmie had a really good time in Vegas last November). The cars haven’t undergone any radical changes and although there will be a change from wings to the old style spoilers, that won’t happen for the first few races. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are still together as they have been for the last four championships. Bottom line, Johnson ended 2009 strong and all signs point to him continuing that strength.

Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s teammate also ended the year strong last season, but his motivation might be a bit different this year. Although it may not be readily apparent at first glance, Gordon is no doubt seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a bit of gray on the sideburns, and Gordon has long ago ceased to be the kid from California and is an elder statesman in the garage. Forty is fast approaching and Gordon knows his time racing among NASCAR’s elite might be coming to an end. Looking at the Mark Martin standard one could say that Gordon has at least a decade, but with the competition getting tougher every year the chance for another title for Gordon is slipping away with each season. That may be just the motivation Gordon needs to put it all on the line this season.

As for Mark Martin, who just turned 51, the problems Gordon is seeing up ahead are already there for Martin. Last season he proved he could be a threat and can be again this season, but his time is even shorter then Gordon’s. Last years NASCAR craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday proved that titles can still be won at the age of 51, but its far and away the exception. Martin will have one maybe two more seasons to have a legitimate shot at the title that has deluded him for over two decades. That fact alone could transform Martin from the humble smiling guy everyone loves, to a man on a mission.

Kurt Busch quietly finished fourth in the points last year. The team had consistent finishes and won two races. Busch has seemingly, to some, had a chip on his shoulder since he won the first Chase in 2004. He wants to legitimize his championship talent by adding another Cup to his mantle. One of his biggest problems though has been his maturity. It’s no secret that temper tantrums have been directed to his crew chief, his crew and even his team owner over the years. If Busch has matured to the level that allows him to keep his temper in check he can be a serious threat. Combine that with the fact that Penske Racing will be the only Cup team campaigning under the Dodge banner this season meaning they will get all the factory support Dodge can give them, and Busch may just surprise a lot of people.

Like Busch, Denny Hamlin seemed to lack maturity. However, last season Hamlin directed his temper at the wheel and his on-track performance seemed to be turned up a notch, or two, or three. Hamlin has grown up, and this very well could be his year: although maybe not in the beginning. Hamlin did suffer an injury in the off season and despite the fact that he claims it won’t affect him, the fact is he will still be playing ‘hurt’ for the first part of the season.

In part two I’ll look at the others who could contend this year, including some that might surprise, how some other factors may play out this year and how some guy named Junior might, or might not be able to turn it all around…

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