It was a vanilla end to a vanilla Chase.
Jimmie Johnson did what he had to do Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He didn’t dominate, he didn’t win the race, Johnson simply stayed out of trouble and finished fifth while chaos erupted around him on several occasions.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart tangled with Montoya’s hopes for a final shot at an oval track win in 2009 ending in the garage. He would later return many laps down but long enough to deal out a little payback to Stewart that earned him a black flag.
Both Marcos Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. made valiant efforts only to fall victim to punctured tires and mechanical woes.
Mark Martin, meanwhile, struggled to try and at least stay within earshot should Johnson stumble. Martin was never able to make it towards the front, though, and came home 12th.
The only drama for Johnson came after pit stops on lap 121 when he restarted 23rd. Even that wasn’t enough to stop him, and as he has done many times in his career Johnson came through unscathed and smelling like a four-time champion.
In the end Denny Hamlin took control, and as the race ended there were no mysterious debris cautions, no spins or blown Hendrick engines. Just Jimmie Johnson cruising into NASCAR’s record books as its first driver to win four consecutive championships.
There were other storylines. Denny Hamlin’s win was his fourth of the year giving him a career best season. Sunday was also Michael Waltrip’s last race as a full-time driver and with his 14th place finish Greg Biffle earned his first winless season since he debuted in the Sprint Cup Series in 2003.
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion overshadowed all those stories, which kind of sums up this year’s edition of the Chase. Johnson won seven times this year, four of those in the final 10 races. In other words, other than a little hiccup at Texas, Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports crew dominated the final 10-run stretch.
Even before Homestead Sunday, people were crying foul. The Chase is boring, a snooze fest, nothing really exciting to see.
Welcome to the world of professional sports.
Some playoff games are over by the end of the first half, some teams get swept in a series, and others have a score so lopsided the opponents have no chance. Other years, though, the game comes down to a field goal with one tick left on the clock, a last second basket at the buzzer, a series that isn’t over until the final out of the last inning of the seventh game.
What we witnessed this fall was a NASCAR team who decided the outcome in the first half, swept the series, and scored from three-point range every single time. And while those type of outcomes aren’t exactly the favorite of every fan, that’s the nature of professional sports.
The NASCAR Nation can console themselves with the knowledge that we were witness to history Sunday night, salute a team that is on the very top of their game and know that in a little over 80 days from now, it will start all over again.
Comments
So that's it? Were we watching the same race? For the first time in recent memory we had serious racing for position all around the track, the JPM-Stewart duel for comic relief, and a four-peat by a very desrving champion. If that is not good enough for you, what is? Are you still holding out for a comeback for the 88 or a Martin championship? Don't hold your breath. There's a reason they finished where they did.
A real snooze fest...As long as Johnson keeps winning, the only fans will be Johnson fans...There won't be enough of them to keep NASCAR going...
Sure, minimize the fact that the Chase format and the COT have turned NASCAR into exactly what the "uninitated" always said it was -- 43 guys going in circles for 3 hours. Ditch the chase, ditch the COT and overly restrictive templates and lets do some RACING!
The only reason we saw racing in the 25th position was because Johnson was back there. ESPN has locked onto Jiminy since the chase started, and won't deviate even if there is no racing. We'll be whining about Fox coverage again in 2 months, then actually get racing for 6 weeks in the summer. Until the networks get back to thr racing, instead of the show, we gonna be stuck watching the points leader all race.
It wasn't that he wasn't trying to win any body who was on his race day scanner could tell you he was trying the whole race his car just wouldn't pass as he tried to pass people.
I agree the race was very boring but You can't say he didn't try to win the race.
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