DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Only Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) stands between Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and arguably one of the greatest achievements in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history.

Johnson, following his seventh victory of the 2009 season at Phoenix International Raceway, carries a 108-point lead into Sunday’s Ford 400 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The lead isn’t insurmountable — Martin still can deny Johnson a record fourth consecutive championship — but all the leader has to do is finish 25th or better to lock up the title.

Johnson, seemingly coasting to the championship before a 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway gave fresh hopes to his pursuers, proved at Phoenix that his Lone Star State “hiccup” wasn’t a momentum buster. He rolled over the opposition (Martin finished fourth) by leading a whopping 238 of 312 laps to win the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 for the third consecutive year.

Continue reading “Jimmie Johnson one race from history”

Amanda’s articles

By Amanda Vincent

NASCAR has pretty much always had both haves and have-nots among its roster of competitors, but increasingly, Hendrick Motorsports seems to be becoming the one have heads and shoulders over the have-nots

Other traditional haves in the sport, like Roush Fenway Racing and especially Richard Childress Racing seem to have fallen off their thrones at least somewhat in 2009. Roush Fenway does have three wins across its five Sprint Cup Series entries, but two of those were Matt Kenseth’s two victories in the first two races of the season. Roush hasn’t really been heard of since, except for one win courtesy of Jamie McMurray a few weeks ago. And this is with last season’s win leader on the Roush-Fenway roster — Carl Edwards who visited victory lane nine times a year ago.

The five-car organization only has two cars in the Chase, and one of the three Roush drivers on the outside looking in is Matt Kenseth — a driver who had been in the Chase every year since its inception until 2009.

Continue reading “Can anybody stop HMS?”

Joey Logano Nears Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Title

Points remain to be totaled but Joey Logano (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) is the prohibitive favorite to claim 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors with only Sunday’s Ford 400 left on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.

Logano, who grabbed his 25th rookie of the race award at Phoenix, leads rivals Scott Speed (No. 82 Red Bull Toyota) and Max Papis (No. 13 GEICO Toyota) by 36 and 88 points, respectively.

Logano won in mid-summer at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Connecticut native at age 19 years, five months, 29 days would become the youngest rookie of the year in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&Ms Toyota) was age 20 years, six months, 13 days when he won the title in 2005.

Winning the rookie of the year title is a good indication of things to come. NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Richard Petty won the award in 1959; David Pearson was top rookie in 1960.

Continue reading “Joey Logano almost rookie of the year”

Hendrick Nears Owner Record

Based upon owner championships won, Hendrick Motorsports is the New York Yankees of NASCAR.

Drivers in Rick Hendrick-owned cars and trucks have won 11 NASCAR national series titles. Either Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin will add a record 12th championship on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The record currently is shared by Hendrick and Richard Childress Racing.

Four drivers — Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Jack Sprague — have won NASCAR national owner championships for Hendrick. Gordon, Johnson and Labonte won NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. Sprague is a three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.

Continue reading “The Hendrick Motorsports Dynasty”