Jimmie Johnson

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Jamie McMurray, driver of the #1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota, are involved in an incident on the last lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
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Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota, David Ragan, driver of the #34 CSX – Play It Safe Ford, and Jamie McMurray, driver of the #1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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Last February, Jimmie Johnson began what became his sixth championship season with a victory in the Daytona 500. Johnson hopes to duplicate both feats this year, starting with a win in the 56th running of the Daytona 500. Only three drivers have won back-to-back Daytona 500s previously: Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling Marlin (1994-95). A third victory in the race would add the California driver to an elite list that includes Petty (seven), Yarborough (four), Dale Jarrett (three), Bobby Allison (three) and Jeff Gordon (three). Johnson posted his first Daytona 500 win in 2006.

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WRITTEN BY: Jonah Rens is 12 years old, and is a junior NASCAR reporter/writer for The Final Lap. His opinions are his own, and not necessarily those of The Final Lap. Follow him on Twitter @NascarRens

Recently NASCAR announced changes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Here are the changes: NASCAR’s playoff system will include the field being increased from the original 12 drivers to 16 drivers. Now how did NASCAR decide to increase the field to 16 drivers?

Well some of it may have had to do with last years controversial race at Richmond International Raceway when Clint Bowyer spun off of turn four allowing Jeff Gordon out of the Chase and Joey Logano into the Chase. A week after the race Brian France held a press conference at Chicagoland Speedway saying, “we’ve decided that due to the totality of the events that were outside of Jeff Gordon’s — his issues, we’re going to add a 13th position to the field, and Jeff Gordon will qualify for the championship this year, the Sprint Cup Championship.”

For the first time 13 drivers were in the chase field. Now at the Chicagoland Speedway night race, Matt Kenseth won the event and reduced his points from Jimmie Johnson even more. Johnson would be the eventual 2013 Sprint Cup Series Champion.

NASCAR will also for the first time include elimination rounds to eliminate drivers from the Chase. The elimination rounds will be in effect during the third, sixth, and ninth races of the chase. NASCAR will do this to even the playing field because there will be a four top drivers in the points race and the winner of the final race at Homestead becomes the Champion.

Now here’s my thoughts: Personally I think that the Chase needs to be eliminated from NASCAR because the same driver (Jimmie Johnson) keeps winning every year and just 12 drivers get in the Chase. NASCAR new Chase will increase the field to 16 drivers, so the cutoff race to get in the chase at Richmond International Raceway should be interesting.

Now Jr. Nation would be on their feet if this system was in place last year because Johnson would not have gotten his sixth championship because Dale Jr. would have been champion. Like I said the Chase for The Sprint cup championship will be interesting with NASCAR’s new Chase changes. We will see who will be champion this year with the changes.

EDITED BY: KERRY MURPHEY

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nascar_logoStatement from Brett Jewkes, NASCAR Chief Communications Officer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2014) – NASCAR has begun the process of briefing key industry stakeholders on potential concepts to evolve its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship format. This dialogue is the final phase of a multi-year process that has included the review of extensive fan research, partner and industry feedback and other data-driven insights. NASCAR has no plans to comment further until the stakeholder discussions are complete. We hope to announce any potential changes for the 2014 season to our media and fans very soon.

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jimmie_chad_banquet1_2013THE CHAMPION JIMMIE JOHNSON

We wrap up our look at the Top 10 drivers of the 2013 NASCAR Racing season, and winning The 2013 Sprint Cup Series Championship is JIMMIE JOHNSON who is now a 6 Time Sprint Cup Series Champion.

STATS: 6 Wins, 16 Top 5’s, 24 Top 10’s 3 Poles, only 1 DNF
$7.9 million in winnings

LISTEN TO THE FINAL LAP FEATURE #1

LISTEN TO THE FINAL LAP FEATURE #2 

Continue reading “Top 10 NASCAR Drivers of 2013 – The Champion Jimmie Johnson”