Jimmie Johnson is set to do something that is unprecedented in NASCAR and a rarity in other sports: four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. He now holds a commanding 90 point lead over second place Mark Martin, and only five drivers remain within one race of his lead. So should they go ahead and engrave the championship with his name on it? Not quite yet. The next two races will probably decide that.

NASCAR Sprint Cup racing can hold many surprises for the competitors as they race hard to bring home the title. Not everything can be in the drivers’ control. The next two races will be the deciding factor to whether or not Johnson can claim a fourth straight or fall to disappointment. Talladega and Martinsville are always the wild cards in the chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. One mistake caused by another driver can relegate you to not finishing and losing points.

Martinsville is a half-mile bullring where even the best driver can grow impatient and lose their tempers and their fender. Lapped traffic and minor accidents will keep the Chase competitors constantly on their toes. Johnson runs well at Martinsville, winning five out of the last six races. But Jeff Gordon is a Martinsville master as well. The next closest competitor, Mark Martin, could have his hands full. This will be only the second time he has raced at Martinsville in the “Car of Tomorrow.”

After the old-school mash-up known as Martinsville is over, the competitors risk everything at Talladega. The restrictor plate racing on display will have drivers constantly on their toes. One mistake, one wrong block, one flat tire and 20-30 cars could be taken out in an instant. Johnson must make it through this race carefully and competitively. All he can do is hold on and hope the racing gods grant mercy on him. If they don’t he could be playing catch-up instead of running away with the title. Martin is good at restrictor plate racing, but always seems to find himself in bad luck. Gordon has one of the strongest records at Talladega, but winning must be the priority. Gordon has only one win this season, but eight second place finishes. So to make ground he must win big.

Talladega can also get you at the very end as well. Earlier this season Carl Edwards almost went into the grandstands roof first on the last lap regulates himself to a poor finish.

Johnson looks pretty stout for wining the championship, but there is a simple way to beat him: stay up front. In order to dethrone Johnson, Gordon and Martin need to lead laps and win races. They have to survive the next two weeks, but they just cannot leave it at that.

As for the rest of the competition they still have an outside shot perhaps. Juan Pablo Montoya and Kurt Busch are the only ones who have the numbers to compete with Johnson. Montoya started off the chase with the best average finish of all the Chasers, but a minor fender bender on a restart at Lowe’s Motor Speedway put him 195 points behind. Kurt Busch has been strong, but his crew chief leaves after this season and has been banned from the race shop.

Beating Johnson for the fourth straight championship can be done, but it is going to take a lot of fortitude and a lot of luck. Unfortunately for the competitors, Johnson has had both for the last three seasons.

Check out the video for a little taste of what can happen at Talladega:

Pictures From:

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2008/0908/pg2_a_johnson_600.jpg

http://www.shacknews.com/images/generated/48e11a387bbb8_featured_without_text_Nascar.jpg

Video From: Floppyfish24

Tags: Jimmie Johnson, Key Races, NASCAR, radford, Radford University, Whim, Wid Car, Wins

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.