November 17, 2009
By Allen Madding
Ron Hornaday Jr. clinched his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship at Phoenix last Friday night finishing fourth in the Lucas Oil 150 while team owner Kevin Harvick won the event.
Kyle Busch simply has to start the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Homestead-Miami this weekend to clinch the title in that series.
Jimmie Johnson only needs to finish 25th or better this weekend at Homestead-Miami to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship title will mark Johnson’s fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.
After winning the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix, Johnson walked away with a 108-point lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Cup over teammate Mark Martin.
Ironically, under the old points system used to determine the Cup Series champion prior to the Chase for the Cup, Johnson would have a 13 point lead over Tony Stewart with Jeff Gordon trailing by 56 points which would have made for a tighter point battle and made Homestead-Miami a dramatic finish to the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title fight.
Phoenix was the latest battle ground for the ongoing feud between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. During Saturday’s Able Body Labor 200, Hamlin rammed Keselowski going into a turn. Keselowski managed to keep the car under him without spinning. Keselowski then returned the favor sending Hamlin spinning. Hamlin then played the innocent act in the post-race television interview proclaiming the entire incident being Keselowski’s fault.
"I'm just happy that I signed up for next week's Nationwide race, there's a lot of guys that owe him. There's a lot of guys that have a lot of chips that they're going to cash in. I'm just going to be the first to the pay window," Hamlin said.
Unfortunately for Hamlin, he has repeatedly tried to cash in his chip with Keselowski, but he has continued to fail to get the job done while Keselowski repeatedly gives it back to him just a little harder.
Hamlin obviously is a slow learner.
If someone continues to whip your tail in a shoving match, you probably should find someone else to play push and shove. NASCAR spoke to Keselowski on Sunday morning concerning his aggressive driving but did not see a need to speak to Hamlin for his instigation of the latest episode in the ongoing saga. If Hamlin continues to choose to poke the bear with a stick, the bear is certainly going to continue to whip his tail.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s season continued to unravel at Phoenix. He spun sparking a multi-car crash and finished 35th. In 35 starts during the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Junior has only recorded two top-five and five top-ten finishes marking the worst season in his 11-year Cup Series driving career. How long will Rick Hendrick and the sponsors on the No. 88 be able to continue to fund the struggling driver is the question in the garage area.
The 2009 season concludes for all three of NASCAR’s top series this weekend at Homestead-Miami and then the engines will fall quiet until Speedweeks at Daytona in February 2010.
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