November 23, 2007

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

While the Craftsman Truck Series finale held a nice surprise for Chevy (and not such a nice surprise for Toyota), The final Nextel Cup Series race offered no such dramatic finish or last minute change in champion. Jimmie Johnson. Love him, hate him, or care less one way or the other, Johnson commanded an incredible late series push that landed him a second championship in as many years. The only real surprise of the evening was when Kenseth destroyed the rear end of his car while performing the traditional celebratory smoking of the tires. I’m sure the burn out has\had to have resulted in similar damage to a race car- but it was the first time I recall seeing it and it was an interesting twist none the less.

It’s hard not to do a retrospective column, this being the last race and the end of the season. I will however do my best to not look back, but to look forward. In doing so, I’m going to try and focus on not what was or what will be, but instead what won’t be.

The race at Homestead-Miami was the end of not just the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, but also the end of the Nextel Cup Series. Saturday night was the end of the Bush Series. Craftsman will be the lone returning series sponsor next year as we adjust once again to changes. Other “Lasts” from Sunday night?

The last time (in the near future anyway) that Tony Stewart and the rest of the Joe Gibbs team will climb into or out of Chevy’s for a Cup race.

It was the last time more than likely that Ricky Rudd will turn laps in a Cup event.

It was the last time Dale, Jr., will get to wreck, shed a wheel, blow an engine, or have the opportunity to display any other form of bad luck in a DEI Chevrolet.

It was the last race in which Robert Yates will have owned a car in.

It’s the last race that we’ll see Mark Martin in the 01 car

It’s the last time we’ll see the “Car of Yesterday” in a race

It’s the last time Kyle Busch had to behave immaturely while driving a Chevy.

It’s (hopefully) the last time we’ll see a jack go cruising down pit road.

Okay.. all these “lasts” are getting old. So what do we have to look forward to? What will make next year better than this one?

One of the things I’m not quite sure about are the series names. The Busch Series has been around a long time and though it is named after a beer, to me it has always had a link to baseball’s “Bush League”; a place where young drivers go to cut their teeth, where up and comers, well, up and come, and where part time Cup Series drivers went to play. Next year, the series will be known as the Nationwide Series. While the change itself will take some getting used to, it seems to fit and be descriptive at the same time. The name change for the Cup Series is a different story.

While I certainly miss the days of “Winston Cup Racing”, the Nextel Cup, once you got used to it, wasn’t so bad. It was clearly a sponsors name and offered no confusion. Next year however, when the name changes to the Sprint Cup series, it will take some serious getting used to. While I understand the corporate side (Sprint merged with Nextel and are changing the name to reflect new ownership), the racing side of me says that “Sprint” when uttered in racing is not in reference to a phone company, but instead to a type of race car; a much smaller and less televised race car, one COMPLETELY different from the Car of Tomorrow/Today/Next Season/Some Races Last Season (wouldn’t it be great if the end of the 2007 season was the end of hearing the term car of tomorrow?)

I’m sure there are many fans out there smarter than I who will not have to cycle the images of sprint cars out of their heads when they talk or hear about the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but I being of inferior intellect will most likely take the entire season to finally separate the two.

Next season should be an interesting time. We’ll see what Junior can do with the best of the best behind him, what Toyota can do with some of the best behind the wheel and how the car formerly known as the car of tomorrow stands up to season long races.

I look forward to the off season and all the news and rumors that it will bring, but even more I look forward to Daytona in February when the flag drops on another season of controversial yellows, COT complaints, Toyota haters, Gordon haters, beer can throwing fans and all you can eat grandstands. Somewhere during all that, we might even get to see some racing.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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