November 7, 2007
By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

After making it three wins in a row, Jimmie Johnson has the title firmly in his grasp with a 30 point lead in the Nextel Cup standings over teammate Jeff Gordon.

And while I wouldn’t call it an insurmountable lead, a la Brent Musberger, it is a firm lead and one that Jeff Gordon will have to work at to reduce.

Consider this – The Checker Auto Parts 500 next Sunday at Phoenix top two finishers are, drum roll please, Jeff Gordon (4.0 average finish) and Jimmie Johnson (6.4 average finish). At the track overall for the past five years the stats are the same with Gordon and Johnson leading all drivers. While Johnson has never won there, Gordon has three wins in the past five years at Phoenix.

At Homestead, Gordon also has a slight edge over Johnson but neither has won at Homestead. Last season, Johnson finished ninth and Gordon a disappointing 24th.

If these trends continue, it may come down to the last laps at the last race to crown our prince.

But do you care?

My sense from the buckets of email I have received the last two weeks is a resounding NO. And not because you hate the current state of NASCAR (although there was plenty of that in the emails) but because you couldn’t care less about which Hendrick team wins. It will be a Hendrick team win no matter what and to top it all off, it will between two of the most bland pretty boys in NASCAR today. Either of them will say how great the racing was and how happy they are for their teammate and what an honor it is just to race against each other. And I think therein lies the rub for most fans.

So watch for television ratings to continue its decline the rest of the year -- that is my prediction.

Now on to other matters.

David Gilliland has announced he will change his name to David Gillian just to make Rusty’s job in the booth easier next year. Rusty has had an entire year to prep for this season and yet he failed to note the enunciation of the name of one of NASCAR’s newest drivers. Thanks to David for stepping up to the plate and saving us from another year of cringing and screaming at the TV. Next we just have to get George Bush to say NUCLEAR instead of NUCULAR.

Juan Pablo Montoya is almost single handedly destroying my fantasy teams recently by blowing two tires at Atlanta and dropping a cylinder at Texas. Not only that, but Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin have totally caved in the Chase to allow a fellow player that makes his weekly picks with a monkey jump to an nearly insurmountable lead.

I can read the emails from “fans” already on that comment.

Dale Jr. has but two races to get his final win at DEI. Actually, he has to win at Phoenix because he absolutely bites at Homestead. While he ran in the top 10 a fair amount at Texas, his poor handling car never really got much better and he faded to 14th, finishing behind powerhouses Elliott Sadler and Scott Riggs. Dale Jr. better watch himself or Ryan Newman will sneak up and steal 13th place from him.

Jamie McMurray continued his roller coaster career with a ninth place finish at Texas. Will the real Jamie Mac please stand up -- please stand up?

Kyle Busch continues to run really well but fall short when it comes to winning. But then, who isn’t right now?

Jeff Burton suddenly seems to have found out how to run in the top 10 again. Too little too late Jeffy Boy.

A.J. WALLmendinger continued to earn his nickname by backing up his best qualifying effort with one of his worst race efforts. But at least he was not the first one out of the race.

Mike Skinner jumps into Jeremy Mayfield’s old ride after Mayfield jumps to Jeff Green’s old ride and finishes in 24th – just two places behind the surging Mayfield.

And lastly, we have two more late afternoon races too look forward thanks to NASCAR’s wondrous 2007 scheduling genius. The only thing NASCAR has going for it the next two weeks is that the Cardinals and Dolphins both are bottom feeders in the NFL. So unless your favorite NFL team has a bye week, plan on watching some football with your race. Unless you are a Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon fan; then you might be sitting alone in your living room with your remote and a Pepsi.

Have a great race this week and let me know your thoughts.

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.

Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News. The blog at www.turnleftracing.com is down now due to spammers. We will have that back up as soon as we can.

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.