November 14, 2007
By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

The 2007 version of the Chase is not what NASCAR had in mind when it set this playoff charade in motion.

The only way Jimmie Johnson will not win the title is if he blows up early in the race on Sunday and Jeff Gordon stays on the track and finishes well ahead of him. Sure it is a possibility, but highly unlikely.

And with one race to go and facing falling attendance and TV ratings, having the title sewn up already has got to be giving NASCAR fits.

After all, one of the main reasons this Chase was created was to close the “regular season” gap back up, promote winning and gain more fan interest by putting the front runners back within 50 points of each other to make the final 10 races more exciting.

Well, we quickly found out that you can still out-point the competition by being consistently good and avoiding too much trouble in the final 10 races. Not what NASCAR intended.

And we found out that closing the “regular season” points gap up -- ticked off fans and really didn't do all that much to cause high levels of excitement for the final 10 races. Let’s face it, people were getting bored with titles being sewn up by the fall Atlanta race in the old format too. So fan interest has continued to wane due to many issues and the high hopes for the Chase has not panned out the way the Brain Wizards originally intended.

This year, more victories has certainly played out the way NASCAR wanted with one notable exception – no one saw Jimmie Johnson winning four races in a row -- to totally destroy the competition. And no one foresaw Jeff Gordon and Johnson combining for six out of the ten Chase race wins so far. That is not only insane, but makes for poor fan interest no matter what the talking heads on ESPN continue to blather at us.

Now, this does not take anything away from what Johnson and the 48 team have accomplished this year with ten wins and four of them in the Chase. It is simply amazing. And if he wins the final race at Homestead he will have tied a long-standing NASCAR record. The King won five in a row in 1971 and ten in a row in 1967. Good company to keep I guess.

Is the Johnson-Knaus Connection that good or is every one else just that bad? Sure he is having a season to be remembered by whoever is still watching, but what is making the difference? They have won in both versions of cars and Hendrick has been a dominant team in the new winged Impala. Conspiracy theorists claim that Knaus knows something everyone else doesn’t know and he is not even sharing that knowledge with the 24 team, allowing Johnson to run away with the title. Well Gordon fans, that means he is not sharing with the 5 or 25 either. If that were the case, it is a conspiracy on a massive scale under Rick Hendrick’s very nose.

But look at the competition. Except for Gordon and Cinderella Clint Bowyer, no one else has risen to the challenge in this Chase. Boywer and Edwards each started with an early win only to falter down the stretch. The rest of the field simply settled in with a whimper.

Mercifully next Sunday is the end of major league sport's longest season. 36 races will be run and it will be all over but the crying. So watch your favorite NFL team and enjoy things until next February…if you still have any interest.

Michelle Theriault and her Busch East Series update.

You may have seen the press release last week about Busch East Series driver Michelle Theriault parting ways with sponsor Glock and her Spraker race team. Theriault made the leap from the ProCup Series to Busch East this year and ran well when she her equipment stayed under her. She also started several ARCA races and finished 11th in her season finale. She was even invited to the Toyota Showdown for Busch East and West Series drivers where she qualified, but was caught up in another drivers wreck early in the race.

Theriault is currently entertaining offers form other teams and sponsors for 2008 and is looking to hear from YOU Mr. Sponsor and Mr. Team Owner. If you know Michelle, she is one tough cookie and a determined driver and has had success at every level of racing. She is looking forward to testing in December and is looking for someone to step forward with a plan to put her in a seat for next year.

If you are a sponsor or team owner looking for a young personality and a determined driver, contact her via her website at michelletheriault.com. You will not be disappointed.

We all know that the Busch East and West Series are where some of the best fan-friendly racing is these days and where some great drivers are coming from. If you are a fan, drop Michelle a note of support at her website as well.

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.