November 5, 2009
By Doug Demmons
It’s over.
Just go ahead and give him the trophy.
Get out the engraving tool and etch “Jimmie Johnson” on it.
Because it’s over.
Oh sure -- mathematically, algebraically, theoretically it’s still possible for Mark Martin or Jeff Gordon or Juan Pablo Montoya to win the title.
It’s also possible that the Tampa Bay Bucs could win the Super Bowl. But don’t bet the rent money on either.
Nobody wants to admit it’s over, but it is. Just about every story that’s written and every TV or radio show that’s broadcast strains to point out that Johnson might stumble.
He might blow an engine. Or he might blow a tire. Or he might catch swine flu.
Or he might be caught on video partying with Jeremy Mayfield.
But the biggest promoter of the idea that Johnson doesn’t have it locked up is Johnson.
“I can lose 165 points next week if I miss a shift and blow the engine at the start of the Texas race and Mark has a perfect day,” he said at Talladega.
When was the last time Johnson missed a shift and blew an engine? The only way the No. 48 is going to miss a shift and blow an engine is if Junior is driving it.
And even if it did happen Chad Knaus would put it back together with duct tape and Super Glue and have him back out on the track without losing a lap.
Sorry, but this one is over. It ended in the last 10 laps at Talladega.
Johnson was cruising around the back of the main drafting pack, running 33rd and having trouble finding rating partners. He was fairly content to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack and just get the heck out of Alabama in one piece.
And then cars in front of him started running out of fuel.
“Then more guys ran out,” he said. “And guys hit pit road. And we went from 25th up to, I think, 11th before we took the green.”
By the time the 13-car wreck erupted on the frontstretch as the white flag was in the air Johnson was all the way to sixth.
“When I looked in the mirror I saw the 5 roof number tumbling and flipping and then it hit the outside fence,” he said.
Watching in the mirror as his closest competitor’s chances turned upside down tells the whole story.
Not only does Johnson have the best team, the best crew chief and the best equipment, he has the mojo.
The one thing he doesn’t have is the love of NASCAR fans, who have never embraced the polished driver from California who always says the right thing.
But Johnson actually does have a personality.
Case in point – during a press conference at Talladega, Johnson’s friend walked in to show off a mullet he had weaved to the hair on the back of his head. It was the payoff to a bet he had lost with Brian Vickers.
How much better would that episode have been if Johnson had let his hair down -- literally -- and walked in to the media center also wearing a mullet weave?
There are plenty of NASCAR fans who want to like Jimmie Johnson, if only he’d give them a chance.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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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