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CUP: Martin A Miracle Man?
Written by: Jonathan Ingram
RacinToday.com   http://www.RacinToday.com
11/09/2009
Fort Worth, TX
 
The past week produced a remarkable batch of late fall racing news. One writer’s view of the top ten stories.
Prior to the Texas race, Mark Martin was headed for yet another runner-up finish or even third in the Sprint Cup championship.- Jonathan Ingram. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

1. Prior to the Texas race, Mark Martin was headed for yet another runner-up finish or even third in the Sprint Cup championship. Yet again, it looked like an excellent season by Martin would be trumped by a rival driver’s great season. But that was before the Jimmie Johnson bandwagon ran aground in the tight confines of the world’s shortest 1.5-mile track.

Leaving Ft. Worth, it looks like there’s a new bandwagon and it’s headed for Phoenix with Martin, who dominated in Arizona in the spring, riding shotgun.

(Miracles can happen. On the track Martin has always loved chasing – and he might even learn to love the Chase.)

2. Kyle Busch again did not complete his bid to become the first driver to sweep three victories in NASCAR’s three top touring series in one weekend, but he ended up with 61 career victories. If Busch, now averaging 20 victories a season since joining Joe Gibbs Racing last year, eventually reaches 200 career NASCAR touring series victories, should it be considered the same as “King” Richard Petty winning 200 victories in what is now known as the Sprint Cup?

(Yes.)

Bonus: Did Busch’s new crew chief, Dave Rogers, screw up with his strategy in the Cup race, given that leader Busch ran out of fuel before
pitting?

(No. Rogers didn’t need to worry about points and the No. 18 just got beat by the Penske team’s better mileage and bad luck, i.e. no yellow flags at the finish.)

3. Kurt Busch’s victory at Texas, the second Cup win of the season for Penske Racing, turned around what was becoming a rather dull ending to the 2009 campaign for team owner Roger Penske.

The Penske team failed to score a victory in the Grand-Am with its Riley-Porsche (but got beat twice by the Porsche team of Brumos Racing) and failed to close out the IndyCar title. Off the track, the team’s manufacturer in the Sprint Cup, Chrysler, went through bankruptcy and the team owner went the distance before his bid to buy Saturn from GM turned sour. Petty lousy season, huh?

(It’s never a bad season when you win the Indy 500 for the 15th time, make the Chase, win two Sprint Cup races and six IndyCar races.)

4. If NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is now closer, what do you call the Countdown to 1 scenario in the NHRA’s Top Fuel division heading into the finale in Pomona? Beyond close. Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon, separated by a point, and Cory McClenathan all have a shot to win the title depending on how many rounds they go in Pomona this weekend.

(When you have four pro divisions like the NHRA, it’s practically Jimmie Johnson-proof.)


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