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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Talkin’ Smack With Pedley & Jensen
Jimmie Johnson will become a father for the first time this summer...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 07, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Four time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and wife Chandra are expecting their first child in July of this year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Editor’s note: Welcome to a new feature at SPEEDtv.com, a little something we like to call Talkin’ Smack. The premise is simple: Every Thursday, two prominent motorsports journalists sit down and discuss the relevant topics of the day.

This week’s contributors are Jim Pedley, founder of RacinToday.com and a longtime motorsports editor for the Kansas City Star, and SPEEDtv.com Editor-In-Chief Tom Jensen. And they are more than ready to talk smack.

TRUE OR FALSE: Becoming a baby daddy for the first time derails Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Sprint Cup championship streak at four.

Pedley: True. I do not see how having his first child will not affect Johnson and his on-track performance. I do not see how it could not affect him emotionally as thoughts about his child, his child’s first tooth, his wife’s daily existence and her well being all elbow their way into Jimmie’s consciousness. And I don’t see how it cannot affect him physically as sleep and rest are put on the endangered species list in the Johnson household and motorhome. Racing is a focus sport. And you have to believe being a first-time parent is going to cut into that rather deeply.

JENSEN: False. If you’re a mere mortal man, the birth of your first child is more than enough to knock you off your cups. But Johnson isn’t as mortal as most of us, which might be why Mark Martin calls him Superman and Chad Knaus reminds him periodically to don his cape.

The good news for Johnson is that the baby is due in July and the Chase doesn’t start until early September. And those first few weeks are the hardest. Plus, I’m thinking that he can afford a full-time nurse if he and Channy so desire. He’ll be tanned, ready and rested to win one for the thumb come September.

TRUE OR FALSE: Roush Fenway Racing wins more races than Richard Childress Racing.

Jensen: False. Without question, the Roush Fenway squad outperformed Richard Childress Racing by a wide margin in 2009, which is why Roush drivers earned two Chase spots and three victories, while the RCR went bupkiss – zip, zilch, zero – in both categories.

That said, RCR made a huge performance gain at the end of 2009, while Roush Fenway pretty much stayed flat. In the final three races of the season, RCR drivers earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, to one top-five and three top-10s for the Roushkateers. And with no winter testing allowed, I say the advantage carries over for RCR.

Pedley: True. I think that Roush Fenway is closer to solving its problems than is RCR. Jack’s guys just seem better suited to dealing with problems and deficiencies than the RCR bunch. I think Roush Fenway has a better stable of drivers than RCR and that there is more harmony among the moving parts at Roush Fenway than at RCR. I think Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth get in the Chase while only Clint Bowyer does for RCR.

TRUE OR FALSE: If Michael Waltrip drives full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Billy Ballew, he will contend for a championship.

Pedley: False. The success which Billy Ballew’s truck team has had in recent season’s can be tied directly to Kyle Busch. Busch is one special driver. He is one of the very, very few drivers out there that can take a fifth-place truck and wheel it to Victory Lane. I do not think Waltrip is that type of driver. I think he is a better wheelman than some give credit for, but I think he would not be able to compete for the Camping World title in a Kevin Harvick truck, much less a Ballew truck.

Jensen: False. Hate to be so agreeable, but the record on this speaks for itself: In his Sprint Cup career, Mikey had more DNFs (148) than top-10 finishes (128). He’s a great pitchman and a fan favorite, but he’s not shown championship abilities behind the wheel. Moving to the Truck Series won’t change that.

That said, Aric Almirola might give the title a good run in Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota, the truck that Busch vacated. He’s going to be someone to keep an eye on.

TRUE OR FALSE: Stewart-Haas Racing will sign either Kevin Harvick or Kasey Kahne for the 2011 season.

JENSEN: False. I believe Tony Stewart will stun the racing world by announcing the signings of both Harvick and Kahne for 2011, instantly vaulting SHR up to the ranks of NASCAR Sprint Cup superpower alongside Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs and Childress. After all, Stewart and Harvick already are BFFs. Remember the Harvick Stewart Law Offices t-shirts? “Where Aggression Meets Attitude. 1-800-BITE-ME48.”

And if “Smoke” and Kahne merged their sprint car operations, it could be a marriage made in heaven on the dirt tracks, too. Of course, like everything in NASCAR, it all comes down to sponsor dollars.

Pedley: True. It does not sound like either driver is very happy with their respective teams these days. It sounds like both would rather be in other places. And in one of those cases, the feeling could be mutual. Stewart-Hass would make a nice landing zone for either of these guys and my guess would be that Stewart would love to have them both. Kahne and Harvick are both top tier drivers and both are the kind of people whom sponsors would have major interest in.

TRUE OR FALSE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at least one Sprint Cup race in 2010.

Pedley: True. It has become pretty hip to dismiss Earnhardt’s driving talents in the wake of what he has done – make that not done – during the two seasons he has been with Hendrick. But this is a guy who won championships in the Nationwide Series and big races when he was with DEI. He and McGrew seem to be on to something. And then there is those Hendrick race cars.

JENSEN: True. Junior may not be the Second Coming of his late father, but he’s nowhere near as bad as he was in 2009, when he literally had the worst year of his Cup career. I fully expect him to win a race at Daytona Speedweeks, though he might not win again afterwards.

TRUE OR FALSE: Kentucky Speedway gets a Sprint Cup date in 2011.

Pedley. False. I think it is a pretty much a slam dunk that Kansas Speedway gets a second Cup date in 2011. Only a last-minute glitch in the casino deal can derail that. ISC is not going to move two of its current dates elsewhere (and certainly not one to an SMI track) and NASCAR is not going to go beyond 36 races. Kentucky will only get a date if SMI buys Dover or Pocono or takes a date from one of its other current tracks. Were SMI to take a race from, say, Atlanta, it might make more sense to give that race to Las Vegas than to Kentucky, which is smaller and in a less attractive market.

JENSEN: True. I think the former owners of Kentucky Speedway exhaust their legal options in plenty of time for NASCAR to tweak its 2011 calendar. Then again, Bruton Smith might just say to hell with it and move the date he had planned for Kentucky to a second race in Las Vegas. And if it was the season-ender, so much the better.

Jim Pedley is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley spent more than 10 years covering auto racing for the Kansas City Star. Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th
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