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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
The only mystery left in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup is what color dress Channy Johnson will wear at the awards banquet...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 02, 2009   Talladega, AL
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)

Well, now that the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is over and done with, about the only mystery left in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup is what color dress Channy Johnson will wear when her husband picks up his fourth consecutive championship trophy in Las Vegas.

With a 184-point lead with three races left to go on the Sprint Cup season, Johnson will not be stopped. Period. The next time anyone tells you something like, “There’s still a lot of racing left,” cuff them upside the head.

Yes, there are three races left, but no one has ever surrendered a margin of more than one full race in that short a time period, and Johnson damn sure isn’t going to this time. End of story.

With that said, let’s go to this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

THE GOOD: Jimmie Johnson — I know fans are sick of Johnson making a mockery of the points race. Fair enough. But regardless of how one feels about seeing the No. 48 crew win another title, Johnson is on the verge of making history with his fourth straight championship. And accomplishing that is something worthy of a great deal of respect.

THE BAD: The crashes — Watching Ryan Newman and Mark Martin go airborne in the closing stages of the race was sickening, just sickening. We have now had three consecutive restrictor-plate races end with violent, last-lap crashes.

I’m not smart enough to know what needs to be done to stop this carnage, but it doesn’t take a genius to see something needs to change.

THE UGLY: The racing — There were two very distinct themes to the AMP Energy 500: 1. Line up single file and parade around lap after lap after lap with no passing or movement. 2: Crash violently.

I’m not going to tell you the drivers are at fault or the car or NASCAR or whatever. But it certainly wasn’t satisfying to watch.

THE GOOD: Jamie McMurray — The likeable McMurray scored a surprise victory, but one that he certainly earned. It wasn’t an easy day by any stretch, but McMurray was able to break his own 86-race winless streak and a 30-race one for his team, Roush Fenway Racing.

And after the race, he and team co-owner Jack Roush seemed genuinely regretful that he will not be back with the team in 2010, when NASCAR will require Roush to downsize to four cars.

THE BAD: Martin/Gordon — It looked for almost all the race as if both Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon would make huge inroads into Johnson’s points lead. That is until the last lap, when a 13th-car pile up took Martin and Gordon out and allowed Johnson to climb from 22nd to sixth on the final lap.

THE UGLY: Denny Hamlin — One of the pre-race favorites — indeed one of the favorites to win it all — Hamlin suffered his second engine failure in three races, dooming him to a 38th-place finish. It’s a shame because the Virginia native clearly had one of the fastest cars in the fields.

THE GOOD: New Faces — How about this for your top 10? In addition to winner McMurray, drivers finishing in the top 10 on Sunday included Joey Logano in third place. Finishing seventh through 10th were Michael Waltrip, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Bobby Labonte.

THE BAD: The Chasers — It was a bad day for many of the drivers in the Chase, including Martin (28th), Kurt Busch (30th), Tony Stewart (35th), Ryan Newman (36th) and Hamlin (38th).

THE UGLY: The Crowd — Given that it was Halloween weekend, there were many particularly bizarre costumes in the crowd, including a mullet-wearing, Chickenmobile-driving Tommy Kendall. Of course, then again, what happens at Talladega at night stays at Talladega.

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



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