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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Who Will Step Up?
it’s kind of hard to look ahead and see anyone other than Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson raising the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship trophy at the end of the year...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted August 11, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
If you watched Tony Stewart blow through the field at Watkins Glen on Monday, or Jimmie Johnson obliterate the competition at the Brickyard two weeks ago, it’s kind of hard to look ahead and see anyone other than Stewart or Johnson raising the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship trophy at Homestead in November.

These two fighters have punched and counterpunched like modern day Alis and Fraziers, delivering stellar performance after stellar performance.

In his last 13 points races, Stewart has three victories, 10 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. During that same period, Johnson has won twice, finished in the top five on five occasions and finished worse than 13th just twice. And we all know what a ferocious closer Johnson is, having won three consecutive championships.

That Stewart and Johnson will be in thick of the title fight is pretty much a given.

The question is, who else will step up?

Certainly, the very real possibility exists that the title battle will be Stewart and Johnson only. They have, after all, distanced themselves from the competition in a meaningful way. The fact that between them they’ve won five of the last seven championships speaks volumes as well.

But the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup will consist of 12 drivers separated by probably no more than 50 points front to back. All it takes is one guy to get hot, as Kurt Busch did in 2004, to take the title.

So who among the other 10 drivers is likely to challenge Stewart and Johnson for the championship? For my money, there are only four other guys I honestly believe can get it done this year. In order, here they are.

DENNY HAMLIN — After some bad luck early on, Hamlin has emerged as the leading driver at Joe Gibbs Racing. In his last eight races, Hamlin has one victory, five top-five and six top-10 finishes, making him a serious contender for this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Two things weigh in Hamlin’s favor: First, he’s been fast everywhere he’s raced recently. Hamlin was felled by a failed driveshaft at the Brickyard and a pit-road speeding penalty at the Glen, two races where he was fast enough to win.

Secondly, he’s emerged as the senior leader at JGR now that Stewart has left. If Stewart and Johnson slip, Hamlin is my hands-down favorite to take the title.

JEFF GORDON — With four championships in hand and a third-place spot in the points right now, you simply can’t ignore Gordon’s shot at getting it done again in 2009. After all, he uses the same Hendrick Motorsports chassis and engines Johnson and Stewart do, and he trails only Stewart in top-five (10) and top-10 (15) finishes on the season.

The 2009 campaign has been a very successful one already for Gordon, but he’s lost a little bit of momentum in the last month. And getting caught in a savage crash at Watkins Glen didn’t help his ailing back one bit, either.


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