Hamlin, Mike Ford, JD Gibbs Post Race PodCast
Denny Hamlin may have won the Virginia campaign with a victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, but Jimmie Johnson moved ever closer to a record fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship with a runner-up finish at the .526-mile short track.
Helped by a long green-flag run that established him as the dominant car, Hamlin pulled away after a restart with 52 laps to go, ending Johnson’s remarkable run of five trips to Victory Lane in the last six races at the shortest circuit in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.
Hamlin easily pulled away again on another restart with 12 laps to go, and again when a late crash by Scott Speed forced a two-lap sprint to the finish of the 501-lap event.
“The last run or two at the end, the 11 had their stuff right,” Johnson said of Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing team. “I was just a little too loose to do anything with them.”
Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Jamie McMurray, polesitter Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.
“Jimmie obviously gave us a lot of respect there toward the end. He knew that we had a faster car and tried to protect his points lead. It was a good situation we were in. We were kind of racing for nothing, and he’s obviously racing for a championship, and, honestly, it was a great run at the end,” Hamlin said of the three-time, soon to be four-time champ.
At this point I call on FT’s Department of Redundency Department and say again, “Jimmie will win barring a Talladega disaster,” an engine or tire popping like a cheap circus balloon (a problem that seems to hover around the #88 team) will win his record breaking fourth Sprint Cup.
Fandom will go crazy, they have with the possibility of it happening, when it does Dr. Phil’s couch will be booked for the next 6 months.
To which I say get over it. Really.
It could be worse, it could be 1952 when the Fabulous Hudson Hornets won 27 of the 34 Grand National races. No other make won more than three times. Tim Flock captured the championship in his Ted Chester-owned Hornet, winning eight races in 33 starts.
While other owners had fielded more than one entry in a NASCAR event before him, Kiekhaefer was certainly the first to take an almost scientific approach to the concept. In 1955, six drivers won a total of 22 races for Kiekhaefer. Tim Flock won 18 of those races, and captured the championship. The team followed that title up with another in 1956 with driver Buck Baker behind the wheel.
The following year Kiekhaefer’s Chryslers and Dodges still cleaned house, compiling an amazing 16-race winning streak during the early summer.
Near the end of the 1956 season, Kiekhaefer withdrew from NASCAR. Though his teams had performed splendidly, they were constantly booed by spectators and always under the watchful eyes of NASCAR inspectors. Kiekhaefer could never understand why his efforts weren’t appreciated and he got out of NASCAR as suddenly as he had arrived.
How about the Wayback Machine take the “Whiners” back to 1964 when Chrysler products won 25 of 62 races, or 1967 when the King won 27 events out of 49 with 38 top fives and 40 top tens.
Didn’t Bill Elliot win 11 of 29 events in 1885? The same stats show Dale Sr. won 11 out of 29 races in 1987 on his way to a Cup?
The lesson to be learned by all this is, be careful of what you wish for. Three straight Cups has only been done twice and JJ, if and when he wins his fourth straight, will be the first to do so in 60 years.
Domination of the sport is nothing new and JJ’s reign will be like all the others at the top of the heap, the mighty fall sooner, or later.
Related articles:
- Hamlin holds off Johnson for victory at Martinsville (cbssports.com)
- Denny Hamlin holds off Jimmie Johnson to win at Martinsville (sports.espn.go.com)
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