Some random thoughts about Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

  • History was made in all three NASCAR Championships decided at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Of the three, the closest points margin going in and coming out of the race was for the Craftsman Truck Series title.  Ron Hornaday Jr. was shooting for an unprecedented fourth series crown and, for most of the early going, it appeared that he was running well enough to drive around points leader Johnny Benson, Jr., who was looking for his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.  Unlike the previous race in Phoenix which had the two combatants overcoming early damage from wrecks, this race was very clean.  At the end, Todd Bodine won the race–he claimed in victory lane that he didn’t feel his truck was good enough for the win but they got it somehow!  This one went down to the last lap and even then, the #23 team was unsure at first if the title was theirs.  Sure enough, it was Benson becoming only the second driver in NASCAR history to earn both a Truck and Nationwide Series Championship and Bill Davis getting his first NASCAR championship.  It appeared to be a slightly subdued Championship celebration for the Bill & Gail Davis owned team with Benson moving on in ‘09 and uncertainty surrounding the Bill Davis organization. 


  • Carl Edwards came into both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series races with a chance to go for the championship in both series.  Coming into the Nationwide race, the gap was 56 points between the defending series Champ and series points leader Clint Bowyer, going for his first ever NASCAR Championship.  Carl did what he had to do–win the race–but Clint also performed well enough to put his name on the first-ever Nationwide Series trophy.  The championship stage also featured J. D. Gibbs receiving the first ever manufacturers’ trophy in the series for Toyota and the Gibbs team getting their first series Owner’s title.  The Joe Gibbs team had four different drivers–Kyle Busch (who earned a record-tying 10 regular season series wins, 9 of which were in Gibbs machines), Tony Stewart (setting the tone early in the season by winning back-to-back races out of the gate), Denny Hamlin and even new sensation Joey Logano–all contributing to the 19 wins out of 35 races.  Even Richard Childress, whose team picked up 13 wins enroute to their owner’s trophy last year, was duly impressed by JGR’s team performance.

 

  • Edwards has to be commended for his “never-say-die” attitude and gritty performance all weekend.  Despite losing the Nationwide Series title even though he won the Ford 300, Carl went out and again did all he could to put his team into a position to win the Championship.  He led the most laps, picking up 10 bonus points (5 for leading a lap, 5 for the most laps led) and again took his car to Victory Lane, becoming the only driver ever to sweep both a Nationwide and a Sprint Cup series race weekend at this particular track which has been dominated by Roush-Fenway over the years.  It still wasn’t enough to prevent the #48 Lowes team juggernaut from getting their date with destiny.  With a commmanding points lead coming into the race, all Jimmie Johnson and crew needed to do was to finish 36th or better, no matter what Edwards did.  They could have coasted all day (some would argue that’s exactly what they did).  Not quite–they only qualified 30th, moved up to 19th by lap 15 and even held the lead at one point in the race, thus getting back 5 points.  In the end, the term “points racing” had been given a different definition this past season, with more emphasis placed on the “racing” part.  The #48 team hit their peak just as the Chase for the Sprint Cup began and nothing could stop them–not even Edward’s 3 wins out of the last four races.  Thus, Jimmie Johnson joins Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to get 3 consecutive Championships.  Interestingly, Chad Knaus became the ONLY crew chief in the sport’s history to claim a third title–when Cale did it, he had two different crew chiefs on the way to his third crown.  Once again, I had the privilege of being the emcee of the Champion’s flag raising ceremony following the trophy presentation.

  • As he was all year, Kyle Busch was a big factor in all three weekend races.  Though he didn’t win any of them, he led for many laps in two of the three races, Trucks and Nationwide.  True, many fans don’t like Kyle for one reason or another but his 21 NASCAR victories spread across all three series speak loudly about his driving prowess.  His future is limitless if he can continue that kind of on-track performance.

 

  • Tony Stewart, in his 356th and last race for Joe Gibbs racing, also led dring the running of the Ford 400.  He was greeted during the pre-race ceremonies by a “card stunt” performed by the fans and paid for by sponsor Home Depot.  The entire front stretch crowd held up cards which read “Thanks Tony for 10 Great Years”.  He leaves both the team and sponsor which has been synonymous with his entire NASCAR career for a chance to own and race for his own team in ‘09 with fellow Hoosier Ryan Newman, who also drove his last race for team owner Roger Penske and long-time sponsor Alltel.

 

  • Jeff Gordon failed to win the race, his last chance to extend a streak of 14 consecutive seasons with at least one win.  Despite that disappointment, the team has been strong this year but with his teammate Johnson’s outstanding season, Gordon and his team have been forced out of the spotlight at Hendrick Motorsports.  At least he gets to share in some of the glory as co-owner with Rick Hendrick of the #48 team.

  • Most people thought I was crazy to take a jacket with me to South Florida for the weekend.  Though nowhere near as cold as it gets around Western New York, the weather changed dramatically between Saturday and Sunday.  The temps were near the upper 40’s early Sunday morning and combined with a gusty NW wind, many people were wondering where all the sunshine and warmth went.  By the end of the race, many fans were “bundled up” as if they were watching a football game up north.  Hey, it IS late fall in the northern hemisphere!

Mike Paz, Motorsports Announcer