So I got the emails with the entry list information today so I'm making the thread today.

Trucks, N'wide, and Cup will race at Texas the coming weekend.

37 trucks on the entry list for 36 positions, including Shrub and David Killiland: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/tr..._for_Texas.html

10 full time Cup drivers entered for N'wide race: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/na..._for_Texas.html

and 48 cars entered for 43 spots in Cup race, including Max Papis: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sp...t_Cup_cars.html

JJ has to average a finish of 10th in the remaining three races to win, and that's only if MM wins AND leads the most laps in all the remaining races.

Freaking Jimmie Johnson! lol

I hope JJ wins, because everytime I wish him bad luck it backfires against me.

Ah, pulling a Costanza. Good luck with that.

Yeah, JJ stayed back cruising at 'dega, walk through fire and still ended up 6th!!

You gotta give Jimmie Johnson credit. Since the inception of The Chase no one took full advantage of it than him. He methodically brings "A" game during the races from winning to points finish. His 6th place finish is no fluke. He and his team strategically worked "the system" til the final few laps. His 17 wins during The Chase tops in all its six years. To me he's not just a good driver, he's "The Game" of NASCAR and he is that damn good.

Go JJ! I hope he wins the rest of the races going away!

Hahaha.
No doubt on that, JJ is the best guy in the game out there.
I wouldn't mind him getting his 4th, since I'm not really that involved with NASCAR. But what really ticked me off was him hiding in 30th or worse for 95% of the race and then it just all came together with crashes and guys running out of fuel and bam, 6th place in the bag and an extended lead. And it's not his fault, but of the racing Taladega provides.
From the 10+ races I've watched this season, the worse one with the most unfair finish came right and the end of the Chase and basically selaed the title. Even JJ deserved to win it in better fashion.

My suggestion: Everybody knows, even if they don't admit it, that Taladega is all about speed and crashes. So keep the banking and reduce race distance to 100 miles. No hiding back there, no messing around. Just pure and angry racing from flag to flag.

[/]rant

For those who like to keep track of the points without the chase.. - I do.

UNOFFICIAL Sprint Cup CLASSIC - the OLD way - Driver Points Standings
[after Talladega, race 33 of 36]:
pos, car#, driver, points, behind
1) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 4752
2) #14-Tony Stewart, 4745, -7
3) #24-Jeff Gordon, 4673, -72
4) #5-Mark Martin, 4315, -430
5) #11-Denny Hamlin, 4271, -474
6) #42-Juan Montoya, 4260, -485
7) #2-Kurt Busch, 4248, -497
8) #16-Greg Biffle, 4157, -588
9) #39-Ryan Newman, 4118, -627
10) #9-Kasey Kahne, 4094, 651
11) #99-Carl Edwards, 4091 -654
12) #18-Kyle Busch, 4043, -702
13) #17-Matt Kenseth, 3986, -759
14) #33-Clint Bowyer, 3932, -813
15) #83-Brian Vickers, 3890, -855
16) #00-David Reutimann, 3854, -891

And again, just like 2006. It goes to show how stupid the chase pretty much is.

In the old standings Johnson beat Kenseth by 7 points only, and would've been a more exciting showdown than it was.

Right now it could've been Johnson vs. Stewart, but now, the whole things pretty much academic. pfft.

but you have to consider that without the chase format drivers would have approached the races differently.. I dare say that without the Chase JJ would have accumulated more wins.

Nothing wrong with that. They are the best team anyways. And over half the tracks in the chase are some of his best in the series. If this was the old system we would be talking about how bad Stewart is choking the championship.

..or what a crappy year JPM had, 7th and 400 some odd points back.

BTW, thanks for keeping track....

Truck practice and qualifying kicks off today but nothing televised. It's an impound race for Trucks and (I think) N'wide but Cup has the usual P1-Q->P2->HH format.

The chase is all but over. JJ is better than I thought. When it came down to real business, he showed up and the rest were fighting for 2nd place.

Let's start a JJ for USF1 petition.

actually the last time I did all these calculations manually.. I now realized that this information is on Jaski on the race details page..

Well if all you can do is talk about JPM then sure, but Stewart would be bigger with his amount of wins, top 5s. 10s, DNFs. Does JPM really have such a crappy year anyway? Isnt this his statistical best?

Finally the day for qualifying and other televised on-track activity has come!

http://www.nascar.com/races/tune_in/

its easily his best year in nascar in terms of points, and running up front, he just hasnt won yet like he did at a road course in the past.

Yes, Montoya's been more successful, but as OLB's new avatar photo demonstrates, at what cost?!

The man looks beat.

He was in jail, FCS.

I guess I meant "beaten," then.

It's what happens when you badmouth the NASCAR braintrust....the ABC crew is just out of sight in the next cell...

Thanks for noticing. Took a bit of work to find the frame with the most haggard expression and edit it into avatar proportions.

Montoya rolling off 20th, Gordon on pole. Papis misses the race.

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2009/34/data/lineup.html

The 09 I think runs as a Dodge some weekends, when Bliss tends to fail to qualify, and as a Chevy on weekends when Krashalotsky gets to race, and, surprise, it's more competitive.

When they have a Chevy, they don't just have a Chevy, I think they get a Hendrick Chevy.

As for the race, I hope Johnson leads every lap and laps the field.

I don't buy into this theory that much. Each week, the goal is to still finish the best you possibly can. I'm sure there's some different approaches like a little extra effort looking into the setups at the 10 chase tracks, but I don't think its enough to dramatically alter the courses of events (or what would could have happened).

I've always known that T-Stew was a guy who doesn't race hard when he knows you're faster, but it sounds like Kenseth is the same way:

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2009/11/06...tml?MostPopular

He's more excited to talk about his jets than the racing though.

Well NOW Gordon is going win. I'm sure of it (I've been sure in every chase race thou)

The FourtyTwo is one ugly car this weekend....
Thanks to THIS sponsorship.
Jp

42 3rd quick in morning practice.

No pic of the multicolor 42 on jayski yet but wow. Even Juan hates the look, but he likes the car!

i kinda like it :$

Kyle Busch 2/2 so far in Trucks and nationwide.

To talk about a sweep is way too much though. He's totally sucked lately.

Hey, I agree with the above, I'm now hoping JJ win this and the next races!!

Now OL, where did you get that Montoya picture from? OMG?!

3rd in the morning practice. Good.

20 mins to go. I'm rooting for JPM

Rolling...
For those with DirectTV, Montoya is on one of the Hot Pass channels this weekend...

Ok, it's about to roll

I have my sources! Maybe if JJ crashes or falls out of the race I'll reveal my source! But we're all hoping for the exact opposite, right? GO JIMMIE JOHNSON!

I'm logged in and listening to Juan's radio, will update as usual.

That makes it more interesting.

YES! YES! YES! IT WORKED! IT WORKED!

Caution out, JJ involved

Holy shit!

hah!!!

The Vulcans into the wall!

That's 1 heck of a trashed car.

ROFLOL!!!

Montoya almost got collected!

I cannot believe this!

Thanks Hornish!

this makes it interesting!

Not sure if JJ was fortunate or unfortunate to hit the 77 the second time.

It happened RIGHT in front of Montoya, too. JJ hurt three corners of the car. Not a catastrophic failure though.

Montoya making steady progress, was up to at least 16th on pace.

JJ hit pretty hard at the wall, right after the SAFER barrier ends, you could see the concrete dust get kicked up when he hit.