Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

NASCAR Champs Wrap Up Season at Homestead
Friday, November 23, 2007

Matt Kenseth won the battle, but Jimmie Johnson won the war by taking seventh place in the Ford 400 in Homestead, FL to notch his second consecutive championship in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series.

Kenseth was 'hooked-up' all day, seemingly getting out front at will regardless of restarts. Oh, there were others out front for a while such as Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman. But, no one led more laps nor had a handle on the track like Kenseth all night.

When the checkers fell, crossing the line behind the Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion driver were the cars of Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.

The overall final Nextel Cup (next year renamed to Sprint Cup) race was kind of a sleeper…the TV announcers surely kept us up to speed as to the battle between Gordon and Johnson throughout the race. Johnson kind of stayed to himself and Gordon's group tried a few tricks to get out front, but never really got a super handle on the changing track conditions, especially from bright sunlight to dark.

So, Johnson racks up his second title and Gordon ponders what went wrong not to earn a fifth large cup. After all, the four-time champion won six times, set a new record (30) for the most top tens in one season, had numerous poles and averaged about a fifth place finish throughout the Chase….but came up short.

The big difference here was Johnson's team concentrating on the WINS! With 10 wins on the season and an extra 10 points or so for each made the biggest difference (77 points).

For a few drivers, this finale had extra significance, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Ricky Rudd.

For seven years, Dale Jr has only driven for DEI in a No. 8 race car. This was the final hoorah and there wasn't much to cheer about as the Budman wound up getting spun twice early in the race, finishing a disappointing 36th and slipping to 16th in the final standings. All plans are etched in bronze for him to pilot a No. 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports for next year and beyond.

For Rudd, this was truly his last turn behind the wheel as the iron man hangs up his helmet after more than 900 starts over 32 seasons. Great guy and fierce competitor…he will truly be missed.

The final curtain on the Busch series came down with Jeff Burton controlling the closing stages of the 200-lap race at Homestead despite the series' winningest driver, Mark Martin's best efforts. The 26 year history of racing in NASCAR's No. 2 series ends as Nationwide Insurance becomes the series name starting in 2008.

The overall race was controlled by a slew of Buschwackers, something that may not be around if NASCAR gets some guts to change the rules, such as any top 35 Cup driver being ineligible to earn points.

When the final checkers flew, Burton notched his 26th career win and fifth on the season. The latest win for the RCR driver earned owner Richard Childress his fifth Busch series title.

Crossing the line behind Burton were the cars of Martin, Matt Kenseth, 2007 series points champion Carl Edwards and rookie Stephen Leicht.

The final race weekend began with the Craftsman truck series race on Friday night. Mike Skinner entered the race with a 29-point lead over nemesis Ron Hornaday Jr.

The early stages of the race found Skinner in a familiar situation, that being out front. But, the 1995 truck champ felt a bad vibration and pitted for right side tires, putting his Toyota at the back of the pack while Hornaday Jr was sitting well among the top ten.

Skinner was working his way back to the front, until the rear left wheel left the truck, sidelining the potential two-time champ for 11 laps while the hub was replaced.

That put Hornaday Jr's Chevy in a very comfortable position to cruise around and wind up winning his third title, tying Jack Sprague in the process.

Out front, Kyle Busch was setting fast times until a green-white-checker situation found the young driver passed by a very strong running Johnny Benson who went on to capture his fourth win of the year and ninth career trophy.

Others in the top five included Busch, Rick Crawford, Kevin Harvick and Jason Leffler.

Hornaday carefully finished seventh, winding up 54 points ahead of Skinner, giving Harvick his first truck title after six years of trying.

Hornaday and Sprague will certainly be a one-two punch as teammates at KHR next year.

From Rumorville

Looks like John Andretti will return behind the wheel of the BAM Dodge for next year as the team strives for a second team sponsor.
Several current full-time Cup drivers are still on the outside looking in for next year in a quest to find a ride. They include Johnny Sauter, Tony Raines, Jeff Green, Ward Burton, David Stremme, Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader. Some of those seats were filled by open wheelers Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier. Throw in Jacque Villenueve and Sam Hornish Jr alongside sophomore Juan Montoya and you've got quite a foreign influence on what was 'once upon a time' strictly a deep South sport.

Did you know?

There will be about 5-600 Cup cars for sale now that the final race for the outdated cars has crossed the finish line. So, where do they wind up? Many will go to the ARCA ranks, some will be turned into Busch and West cars and yet others will be turned into school cars, demonstrators and touring show cars. With the COT car rules in effect full-time, it is too different a vehicle to change over in a cost effective manner. Need a show car in your living room or den? They can be purchased at bargain rates!
That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will review some of the final stats and facts for the NASCAR series and more racing news from around the globe.