A Champion By Any Measure
Monday, December 3rd, 2007 by Jim Mc Coy
Give it a rest! Jimmie Johnson is the 2007 Nextel Cup champion! Keep in mind, this is from a Jeff Gordon fan who has no particular allegiance to the guy that Gordon has befriended and guided through his five seasons of NASCAR racing.
Fellow Gordon fans continue to point out that under the old system, Gordon would have won his fifth Cup title. Actually, most Chase detractors are quite quick to point out Gordon would have also been crowned champion in 2004 were it not for NASCAR’s “playoff” system that paved the way for Kurt Busch to win the big prize that season.
This Gordon fan sees things differently.
Understand that I am still not 100% sold on the Chase format as it currently stands. It does seem to me that some kind of reward is due in terms of points or seeding for a driver who possesses a big lead or has dominated up to the time of the beginning of the Chase run. To the point that Gordon fans make that his early season efforts went unrewarded, I say that I understand where they’re coming from. By the same token, I can’t sign off on the old system- which allowed Matt Kenseth a championship with only ONE victory in 2003. That’s messed up. Or Gordon fans, how about when Terry Labonte won the 1996 Cup with TWO wins, compared to Gordon’s 10? Both systems have their flaws.
I also understand that the old system rewarded consistency, and it can be argued Gordon was a model of consistency with 30 top 10 finishes. Gordon also had fewer DNFs than Johnson.
Nonetheless, Jimmie Johnson is a legitimate champion.
How can you dismiss the fact that Johnson nearly doubled Gordon’s victory total? Add to that the fact Gordon’s victory total dwarfed the accomplishments of the rest of the NASCAR field. In racing, it’s not different than any other sport. It’s still all about the win, and Johnson had 10, Gordon 6.
Johnson got hot at the end. Four victories in a row is no small feat, when you consider that the last time we saw a streak this long, Bill Clinton was still our president, and people were just beginning to worry about Y2K. Jeff Gordon was the last driver to win four consecutive races, doing so in 1998. Heck, Bobby Labonte won a cup title with four wins in 2000! Anyone who sustains that kind of streak at crunch time is deserving of a title in my book.
Let’s take a look at their performances during the Chase. According to Dan Beaver at yahoo.com, Johnson had an average finish of 5.0, Gordon 5.1.It’s very close, but when you couple that to winning 4 of the final 5 races, it makes a case for Johnson as a legitimate champion. Yes, I’ll concede it’s very close. Still, Johnson comes out on top.
Yes, fellow Gordon fans, I still get that Gordon was the best driver during the first 26 races- even though Johnson had one more win. When it’s that close, it can be argued that consistency has to be considered when sorting out the better driver. However, at “playoff time,” Jimmie pulled away.
Look at it another way. In other sports, we have countless accounts of teams that we the best during the regular season that didn’t even make the Finals. We see it happening time and time again in college basketball. How about the Seattle Mariners team that won 116 games? How many dominant Colts teams didn’t make the Super Bowl? Any number of factors, including injuries, can play a part in a great team falling down at crunch time. Sometimes, some teams can’t handle the pressure. I wouldn’t say that of Gordon, but I would say that in a comparison of Crew Chiefs, Chad Knaus made better calls than Steve Letarte.
Johnson should be commended for his aggressiveness down the stretch. That was a gamble that paid off. With any lesser team, the strategy could have backfired (see Dale Earnhardt Jr. for reference). That aggressiveness got Johnson a title.
One he deserved.
Spread the Boom:
