The truth cannot be held back. Jimmie Johnson has been the best driver in NASCAR since his rookie season. No one has really matched his statistics.
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[/media-credit]Johnson entered the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2002 and finished 5th in points during his first year. He followed that up with two consecutive runner-up finishes in the points to both Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon respectively. He was on his way to make it 3 in a row in 2005, but a wreck at the season finale in Homestead left him 5th in points.
He won the title in 2006 over Matt Kenseth by just 4 points. He was unable to make it two in a row in 2007 because Jeff Gordon took his sixth title by well over 300 points, but he came back in 2008 to just fall short to Carl Edwards by 16 points. Johnson won his second title in 2009, beating Jeff Gordon by 66 points. In 2010, he was bested by Kevin Harvick by over 285 points.
Now as we approach the end of 2011 tomorrow afternoon at Homestead, it looks like Jimmie Johnson will keep his runner-up position as Carl Edwards as already clinched the championship after a 2nd place run at Phoenix. Johnson finished the race in 14th.
If Johnson does keep his 2nd place position in the standings following Sunday, it would be the 6th time in Johnson’s career that he would finish runner-up. If all of those runner-up finishes were championships, Johnson would have eight championships and be the clear KING of NASCAR.
Now, we will go through the top-10 in the standings as they stand coming into Homestead.
1.Carl Edwards – 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion
2.Jimmie Johnson – 2 Time Sprint Cup Series Champion
3.Kevin Harvick – 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion
4.Tony Stewart – 2 Time Sprint Cup Series Champion
5.Matt Kenseth – 2003 Champion
6.Jeff Gordon – 6 Time Champion
7.Kyle Busch – Not The Most Popular Driver
8.Kurt Busch – Older Brother not so much either.
9.Ryan Newman – Mr. Take
10.Brad Keselowski -Welcome to the big show, Brad.
Thank you for playing NASCAR with us this season.
Why does it matter, or for another way to put it, “Does anyone care?” This is not some fantasy NASCAR game, and the sport has moved on and away from the old system. Wake-up and realize that Edwards did not clinch nothing at Phoenix, other then he cannot finish no lower then second which is where he finished on Sunday. All you are pointing out is that you are an avid fan of Jimmie Johnson, and writers are supposed to be unbiased when it comes to the sport and not glorify their driver in their posts.