On Sunday at Homestead, Jimmie Johnson became Captain Kirk again, boldly going where no man has gone before.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]He’s passed Cale Yarborough for consecutive titles, passed Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson on the win list and is one win away from catching another in Lee Petty.

He’s passed his teammate Jeff Gordon for titles, and now he’s the only driver at the top of the heap looking up at Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

To the delight of some, and the dismay of more, Jimmie Johnson has one for the thumb, a fifth straight Sprint Cup championship.

Observers of the sport say Johnson fatigue may be setting in, and fans may be tuning out because of the dominance of the No. 48 team. Sure it disgusts some, that’ll happen if you win too much.

“People tell me they hate me but they respect me,” Johnson revealed Sunday night.

“In the moment I think it’s tough for fans to maybe look at what we’ve accomplished because they want their guy to win.”

No matter what your position is on Double J, he’s history alive and racing in NASCAR.

The 48 team is the Yankees, the Celtics, and the Canadiens in firesuits.

They’re the guys your grandfather bores you to tears with as he brags about their dominance with a story that begins with “Back in the Day.”

Today, this year and this time, is the day.

Johnson is the dynasty you’ll bore the kids to death with.

Jimmie Johnson will never be confused with the most charismatic guy. He’ll never be accused of being the most controversial guy, but when the rubber hits the road, he’s unmatched.

Even Johnson will acknowledge that the dynasty of the 48 team will be seen through history’s larger prism.

“I know what we’ve done today is respected sports-wide. Not just our little bubble that we live in, but sports-wide.”

Five titles in five years, and they keep figuring out how to do it. They cruise to them, they come from behind and take them, and they squirm and find a way to escape when the boot is on their collective neck.

Just like everyone you heard about from “back in the day,” they just keep winning.

Someday, they’ll stop winning titles. Johnson and the 48 team can’t keep this up forever. Father time and emerging talent or the efforts of another team will undo them.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper used to ask people “who was the best pilot you ever saw?”

He would then smile and say “You’re looking at him.”

Today, before this time becomes back in the day, Jimmie Johnson is the best driver anybody ever saw.

Why?

Because you’re looking at him.

Every year it seems there are a few drivers who fans think will have a better year than they do. Drivers who seem to have a championship contending year right in the grasp and then fall flat on their face. Those drivers are called disappointing, and here are the top 5 disappointing drivers from 2010.

First your Honorable Mentions:

Martin Truex Jr’s 22^nd place points finish is something he would like to forget. He came over to Michael Waltrip Racing with high expectations and a new crew chief in Pat Tryson. However, Truex really struggled all season. A rare bright spot with a victory in the Sprint Showdown may have kept the New Jersey native off this list.

Marcos Ambrose– His 18^th place point’s finish and 3^rd place run at Bristol in 2009 seem like ages ago. Ambrose really really struggled in his sophomore season on the circuit, in a season that saw a lot of DNF’s (8) and a devastating lack in judgment at Sonoma, had seen the once promising young star go from that to a guy who finished a dismal 26^th in the standings. It seemed like every other race Ambrose was either crashing or having some sort of trouble. Now for the list.

#5- Juan Pablo Montoya– Montoya may be a surprise to some people that he is on this list. However, heading into the 2010 season Montoya was one of the favorites to win the championship. With an extremely impressive 2009 chase run and a nice beginning of the chase, fans of the Columbian thought a championship was in reach. However, it did not turn out that way. Montoya had eight DNF’s in 2010 making him one of the highest in that category. It seemed that every other week he would find some sort of trouble. He did have a nice month of August but by that time the chase was long gone for Montoya and left he and his team wondering what might have been. He went from finishing 8^th in the standings to a disappointing 17^th.

#4- Mark Martin– The 51 year old Batesville, Arkansas native had a really up and down year. A season ago Mark Martin had looked like the Mark Martin of old. He won five races, and finished runner-up in the point standings. He and crew chief Alan Gustafson had seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. He made that seem a reality even more when he sat on the pole for the Daytona 500. Then his season started. He would have a rocky season, including a stretch of eight races where Mr. Consistency didn’t have a top ten finish. Mark Martin would miss the chase for the first time in his career when running a full season.  He would go winless in 2010, although a strong finish to the season points toward a promising 2011 for Martin. However, whenever you go from winning five races and finishing second in the standings, to missing the chase and not winning a race, it is an extremely disappointing season.

#3- Brad Keselowski– The 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion had plenty to cheer about on that side of things. However, on the Cup side Brad Keselowski’s first full season in Sprint Cup was disappointing. Roger Penske let go of crew chief Roy McCauley and brought in Jay Guy to work with Keselowski. Everyone thought that this team, with the financial power of Roger Penske, the talent of Brad Keselowski and a new crew chief, would contend for the chase. Keselowski didn’t come close. He wouldn’t register a top ten run until Martinsville in October and would not get a top five finish at all. Some people say well it’s his first season, but still when you finish behind drivers like Paul Menard and David Ragan, that is something no one expected. His 25^th in the standings has to be a disappointment.

#2- Dale Earnhardt, Jr– Much like Ragan, Earnhardt has found himself on this list before. What else can you say about the Kannapolis, North Carolina native, but “Wow!” His 2010 season looked to be great. He had a new crew chief, with Lance McGrew and new life in his step. When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series headed to Chicagoland in July, Dale Earnhardt Jr found himself a respectful 11^th place in the standings. Yet, just four weeks later Dale Earnhardt’s chase hopes were cloudy. After four consecutive finishes of 23^rd or worse, Junebug was now 16^th and looking to rebound. However, four more weeks without a top ten finish gave JR Nation that disgusting feeling in their stomach that Earnhardt was yet again going to miss the chase for the 4^th time in 6 years. From Richmond it did not get any better. He had two top tens in the last ten races, but also had 6 finishes of 22^nd or worse. He ended up 21^st in the standings and the one time up and coming star, has seemed to fade really quickly.  

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]#1- Kasey Kahne– You can say all you want about Richard Petty Motorsports, but much of Kahne’s struggles were brought on by himself. Six weeks into the season, Kahne and Rich Hendrick announced that he would drive Hendrick’s No. 5 Chevrolet in 2012. That gave a distraction to his team and organization. He also had a rocky season. He had a streak of four of five races in the top 6. Also fluttered into his season was a streak of five of six races with finishes of 20^th or worse. I can’t kill the guy for leaving Richard Petty Motorsports but I can kill the guy for making his season worse than it should have been. Kahne did not win a race in 2010, coming off a season where he won two races and in the chase. Kahne’s rocky season came to a standstill after an altercation with his team at Charlotte in October, left him headed for Red Bull Racing six races early. His winless season and his early season distraction made 2010 a disappointing year for the Enumclaw, Washington native. Those are your top 5 most disappointing drivers for 2010. Let the debating begin!

In Texas it was Kyle Busch who took on NASCAR and lost. Sunday in Homestead-Miami it was Kevin Harvick in the same position with the same result.

Coming off pit road lap 187 in the Ford 400, Harvick would have had the race lead and those five valuable championship points. But just moments later he was informed that NASCAR busted him for speeding when he was coming onto pit road.

Harvick began to melt on the radio, saying that NASCAR and their pit road timing and scoring made a mistake.

“That’s just them doing what they do best,” Harvick radioed in reference to NASCAR.

His No. 29 pleaded their case to NASCAR officials and lost, Harvick had restart at the rear of the field.

“I don’t think that penalty will ever settle in my stomach,” said Harvick.

“When you read me off of my pit road times of 49.6, 49.4 50.8 and then 49.6; and there’s only a handful people that get to see them, I won’t ever settle for that. I don’t know how you can be speeding when you’re on the bumper in front of you if the other guy is not speeding. So that’s about it.”

This was not just any speeding penalty.

It was a penalty that had huge implications on the Chase for the Championship and Harvick trying to win his first title. The fans immediately started screaming that NASCAR was attempting to help Jimmie Johnson win his fifth straight championship, which he went on to do.

Harvick had fans rooting him on to dethrone Johnson, they were sick of the same old story year after year. For a little bit on Sunday afternoon, it looked like he could actually do it. There were also the fans that wanted to see Richard Childress Racing win a championship for the first time since 1994. And of course, all the Dale Earnhardt Sr. fans just wanted to see his old car rise back to the top.

Other fans started to scream that NASCAR’s pit road timing and scoring malfunction, much like Carl Edwards claimed last year when he and many others were busted on pit road during a Nationwide Series race.

In the end the penalty didn’t matter because Johnson finished second to race winner Edwards as Harvick came home in third place. The final point standings list Harvick in third position and 41 markers behind Johnson.

That’s how close things were because even if Harvick had gone up and led the most laps and won the race, it wasn’t a guarantee that he was going to win the title. That didn’t stop the emotions from flowing though and feeling as though they had been done wrong.

Except, it wasn’t the only highlight of his day.

After the speeding penalty and having to work his way through the field, Harvick came across Kyle Busch and the two made contact on the frontstretch. Harvick sent the young driver spinning and out of his way.

Busch hit the wall hard and his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota then burst into flames. In his interview Busch called Harvick two-faced, saying that when they talked earlier in the day about how they were racing each other, everything was fine.

“We just got dumped by a dumb bonehead move,” Busch said. “It’s very unfortunate. I hate it for my guys. We don’t have next week to come back to. Now we have next year to come back to.

“I guess it’s that time in the race to put your bonehead cap [on] and do that. I talked to him this morning at the drivers meeting about last night [in Nationwide] and how we raced and everything was good. He’s such a two-faced guy that you can never trust that guy.”

According to Harvick however, things were a little different.

“As far as the 18 incident, he raced me like a clown all day,” he said a few times after the race. “Three-wide, on the back bumper, running into me, and I just had enough.”

When Denny Hamlin, Busch’s teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, chimed in that Harvick’s teammates raced him the same way throughout the race Harvick simply replied, “I just parked yours.”

Take a good look at the first glimpse of a could-be rivalry in 2011.

Both Harvick and Busch are hard-nosed racers who speak their minds. Both love to win and they do it often, competing in all three series: Camping World Trucks, Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series and always coming out on top.

With NASCAR’s new “Boys, have at it” policy, which got a workout this season, time will tell if these two see each other again. Will Busch spend the nearly two and a half months leading up to the 2011 Daytona 500 thinking about how his 2010 season ended?

Harvick will, but for different reasons. He’ll be reflecting what could have been in the championship battle. As for Sunday, it just looked like Kevin Harvick couldn’t win no matter what he did.

In the beginning, there was Chad Knaus and his orchestration of the championships. His design took a young driver to 4 in a row. But then the pack began to catch up and catch on. Making the drive for 5 littered with miscalculations and miscues. A mid race crew change during the chase, lack luster finishes and the closest points battle in chase history would bring the 48 into Homestead. The Chad Knaus lead crew would stumble, not once, not twice, but three times. It would very quickly become evident the championship hopes of the 48 team rested with the man behind the wheel. Could Jimmie do it? Could he drive his way to his 5th championship despite the struggles? Jimmie Johnson answered that question with a very decisive YES I CAN! And he did.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]But the race was not without questions and incidents that will raise eyebrows forever. The final race of the year began with inconsistencies, with Brian France stating on Friday that NASCAR was a full contact sport and then Robin Pemberton ending the driver’s meeting with the statement that, “‘Have it’ has it’s limits.” The final statement being made in an attempt to detour team mates of the top three competitors from playing a part in the out come of the championship. Something that it appeared did not apply to NASCAR themselves.

A speeding penalty coming on to pit road was handed out to Kevin Harvick who,as evidenced by the video replay, was clearly sandwiched between two cars coming on to pit road, though neither the car behind or in front was found to be speeding. Oddly, the penalty came after the 29 had taken the lead off pit road and would have garnered 5 bonus points that would have been permanent points not effected by positions on the track. “There is no way I was between two cars. You can’t go from 49.1, 49.4, to 50 something between two cars.” Ranted an angry Kevin Harvick. Harvick also commented, “That NASCAR was doing what they do best.” His statement did not go further than that. But the televised broadcast featured a ghost voice that when the penalty was announced, stated,”You are surprised?”

This is not the first time a speeding penalty has altered the out come of a race. But it is the first time that it has played a role in the championship. Part of the issue is that the speed on pit road is determined by gun time, not transponder time. Indy Car, F1 all use transponder time to determine speed. NASCAR continues to hold on the antique method of using a radar gun and the time for sections of pit road. This method increases the chance for human error. Errors that numerous drivers have sworn have cost them positions and races. Speeding penalties are not appeal-able, and NASCAR does not enter into discussion with teams over them. They are blanket penalties handed out immediately after the infraction. This one came two caution laps after the fact.

In fairness, to the champion, the 5 points would not have changed the out come for the championship. Harvick finished 3rd 41 points back. But he would have finished 2nd with those 5 points 37 points down to champion Johnson.

Denny Hamlin all year long has predicted his success with uncanny accuracy. At times it seemed that he was reading it from a script. His confidence took a blow in Phoenix when he had to pit for fuel late in the race and Johnson and Harvick did not. However, coming into Homestead his confidence was again high.

It’s ironic that it would be a poor qualifying spot that would ultimately cost him the championship. Hamlin known for being a strong qualifier and starting in the top half of the field most every race, qualified a deep 33. Coming up through the field he would tangle with Greg Biffle and spin down across the grass. Minimal damage would prove crucial to the performance of the car with the front splitter being bent up. Mike Ford and his crew would make minimum repairs never fully repairing the damage. The car, according to Hamlin “was never right after that.” Hamlin said the incident was no one’s fault just that there wasn’t room for 3 abreast at that time on the track.

At one point Hamlin was caught a lap down when a caution flew shortly after pit stops, forcing him to take the wave around and not pit. It would be a caution brought on by Kevin Harvick and Hamlin’s team mate Kyle Busch that would give Hamlin the chance to pit and regain lost track position. Hamlin would finish 14th without ever being a factor in the race.

The race was dominated by Carl Edwards. Edwards who lead the most laps and won the race never really struggled. The television audience saw little of the racing besides the three championship contenders so how hard fought that win was is only known by those who actually attended.

There is no question, however as to how hard fought Johnson’s 5th championship was. Johnson at one time in the flow of points was 3rd with Hamlin leading by 34. This year Johnson and his 48 team had to work for it. It came down to not the crack crew of HMS or the brilliance of Chad Knaus. Instead it came down to the skills and determination of the driver behind the wheel. Skills that many of his detractors had claimed were substandard and lacking over the last few years. But this year in his drive for 5 Jimmie Johnson showed the world that he is a 5 time champion for a reason. His desire, determination and heart and soul truly do drive the 48 team to the excellence they have displayed on the track over the last 5 years. His place in NASCAR history is sealed. The HMS dynasty of 10 championships is unequalled. And there is no sign that they are looking backwards.

Perhaps however, the most telling part of the celebration came when during the presentation of the cup and the check Jimmie Johnson took the microphone from Alan Bestwick and said, “I got the most important trophy of my life earlier this year when my daughter was born. This is just icing on the cake.” For the first time in his career perhaps, Jimmie Johnson peeled away his vanilla image and showed the world who he is as a man. It was a great view of a great and deserving champion who earned his seat at the head table with the same dignity and honor that he has represented the sport with for the last 4 years.

Many claim that by winning for the 5th time he has, “destroyed all interest in NASCAR.” If that is the case the individuals that will walk away from the sport had little interest in anything but the rock star images in the first place. Those who claim they will never again watch NASCAR because Jimmie Johnson won again and he is a cheater. We will miss you. But more importantly, you will miss the sport as it goes into what could be the most exciting next phase of it’s evolution. For those who claim the script was written before the year even started, I would say if that is so, Jimmie Johnson and HMS got a different one than the one Denny Hamlin quoted line and verse from every week.

To Jimmie and Chad and all the 48 team past and current, and of course Rick Hendrick, Congratulations on adding a new aspect to who you are by being the underdog and pulling it out anyway. You truly are representative of the classic phrase on Any Given Day.

~~~~~****~~~~~

Congratulations to Todd Bodine and Germain Racing on the Camping World Truck Series Championship. To Kyle Busch Motorsports on it’s first Truck owners championship in it’s inaugural year. Congratulations to Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing on their first Nationwide Series Championship and to Joe Gibbs Racing on it’s first Car Owners Championship in the Nationwide Series. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports on it’s fifth Sprint Cup Series Championship and to Hendrick Motorsports on it’s record setting 10th championship.

That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you had to give every single week, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

Jimmie Johnson won his fifth straight championship on Sunday. Just like I wrote last week, his main competition, Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick, made mistakes and had back luck back in the pack. In the meantime, Johnson stayed up front and out of trouble. Qualifying was the key.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]On Friday, Hamlin, at that time leading by 15 points going into the race, tried teammate Kyle Busch’s qualifying setup. The result was a 37th place starting position. Harvick started 28th, but unlike Hamlin, was able to work his way to the front, but that happened late in the race and wasn’t enough to overtake Johnson and Hamlin.

The question that now will be asked over and over is will anyone else be able to take the championship again. Although Hamlin and Harvick made it close, there was never any doubt in this writer’s mind that Johnson would come out on top from the first race of the season. Rick Hendrick has assembled a crew that has become a dynasty. It’s helped that the tracks chosen for the final ten-race chase are well suited for Johnson’s driving style, but one cannot deny that Johnson has been good almost everywhere. Those with a “glass half full” disposition continue to cry that the other teams just have to get better and beat him is a solution that is not holding water. All the resources of Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motorsports, Chrysler, and other Chevrolet teams had not been enough. Some of the greatest minds in this sport have tried and failed. The No. 48 team will have to make a mistake for anyone else to have a chance, and that’s something that is not likely.

In the seven years that NASCAR has used this Chase format, Johnson has won five times (only Kurt Busch with Roush-Fenway Racing and Tony Stewart with Joe Gibbs Racing have won the championship, and that was in the first two years). Many point to the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow as a leading factor. The much maligned spec car was introduced in 2007 and used full time in 2008. Johnson has won every championship since its introduction. Compounding that was a ban on testing instituted by NASCAR in 2009 which saw the performance of some teams suffer. Johnson’s team and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports organization never missed a beat during that time, leaving the rest of the field behind. It wasn’t until this season that Roush-Fenway and Richard Childress Racing became competitive again. Could that have been a reason the championship was so close?

Regardless, the accomplishments of the Hendrick Motorsports racing team and Jimmie Johnson cannot be ignored. Congratulations to all involved. But for the good of the sport, let’s hope it’s someone else next year, but if not, you have to admire what has been done by that organization. To the victor go the spoils and that’s only fair.

When Matt Kenseth and his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion team made the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship back in September, his fans didn’t hear the congratulations of being among the top 12 in the playoffs. They didn’t hear about how Kenseth was among the best in the business for this season who would be competing in the toughest 10 races of NASCAR.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]No, what they heard was that Kenseth shouldn’t have been in the Chase at all.

It has been a rare season for a man that has built a career on consistency, although at the start of the 2010 season it looked like Kenseth was going to be in typical form. Through the first five races he had five top 10 finishes, the worst of those being an eighth place in the season opening Daytona 500.

Working with new crew chief Todd Parrott brought not only confidence and excitement, but also optimism. They finished second in Atlanta in March and then third at Dover in June after leading for 15 laps.

Now through the first 16 races run Kenseth led in nine of those events, but then things started to get rocky. By mid-June as the team sat seventh in points, Parrott was released from his crew chiefing duties.

Team owner Jack Roush felt the team wasn’t hitting on things during the race weekend or learning in the practice sessions.

In came Jimmy Fennig. Kenseth and Fennig already had a pre-established relationship and a good one. While things weren’t going to change overnight, the hopes were high that the crew chief search was over.

“You hate changing stuff around all the time because it’s hard to get any kind of consistency going … it’s hard to build on stuff,” said Kenseth.

Through the summer months the team continued to ride the roller coaster. The next six races resulted in finishes of 12th or worse before a fifth place at Michigan before the Chase started just weeks later.

To some they squeaked by and made it in. To others they were taking the place of more deserving teams such as Jamie McMurray who a strong case was made for. Kenseth and the entire Roush-Fenway organization never stopped working though and they knew that it was a only a matter of time before they became factors.

In the third race of the Chase, Kansas, he led 26 laps and finished seventh. The following week at California where he’s won at before he started third, led 29 laps and 40 laps remaining while he ran in the top 10 the engine started to go sour. He finished 30th and sat 11th in points, still facing the critics that said he would finished 12th in points.

Over the last few weekends though, those critics have gotten quieter.

Kenseth finished sixth at Charlotte, 15th at Martinsville, and 16th at Talladega after leading 12 laps. Now they quietly sat eighth in points as the focus and attention turned to the top three in the championship battle.

Entering Texas only twice this season had RFR been able to celebrate victories, both coming from Greg Biffle. None of their three drivers, Kenseth, Biffle or Carl Edwards was going to win the title as all three were enduring their own struggles in the Chase.

Texas though is one of Kenseth best racetrack and he came with one half a lap of winning his first race since February of 2009. Biffle dominated the race and Edwards had won the Nationwide Series race the day before.

Next came Phoenix where Edwards swept the weekend and Kenseth earned another top 10 finish. Entering the final weekend of the season the team that had fought all year long was sitting fifth in the championship standings.

Yes, fifth.

Winless and with a pole, they’re among the drivers that have been in the spotlight all season long. The 14 top 10s and six top fives they’ve complied is the worst of any driver in the Chase, but through the elimination of mistakes and wrecks it’s helped their points climb.

Before the Chase they led just 35 laps. In nine races of the 10 in the Chase, they’ve led 72 laps.

“All our cars [Roush-Fenway] seem to be faster the last few months, so lately it seems things have been going better,” said Kenseth at Homestead.

“Last week [Phoenix] I thought we had a shot at it without having that pit road penalty on our last pit stop,” he said. “It feels like we’re gaining momentum and things are smoother and cars are quicker and we’re understanding each other probably a little better.”

Sunday at Homestead will mark Kenseth’s 400th career start in the NSCS. He’s reflected only a little, just to think about former crew chief Robbie Reiser whom he once drove for and then won a Cup title with in 2003.

But there’s not time to reflect too much, because to Kenseth it’s just another race and the last race to get a win this season. He’s only ever gone winless in a season once before, that was 2008. He’s start from the lucky No. 13 spot at a track that has been dominated by the company he drives for and where he won in 2007. There’s nothing like ending the season on a high note, even though it’s in the back of his mind that if something does go wrong he could potentially finish 11th in points.

“It’s been a disappointing few years for me and probably for the team as well,” he said. “I feel like if we can get through Sunday without problems and run as good as I feel we’re capable of and finish fourth of fifth in the points, that’s a highlight of our year, something to hang on our hat on.”

It would be hard to question whether he deserved to be in the Chase then.