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Sometimes I think NASCAR thinks we are all stupid. (OK, that's a LOT of the time.) The minute the Phoenix race was over we were told the championship-clinching scenarios for Jimmie Johnson, right?
- finish 36th without leading a lap, or
- finish 38th while leading at least one lap, or
- finish 39th while leading the most laps
Well, NASCAR is kind of leaving out an important part of the equation here: where Carl Edwards finishes. I realize they are trying to get people to tune in and all that, but here is the REAL deal. While all of the above statements are TRUE, the thing NASCAR isn't telling you is this:
If Carl Edwards does not finish in the top-three OR if he fails to lead a single lap Sunday, Jimmie Johnson is the NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.
I haven't seen that ANYWHERE. Jimmie Johnson could break his wrist while flipping the switch to fire his engine, and if Carl finishes fourth - Jimmie is the champ. Again. (Again.)
(Sounds a lot less possible now, doesn't it? I thought so.)
In fact - here's what you need to know - the comprehensive list of what would happen given ALL of the possibilities Sunday.
IF CARL EDWARDS FINISHES THIRD...
- AND leads the MOST laps AND Jimmie finishes 43rd WITHOUT leading a single lap - CARL is the champion.
(Sidenote of awesomeness: Technically, Carl and Jimmie would be tied but Carl would win the tiebreaker with eight wins vs. Jimmie's seven. That extra win? How about Las Vegas - where Carl's oil deck lid vanished and he was docked 100 points AND the bonus points for the "win". A tainted win decides the championship because NASCAR "won't take away wins"? The prospect makes me tingly.)
IF CARL FINISHES SECOND, AND...
- LEADS NO LAPS - Jimmie is the champ.
- LEADS A LAP BUT NOT THE MOST LAPS - Jimmie would have to finish 43rd without leading a single lap for Carl to win the championship. (Same tiebreaker scenario.)
- LEADS THE MOST LAPS, Jimmie wins the championship if he:
- finishes 42nd while leading a lap OR
- finishes 41st
IF CARL WINS...
- BUT DOESN'T LEAD THE MOST LAPS, Jimmie wins the championship if he:
- finishes 42nd while leading the MOST laps, OR
- finishes 40th while leading a lap OR
- finishes 37th while leading the MOST laps.
IF CARL WINS AND LEADS THE MOST LAPS, THEN the clinching scenario NASCAR is laying out, where Jimmie needs to:
- finish 36th without leading a lap, or
- finish 38th while leading at least one lap, or
- finish 39th while leading the most laps
...is legit.
I mean, it's ALREADY a foregone conclusion that Jimmie will win the championship, but I feel like NASCAR is leaving the door WAY more open than it actually is. And the one thing I hate about NASCAR is the way they constantly take advantage of the ignorance of their fans.
(Don't freak out about the "ignorance" comment, btw. I am NOT calling NASCAR fans "ignorant" like some kind of insult. I'm just saying there is a lot of stuff out there NASCAR fans don't know - like a REALLY good understanding of the points, as an example - and NASCAR kind of uses that to create false drama where there is really none.)
Also - I would be remiss if I didn't point out that if they did the Chase MY way, Jimmie would have to finish SECOND to clinch the championship if Carl won Sunday. Here are those standings right now.
2008 ST 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 TOTAL
Jimmie Johnson 20 21 14 25 10 15 25 21 2 25 178
Carl Edwards 25 18 18 21 1 1 18 25 25 19 171
Greg Biffle 0 25 25 18 4 12 2 5 14 3 108
Kyle Busch 40 0 0 0 6 19 0 12 11 8 96
Jeff Burton 5 15 5 8 19 25 1 0 3 6 87
Jeff Gordon 0 1 9 15 0 9 15 7 21 0 77
Matt Kenseth 0 0 21 12 3 0 7 15 6 1 65
Kevin Harvick 0 4 11 10 5 3 9 2 9 10 63
Denny Hamlin 5 6 0 3 0 2 12 18 0 16 62
Clint Bowyer 5 2 7 2 16 4 5 0 17 2 60
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5 12 1 1 2 0 21 3 0 13 58
Tony Stewart 0 8 2 0 25 5 0 1 1 0 42
That would make for a pretty fun race Sunday, wouldn't it? (Of course, what's going to likely happen is Jimmie cruises to a 15th or so finish while Carl wins - giving Jimmie the real title while Carl wins doing it this way. Oh well.)
(ABOUT COMMENTS: I don't know WHAT the deal is, but I can NOT post a comment to save my life here. So, if you have a comment, I'm posting this on my Blogger - uh - blog. Here's the linkage. Please leave comments there (or here, too, if you can) and I will be happy to respond.)
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