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An Open Letter To President Johnson

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

November 27, 2009 12:25 am CST No Comments

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Dear “President” Jimmie Johnson,

First of all, is it all right to call you “Mr. President”? I mean, you have been the defending Sprint Cup champion of four years now - the length of one United States presidential term, something that nobody else has ever done, including your teammate Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.

You and your “cabinet” - Secretary of State Rick Hendrick, Secretary of Defense Earl Barban, and most importantly, your right-hand man, Vice President Chad Knaus - are one of the most successful administrations in NASCAR history. Over the past four years, you have won 29 races, almost a full season, and have not scored fewer than 22 top-10 finishes in any given year. That’s a remarkable performance.

But, Mr. President, the State of the Union is not as strong as it once was. Attendance at the events has gone down, as is to be expected in a recession, but television ratings have gone down too. That signifies a lack of interest. It’s not like people can’t watch - at least 99 percent of American homes have televisions, and 56-plus pay for cable TV. 24 of the 36 points-paying races are on broadcast - the first third of the season with FOX, and the final 11 with ABC.

And, Mr. President, one of the reasons why they’re not watching is you.

Now, don’t get me wrong, people love an administration that can turn down all challengers. Adversity sticks to you like teflon; challengers come and go, but when all is said and done, we all know that you’re going to come through and remain on top.

You got there by being just a little better than Matt Kenseth in 2006. In 2007, you took down Jeff Gordon, whose season was statistically better, by virtue of a couple more wins and a stronger performance at the end of the season. Last year, the Chase format gave you the win when Carl Edwards was marginally better. This year, you took advantage of the fact that Mark Martin flip-flopped too often between good and bad finishes, and even an incident at Texas couldn’t drag you down too far.

Under the Chase format, Mr. President, you can’t be beat. But take away this safety net, and you’re more vulnerable. History wouldn’t have been made this Sunday, because you wouldn’t have won in 2007, or 2008; even your 2006 championship would have been far less certain. I mean, come on, the margin of victory under the old format would have been four points.

Perhaps, Mr. President, you’re human after all.

Perhaps your administration is just the most adept at adapting to a new style of racing, under a format that, despite all of NASCAR’s claims, actually robs the fans of better (or at least fairer) championship battles. Look it up.

But there’s a way for you to prove your invincibility once and for all. Let me explain.

But first, I must say that I was slightly disappointed in hearing about your recent contract extension through 2015. Six more years is a long time. At this rate, you’ll be approaching Franklin Delano Roosevelt status before you even hit 40. I think it’s time for another challenge, don’t you? And I have perhaps the greatest conceivable challenge in all of motorsports for you.

Mr. President, Americans - or American-trained drivers - are suffering in international motorsport affairs. Our last Formula One driver, Scott Speed, was a failure. (Perhaps you recognize him; you lap him every week in the stock cars now.) Champ Car’s four-time champion, Sebastien Bourdais, made for a terrible F1 driver as well. Our best IndyCar driver, Danica Patrick, is by far the most overrated race car driver of this decade in any discipline, and the other American drivers in that series - Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, et. al. - seem more concerned with the fanfare and their own stardom than actually winning races.

So, Mr. President, the only person I could think of to approach in hope of solving the problem is you.

Starting next year, there will be an Formula 1 team headquartered in Charlotte, run by former Speed Channel reporter Peter Windsor and backed by Youtube founder Chad Hurley. They already have one driver signed, a Spanish mid-pack GP2 racer who brings some sponsorship on board.

That’s not what you want the United States’ only F1 team to be, is it? A pay-driver team? They need a champion, a driver who can win races, has dominated those in his home country, a consummate professional such as yourself who isn’t going to alienate the media.

My point is, we need you in F1, Mr. President.

We need you to prove to the rest of the world that America is still a relevant motorsports country. We need you to prove that these drivers in NASCAR and IndyCar are just as talented as the F1 boys, that we, too, can turn right and left, that even though F1’s rejects have populated the open-wheel ranks for years and the bulky stock cars generally turn left, our drivers can hold their own in the pinnacle of motorsport.

Think of it. How many drivers can say that they’ve won races at Daytona, Indianapolis, and Monaco? Plenty of drivers can lay claim to two of the three; Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Schumacher, and Graham Hill (who also won Le Mans) are among them. You could be the first to win all three. That’s a class all your own in the history of motorsport, Mr. President.

Sometimes, you need to know when to move on to the next challenge. I would say that “when” is now. There is very little left for you to accomplish in American stock car racing, except for maybe Nationwide and Camping World titles, and what fun is stepping backwards?

I hope you’ll consider what I’ve suggested to you, Mr. President. Take a long, hard look at F1. Then talk to Secretary of State Hendrick and Mr. Windsor, and let’s make it happen.

Some other drivers would like to win championships before they retire too, anyway.

Filed under: Formula One, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, jimmie johnson 

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A Passionate Lack of Passion for Jimmie Johnson and the Chase

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

November 16, 2009 5:03 pm CST 1 Comment

So this is it - the Sprint Cup title is pretty much locked up, and for the fourth consecutive year, the hardware goes home to Jimmie Johnson. That’s right, Jimmie Johnson has been the active champion of Sprint Cup for the length of one presidential term.

During their reign as the acting president and vice president of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have done everything right - suppressing any and all challenges from their opposition, making up for their mistakes, playing the game (so to speak) calmly. They are tacticians in every sense. Were an equivalent to the No. 48 team in the White House, we’d be hailing them as the best presidential administration ever.

But all that the Johnson regime inspires in NASCAR fans seems to be a lack of passion - a growing disinterest in the sport. Like the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s, the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, and the New York Yankees of many different and disparate eras, their eventual triumph is a foregone conclusion.

And in a sport where every race is a playoff, so to speak, that’s not a good thing.

Truthfully, this is all the Chase’s fault. NASCAR never needed playoffs; when you have everybody competing against one another every week, it’s already a best-of-30 series between every team in the sport. Towards the end, somebody gets “eliminated” every week, even though they’re still present on the track.

Johnson’s domination of the Chase format is impressive, yes. But wouldn’t it be far more impressive to see him making incredible comebacks every year? Right now, Johnson has a 103-point advantage over Mark Martin for the title going into the final race of the season at Homestead.

Under the old format, that would only be an eight point advantage over Tony Stewart.

And NASCAR claims that the Chase makes things more competitive.

Things went the same way in 2008, when the Chase spread Johnson and Carl Edwards out by an extra 85 points going into Homestead. Instead of a 141-point advantage, Johnson would have only had 56 over Cousin Carl.

And you know what? One of NASCAR’s most affable drivers would have backflipped his way to becoming the first driver to win championships in NASCAR’s top two series in the same year. The 16-point advantage would have fallen just short of the 1992 duel between Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott in terms of excitement - that year, the margin of victory was a mere 10 points.

With no Chase, Johnson would have maintained his 2006 championship, the most impressive of the bunch, but only by four points over Matt Kenseth. But 2007 would have gone to the rightful champion, Jeff Gordon, whose dominance (and 7.3 average finish) easily trumped his teammate. And right now, we’d be asking if Gordon, who would be only 51 points back, could win a record-tying seventh championship (he also would have won in 2004).

The problem with Johnson is his lack of charisma, and everyone - from the higher-ups in NASCAR to my mother, who pin-pointed the problem while I was talking to her today - knows it. If Jimmie Johnson was as polarizing as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, or even Kyle Busch, the fans would be a lot more interested. But Johnson doesn’t do anything statistically that Gordon never accomplished (or nearly accomplished - had he been a little better in 1996, he’d have four titles in a row), wreck people in the name of victory like Earnhardt, or piss people off like Shrub.

Fans watch the races hoping, more often than not in vain, that Johnson will make a mistake and fall out of the race. It doesn’t happen, and that’s the end of it. The championship is decided, we collectively sigh, and we move on to football.

The sport needs solutions to this problem, and regardless of what anybody says, it is a huge problem. What we have with Johnson is a driver who may be the greatest of all-time in taking advantage of fortuitous situations. You know, in his entire Busch/Nationwide career, he only won one race? In that year, 2001, he was beaten in the points by Tony Raines. Think we’d be talking the same way about Tony Raines right now had Rick Hendrick picked him and not Johnson?

One answer is to “Jimmie-proof” the Chase, which the writers on NASCAR.com have discussed. While it would allow the sport to maintain its Chase format, it’s unfair to mess with the entire schedule based on the strengths of one driver. Many of Johnson’s best tracks just so happen to fall at the end of the year. Again, fortuitous situation.

The better solution, however, is to shoot the Chase to hell. Obviously, NASCAR won’t do that, because it brings in more money in the short term - but when the fans stop watching because the championship is a foregone conclusion, they’ll seriously reconsider. The past four years would have been a lot more interesting without it, and everyone who has looked at the statistics knows it.

Obviously, neither of those things are going to happen. So I venture one last suggestion out to the motorsports world, an idea which is so far-fetched, so desperate to give NASCAR a new champion, that it makes far more sense than anybody would ever be willing to admit. The side effects would be nothing but positives for not only NASCAR, but also motorsports around the world.

Go race for US F1, Jimmie.

Peter Windsor, are you listening?

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, jimmie johnson 

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Martin Realistic After Johnson’s Debacle At Texas

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

November 9, 2009 8:41 pm CST No Comments

Despite gaining 111 points on defending champion Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup points after the Dickies 500 at Texas, Mark Martin isn’t expecting his Hendrick Motorsports teammate to gift-wrap the title based on one poor performance.

Rather, the one they call “The Kid” is expecting a fight in the final two races just to stay a bridesmaid.

“I still have got my hands full for the top-six positions with all those guys — two guys that knocked me out of championships are breathing down my neck, so the race is still on,” Martin, 50, told the media after the race, in which he finished fourth. “I don’t know why everybody tries to cap this thing out and doesn’t just wait and watch. There are still two races to go and still things that can happen.”

One of those things happened to Johnson early in the race, after Sam Hornish Jr. sent him into the wall before the race was five minutes old. Losing dozens of laps while in the garage for repairs, Johnson returned to the track to finish 38th.

What had been a gimme championship, considering Johnson’s track record over the past few years, is now slightly more interesting.

True, Martin left 35 points on the table by failing to win and/or lead the most laps at Texas; the No. 5 car didn’t see the lead all day. A 38-point difference is much easier to overcome than one of 73 points - in the former scenario, were Martin to win at Phoenix, Johnson would lose the lead by finishing outside of the top five. In reality, Johnson only needs to crack the top 15, something that he has never failed to do at Phoenix.

That’s right. Johnson’s worst Phoenix finish is 15th, which occurred both in the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2005.

When a driver accrues as many strong finishes as Johnson has over the past few Chases, it’s easy and realistic for a driver to concede the title a few weeks early. But if any driver can challenge Johnson, it’s going to have to be Martin, who is the only driver within two figures of the three-time champ heading into the final two races of the season.

But while anything can happen (or has happened) to knock challengers out of title contention, even the almighty Jimmie Johnson is not immune to misfortune.

So while Mark Martin can talk about Johnson’s track record all he wants, there’s nothing to say that the same exact thing won’t happen next weekend at Phoenix. Being realistic is a positive, but resigning oneself to a bridesmaid?

Considering the way that 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002 worked for him, it seems that second-place finishes are being realistic for NASCAR’s elder statesman.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Mark Martin, jimmie johnson 

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ESPN Disrespects NASCAR Again

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

October 27, 2009 11:04 am CDT No Comments

Twice in the past week on-air personalities at ESPN have made light of NASCAR, its fans and in one case a driver.

ESPN paid dearly for the rights to broadcast NASCAR’s top two series and tell the stories of Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and the rest.  They have exclusive broadcast rights to the Nationwide Series and have the most coveted portion of the Sprint Cup Season.  ESPN has the rights to broadcast all aspects of the second half of the Sprint Cup season–including the “Race to the Chase” and the  “Chase to the Cup”.

ESPN also broadcasts college football.  Its college football coverage takes precedence over its racing coverage.  It always has and it most likely always will.  Race fans have come to expect that when football and NASCAR bump into one another; its the NASCAR coverage that gets moved–either to another ESPN property or its start time delayed.

What NASCAR shouldn’t have to accept is the total disrespect it receives by its stick and ball oriented personalities.  It has been well documented over the past week about Bob Greise’s comment toward Juan Pablo Montoya.  During a NASCAR promo on a football telecast that Greise worked; one announcer asked where Montoya was, when discussing the top five drivers.  Greise’s response was “Out eating a taco”.

Greise apologized–twice–on air during the telecast and has been suspended by ESPN for one game.  Greise’s comments may have been more insensitive than mean spirited, but does show the lack of respect that NASCAR garners from its broadcast partner.

To add more insult to the NASCAR on ESPN  week; Mondays morning Sport Center broadcasts included highlights of the Sprint Cup race won by Denny Hamlin.  The highlight package ended with the comment by ESPN’s anchor saying; ” Now for those of you north of the Mason-Dixon line…”; this within days of Greise’s gaff.

It would seem it is an acceptable practice at ESPN to demean NASCAR, its drivers and their fans.  If it is not deemed as acceptable, it would not continue to happen.   It leaves fans wondering how NASCAR is perceived at ESPN’s offices.  If on air personnel are not respecting NASCAR it may be because they are carrying down the disrespect they hear from their bosses around the office.  Employees tend to take on the attitude of their superiors.  If NASCAR coverage is looked down upon by ESPN’s hierarchy then it is no wonder that the trickle down lands on air.

This week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW asks:

Does NASCAR and its coverage get the respect it deserves from its broadcast partner–ESPN?

Let us know what you think and we could use your comments on this weeks ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live every Tuesday from 5-7pm ET.  Call the show at 1-800-465-2946 and you could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead as Shell’s Nitrogen Enriched Call of the Day.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, ESPN, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Bidness 

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About That Championship Chase…

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

October 20, 2009 1:13 pm CDT No Comments

So two weeks ago, after the Kansas race, I wrote an article about how this year’s Chase may not be settled as early as last year’s was. I wrote about how Tony Stewart, Juan Montoya, and especially Mark Martin would pose a challenge for three-time reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, and that it wasn’t going to be easy for the 48 team to 4-peat. And at the time, I fully believed it.

But after this weekend, I’m not so sure I buy into it anymore.

So Johnson couldn’t capitalize at Kansas. Big deal. He led huge chunks of the NASCAR Banking 500, both early and late. He had a driver rating of 139.1, nearly 14 points better than that of Kasey Kahne, who ran the second-best race according to NASCAR’s loop data. And after Martin finished a mediocre 17th, Johnson now has a 90-point lead in the standings.

Simply put, it’s gonna take a bad finish or two from Johnson to give anybody else a shot, and he simply doesn’t do that during the Chase.

The maximum point swing that can occur between any two drivers in the same race is 161 points. This requires one driver to finish first and lead the most laps, while the other finishes last and leads none. As the points stand right now, if Tony Stewart was able to pull that on Johnson next week, he’d still only be 11 points ahead of the 48 team in the standings.

Montoya is 190-plus points back in sixth after a dismal run at Lowe’s, effectively ending his championship hopes.

Even Hendrick Motorsports teammates Martin and Jeff Gordon, who run the same high-caliber equipment as Johnson, are going to need misfortune to befall the Lowe’s boys to make this thing interesting again, and that seems like it’s just not going to happen.

It’s been three full years since Johnson has finished worse than 15th in a Chase race. That race, the 2006 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega, could have easily been won by Johnson, too, had then-teammate Brian Vickers not taken him out.

Oh, and about this weekend’s race at Martinsville: Johnson has won five of the last six races at the paper clip. He has 14 top-10s in 15 career starts at the track. The 48 car has spent time out front in nine of the past 11 Martinsville races, and he’s led at least 42 laps in each of those occurrences (winning six of them).

So, yeah, about that championship chase: Looks like I was wrong. Start buying the champagne, boys, you’ve all but won it.

Everybody else can wait ’til next year. Or the year after. Or the year after that…

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Tony Stewart, jimmie johnson 

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Logano has Dover Crowd on its Feet as Johnson Wins

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

September 28, 2009 5:40 pm CDT No Comments

Jimmie Johnson took his place at the front of the field at Dover International Raceway.

While Johnson made a mockery of the field at Dover, rookie Joey Logano was capturing the press.  Sure Johnson’s victory closed him to within ten points of The Chase leader, Mark Martn, but it was the spectacular wreck that Logano was involved in , that left the crowd concerned.

Logano slowed for traffic in front of him, but Tony Stewart was unable to avoid the  car he formerly drove and tagged the back of the #20 sending Logano into the outside retaining wall;followed by a spectacular seven revolution barrel roll down the front stretch at the Monster Mile.  “Sliced Bread” left the batterd ride after it had stopped momentarily on it’s driver side door before ending on it’s wheels.

Logano emerged from the damaged car without serious injury and waved to the fans as he made his way to the ambulance for the precautionary ride to the infield care center.  This new car once again proved how well it withstands damage and protects the driver.

It also shows that the cars still have a want to get upside down.  Roof flaps solved that problem on the old car but the front splitter and rear wing combination have proven to be more of a challenge for the aerodynamicist.  By definition the rear wing on the new car is designed to keep the rear of the car on the ground, but when it is turned up-side-down it does as any wing does and creates lift.  Once the new car gets upset it doesn’t lend itself to minor mishaps.

NASCAR will figure this out and make the car perform better.  It may come with some help from the Nationwide COT as it develops.

This week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW is this:

Should NASCAR and its drivers be concerned with the airborne tendencies of this car?

Let us know what you think and we could use your answer on this weeks radio show.  Tune in to ON PIT ROW every Tuesday from 5-7pm ET.  You could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead if you are the Shell-Fuel My Passion Call of the Day.

photo credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Brian France, Car of Tomorrow, Chase for the Cup, Clint Boyer, How to fix NASCAR, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio 

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