Reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) is presently leading the pack in points for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.
If he wins the Cup this year, he’ll do what no other driver has ever done in NASCAR and that’s win the title 4 times in a row.
Beginning Sunday, with 3 races left, he still has some competition lurking in his points draft, waiting to pounce.
That would be a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates — Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), in second and third place, respectively, in the points standings.
Martin is a four-time series runner-up while Gordon is a four-time series champion.
Of course folks are wondering if he’ll sweep Texas this year, despite the fact that a Texas win has elluded Jeff Gordon up until earlier this year.
Yet the Loop Data says that Roush Fenway might be a viable threat to the checkered flag… but Loop Data isn’t in the here and now and it doesn’t take into account good or bad years. I say that because Matt Kenseth rides the top of the heap for stats, followed closely by Carl Edwards.
Also, we can keep an eye on Kyle Busch as he races with a new crew chief in the form of Dave Rogers.
NASCAR Bits & Pieces Asks – Did You Know:
Did you know that with Jamie McMurray’s win last weekend at the much complained about Talladega race, he broke a slump? Well, a few of them.
- His own 86-race winless drought.
- A Roush Fenway Racing 30 race winless drought – going back to Matt Kenseth’s win at Auto Club Speedway earlier this year.
- Here’s the bigger stat: McMurray’s win erased the winless drought of non-Chase competitors who have won a Chase race! This was a 23 Chase race drought that went back to Kansas of 2007, when Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M /Super 33 Tape Ford) won.
I guess there’s something to be said for the Chase contenders.
