Racing News Digest

Well Jimmie Johnson brought his”A” game to Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday. He led a dominating 238 laps before taking the checkered flag.

“I’m not one to let my mind wander and think about the possibilities – I’ve always known I’ve got to go out and race the race, get it done,” he said. “With that in mind, I’m not thinking about a party. When I go home tonight, I’m going to be (mentally) driving laps, what I think I need to do in qualifying trim so I can put my best effort in on Friday. Same thing for race practice on Saturday, and go racing Sunday.

“Texas was such a good lesson. And I hope that the points we lost in Texas isn’t what keeps us from winning this championship.”

RACE RESULTS

So now the many that were hopeful that Mark Martin or even Jeff Gordon could make a comeback in the next 2 races are now very disappointed. Mark Martin now sits -103 points behind Jimmie Johnson. Jeff Gordon is now -169 points behind which means he has no chance of winning the Championship as only a possible 161 points can be made up in a race.

And in all actuality, Gordon will not be eliminated until Johnson starts next Sunday’s race. Johnson has to start the race to get the minimum 34 points for a 43rd place finish. Thought I would explain that because I had to think about it a little. Just my brain not working as usual.

STANDINGS

“We gave it everything we had,” said Martin, who finished fourth.

“We’ve still got to go to Homestead and run like this again, because we still have heat behind us, Jeff Gordon, especially,” Martin said. “I definitely have been beat by the best – Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt. It wouldn’t embarrass me if it was Jimmie Johnson as well.

And let’s face it, while anything can happen, the chances of Mark Martin getting his Sprint Cup Championship next weekend are very bleak.

Mark Martin did finish 4th and led no no laps.

Kurt Bush was the only other real lap leader leading 69 laps. The only other 2 drivers that led any laps were Ryan Newman with 1 and Matt Kenseth with 4.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got loose and spun at one point collecting many cars with him including Ryan Newamn, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano and more. It looks like from the video that I put in here that Jr got loose and started to spin. Newman got on the brakes while the drivers behind him did not. Sam Hornish Jr ends up pushing Newman into Jr while cars are piling up behind them. It appears other cars where pushing Hornish as he was pushing Newman.

Just one of those things. I didn’t hear what Tony Stewart had to say about it, but he was not happy with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I must say, I didn’t think this was going to be Johnson’s year. See, I need to start gambling and bet the opposite of what I think. I really thought 1 of 2 things. I thought Mark Martin was going to be able to step up and take or more likely I thought Tony Stewart was going to continue doing what he was doing and grab the Championship in his first year as a team owner.

Show’s what I know/knew.