FanHouse Chase

Jeff Gordon said it best last week when he said Jimmie Johnson "has flat killed everyone" in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

That didn't change Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson finished seventh in the Ford 400 to wrap up his second NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship in a row by 77 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate and co-team owner, Jeff Gordon. Johnson is the first Cup series repeat champion since Gordon did it in 1997-98.

Johnson, who was going for his 5th win in a row, led only the first lap of the race after starting from the pole and was a steady Top-10 fixture for the rest of the race. Gordon managed to earn 9 points in the final tally on Johnson by finishing fourth, but it wouldn't be enough for the four-time champion who also had a season to remember by recording his 30th Top-10 of the season, a new NASCAR record.

Oh Yeah, Matt Kenseth Won, Too

Also celebrating Sunday night at Homestead was the Roush-Fenway Racing team after Matt Kenseth won his second race of the year.

Heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for the tenth and final race of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, things in the Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson Show changed dramatically since last week's edition. Gordon now trails Johnson by 86 points in the standings. Here's a breakdown of their stats at Homestead and the possibilities that loom within the last Chase race of the season.

Homestead Stats: Neither Gordon nor Johnson have a win at Homestead, a track that has seen a myriad of layout changes since it first came on the Nextel Cup tour. Johnson has the best career finish with a 2nd-place in 2004. Gordon's best finish also came in 2004 with a 3rd-place.

A year ago, Gordon finished 24th while Johnson finished ninth to wrap up his first title. A 40th-place finish in 2005 left Johnson with an average finish at HMS of 14.5 while Gordon has average 11.4.

Chase Stats: Phoenix stuck a fork in Jeff Gordon's title hopes after Johnson won his fourth-straight to Gordon's 10th-place finish. The 86-point deficit will be nearly impossible to overcome unless Johnson has serious trouble in the race. If Johnson finishes 18th or better, he automatically looks up the title, even if Gordon leads every lap and wins the race.

In doomsday scenarios for Johnson, if he finishes 40th or worse, Gordon could take the title with a 10th place finish or better. A 43rd-place finish for Johnson would mean Gordon would have to finish 14th or better.

I wouldn't put too much stock in those possibilities this year knowing that he has only failed to finish a race four times. Johnson should have his second NASCAR Nextel Cup title in hand come Sunday evening.

The folks that run Homestead-Miami Speedway cannot be Jimmie Johnson fans.

Even though they do have a sell-out for next Sunday's Nextel Cup season-ending Ford 500, Jimmie Johnson has ruined any type of excitement that was building in the fight to win the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Johnson won Sunday afternoon's Checker Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway for not only the fourth-straight race, but also to take a commanding 86-point lead into the final race at Homestead.

Talk about a lead balloon.

A lead balloon, that is, if you wanted to see a finish to the season like we got in the first edition of the Chase, when Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Johnson all had legitimate title chances.

But if you are a Johnson fan, life is good.

After Johnson's late-race domination at Phoenix -- a race in which he led the final 24 laps -- Johnson leads Gordon's No. 24 team by 86 points. The basic math on that is that Gordon must win and lead the most laps at Homestead and Johnson has to finish 18 or worse.

In other words, it's not going to happen.

Gordon stated in the post-race interview that Johnson & Co. have "flat-out killed everyone" in the past few weeks. After all, it's not very often that a driver can lose 154 points in the point standings by consistently finishing in the top-10. To top that off, Johnson becomes the first driver since Gordon in 1998 to win four-straight races.

But in 2007, Jimmie Johnson has been good enough to do that. And because of that, he has stuck a fork in Brian France's Chase.

(This will be the first part of a two-part series airing here on the Fanhouse. It will break down the final two races of the season for the two drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who still have a manageable shot of winning the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Watch for the next one just before Homestead next week.)

Heading to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for the 9th of 10 events in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Jimmie Johnson leads teammate Jeff Gordon by 30 points. Here's a breakdown of their past success at Phoenix and what type of possibilities exist with the point standings.

PIR Stats: Jeff Gordon comes to PIR knowing that he was the last winner in April at the track, and that he is the only driver to win there in the next-generation NASCAR race car. Johnson, though, holds the average finish margin by one full position - 7.2 to Gordon's 8.2.

Gordon has 17 career Cup starts at PIR to Johnson's 8. In that time, Gordon has racked up 8 top-5s and 14 top-10s to Johnson's 3 top-5s and 6 top-10s.

Chase Stats: After gaining the 30 point Chase lead last week at Texas, things are looking brighter for Johnson. However, that could change very quickly, as well. If Gordon wins and leads the most laps, he will tie Johnson if the No. 48 finishes 3rd without a led lap or fourth with one. A 43rd-place finish for Johnson at that point would give Gordon a 131-point lead heading to Homestead.

Likewise, if Johnson found victory lane and led the most laps, he could clinch the championship if Gordon finishes 34th or worse by simply starting at Homestead.

Naturally, Johnson can control his own destiny by winning the last two events, but Gordon can as well. If he wins at PIR and Homestead leads the most laps in both events, Gordon would take the title. If he doesn't lead the most laps and Johnson finishes 2nd in each event and leads a lap, the season would end in a tie, with the title going Johnson based on wins.

It shall be interesting, wouldn't you say?

(Yes, that picture IS the most ridiculous one you've ever seen. Anyways, back to the regularly scheduled programming...)

Jimmie Johnson looked a chef in the final laps of the Dickie's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday night.

First, he sat Matt Kenseth on the table with a charge to his rear bumper with 15 laps to go.

Then, Johnson backed off and let Kenseth cool down -- as well as the tires on his No. 48 -- and read the perfect recipe for the win.

With four circuits left, Johnson pounced with a knife, cutting into Kenseth's lead and finally cutting him off out of turn two, grabbing the race lead and showing the No. 48 team's brilliance in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Don't expect the the No. 20 Home Depot driver to be opening up and talking candidly with the media a whole lot any time soon.

That is, though, unless he wants to start talking about the 2008 Sprint Cup campaign.

Tony Stewart finished 30th Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after some motor troubles during the middle section of the race. He lost oil pressure and brought the car to pit road and lost five laps in the process.

After his dismal day at Atlanta, Stewart will have three races to make up the 322 point deficit at Texas, Phoenix and Atlanta.

Stewart joined a growing list of drivers who can count themselves out of the 2007 championship. Drivers that seem to still have a legitimate shot (some more than others) include Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and potentially Kyle Busch.

Carl Edwards in 5th and down 261 points teeters on the very edge of a possible championship run -- but it would have to come with improbable luck.

Carl Edwards won at Dover a few weeks ago with a car that ran a little too low.

NASCAR found it in post-race inspection and penalized the driver of the No. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion the standard 25 driver points for the infraction, though he was allowed to keep the win.

Edwards and his team owner Jack Roush thought that the penalty was not only injust -- stock cars need more rear downforce on tracks like Dover, not less -- and also felt that it was overly harsh.

Last week, they appealed the decision, claiming the penalty was too severe for a Chase driver because of different points standings and the ten races available in the Chase.

The National Stock Car Racing Commission didn't agree and voted today to not overturn or modify the Roush appeal. As a result, Edwards will still sit in sixth place in the Chase standings, 205 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Later in the day, be sure to look for some unpleasantries bubbling from the Roush camp over this.

You've gotta believe that Jack Roush is t-i-c-k-e-d.

Rules are rules, though, I 'spose.