They chased him all year, but they never quite caught him.
Despite a combined 17 Sprint Cup Series victories, the challengers came up short in the end when Johnson won his record-tying third consecutive championship. He never bothered to contemplate what tying Cale Yarborough’s 30-year-old mark would mean, but in the whirlwind media blitz since Sunday’s season finale, little things have happened to help Johnson appreciate his accomplishment.
Encounters with Mike Ditka and Cris Carter at ESPN this week humbled Johnson, as both NFL greats took time to praise his effort.
“When people like that notice what we have done and compare us to other teams in sports history, that’s special,” Johnson said. “I’m so proud to be a part of this and so happy for the team and myself.”
It’s a celebratory conclusion to another long season, one that started with the usual hope and anticipation only to end shrouded in the uneasiness of the economic crisis.
The season ended just days ago, but NASCAR teams are in the midst of mass layoffs because the crisis has forced car owners to tighten their belts. The staff reductions have creeped toward the top teams and crippled the smaller organizations.
Bill Davis Racing is down to just a handful of employees as it seeks 2009 sponsorship, and Michael Waltrip Racing joined Petty Enterprises and The Wood Brothers as organizations that have let go from 18 to 30 employees in the past few days. Hall of Fame Racing, a single-car team owned by two Arizona Diamondbacks executives, promised its own round of staff cuts at the end of the month.
And Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Racing have not been immune - all three NASCAR super teams have reduced their staffs to trim hefty budgets.
“Obviously, it’s very difficult . . . on our whole industry,” said NASCAR chairman Brian France. “But we will come out of this. We will do our part with the rest of the sports and entertainment (business) to weather the storm. We’ve been here before and it’s never fun. It’s never easy.”
It won’t be easy. Sponsorships are hard to come by, at-track attendance is down and the Big Three automakers are in dire trouble. NASCAR will do what it can to help - and so far has suspended all 2009 testing - but is not considering shortening the schedule, races or three-day race weekends.
Despite the depressing end to the season, there were plenty of highlights:
n The emergence of new stars Busch and Edwards. Both drivers came storming out of the gate and never looked back, as Busch won 21 races across NASCAR’s top three series, and Edwards won three of the final four Cup races as part of his series-best nine victories.
But what initially looked to be a three-man battle for the title never materialized. Mechanical failures at the start of the Chase relegated Busch to a 10th-place finish, and Edwards struggled in two races to fall so far beyond Johnson that his frantic final push wasn’t enough. He finished second in both the Cup and Nationwide standings - despite sweeping the season finales in both series.
- Toyota rebounded from its dismal first season in NASCAR, largely behind the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin combined to give the manufacturer 10 Cup wins, and JGR won the owner’s championship in the Nationwide Series.
And Toyota was still successful even after NASCAR throttled the manufacturer’s edge over the competition through a late-summer change to engine specifications. With Chrysler, Ford and General Motors struggling financially, Toyota showed it could become unbeatable before long.
- Stewart, after two championships and 33 victories, decided to leave JGR following a successful 10-year run. After contemplating a contract extension for several months, he explored the market and found other compelling offers.
He took the one that handed him 50-percent ownership in Haas-CNC Racing, and the Haas part is one of the few things that will remain the same in ’09. Stewart Haas Racing has new drivers in Stewart and Ryan Newman, new sponsors and new personnel. The move also returns Stewart to Chevrolet, which has been a longtime supporter of his.
- Getting a victory became more difficult, as former series champions Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth both went winless on the season. Gordon had not been shut out since his 1993 rookie year, and Kenseth last went winless in 2001.
