Fryer's Five: One wreck won’t derail Johnson

Show of hands, please: Who believes the championship race has been blown wide open?

OK, who besides Mark Martin?

There was a brief period Sunday when I remained hopeful that Jimmie Johnson's accident mere minutes after the drop of the green flag had suddenly opened the door for Martin and Jeff Gordon to close in on their Hendrick Motorsports teammate. But as I listened to crew chief Chad Knaus methodically direct his team through a total rebuild of the No. 48 Chevrolet, it became abundantly clear that nothing at all has changed.

There is no championship race. At least, not unless Sam Hornish Jr. wrecks Johnson again this weekend in Phoenix.

Johnson, Knaus and crew will still be celebrating their record fourth consecutive title two weeks from now because they are the best in the business. They built a points lead so bulletproof that a disastrous day at Texas Motor Speedway, where Hornish wrecked Johnson just three laps into the race, could not derail their march into history.

Johnson still has a 73-point lead over Martin with just two races remaining, including this Sunday's trip to Phoenix.

Yes, I know Martin led the most laps there in April to earn the first of his five victories this season. But let’s take a quick look at Double J's stats in the desert: Eight consecutive top-seven finishes, including a streak of three straight victories that Martin snapped.

Johnson delivered the knockout punch to Gordon at Phoenix in their epic 2007 title race, and his dominating run there last November was enough to shake off Carl Edwards' late challenge.

It doesn't matter if Martin leads every single lap at Phoenix and embarrasses the field. Unless he suffers another totally random catastrophe, Johnson is going to run well enough to minimize any potential gains made by his challengers.

I wouldn't put too much hope on another disaster, either, even if Martin is preaching otherwise.

"The race is still on, man,'' he said after finishing fourth-place finish. "I don't know why everybody tries to count this thing out and doesn't just wait and watch.''

Why? Because lightning never strikes twice. And with Johnson, it's a miracle it even hit once.

Here are five more things from Texas:

1. Kurt Busch and Pat Tryson deserve a big round of applause

Busch grabbed his second win of the season, further backing up promises made nine weeks ago not to mail it in just because the crew chief is leaving at the end of the year.

When word leaked out that Tryson is leaving Penske Racing to crew chief Martin Truex Jr. at Michael Waltrip Racing next season, everyone assumed Busch's title hopes were over. And when Penske officials banned Tryson from team headquarters all but one day a week, well, that pretty much sealed Busch's fate, right?

Wrong.

Busch, Tryson and the No. 2 team never let up after Tryson's decision and now find themselves fourth in the points standings.

The effort earned Tryson praise from team owner Roger Penske.

“Pat, great job for you,” Penske said after the race. “Appreciate the commitment you made in these last races. I want to say that publicly. I know you're a first class guy. What a great win for you and for the team.”

Penske couldn't have said it better.

Busch wasn't going to win the championship this year, not with the way Johnson and the Hendrick Motorsports drivers are running. But if not for his 30th-place finish at Talladega two races ago, he'd be a whole lot closer than 171 points out.

He'll point to the Talladega race as his downfall. He was well inside the top-10 on the last lap, but was wrecked by future teammate Brad Keselowski in the final accident of the race. But his title chances really slipped away at both Kansas, where he was 11th, and Martinsville, where he finished 17th.

Those numbers simply aren't good enough to beat Johnson. But considering how the Chase could have gone because of Tryson's impending departure, that entire team should be awfully proud of its effort.

2. For Busch to win, his brother had to lose: But that's OK, because Kyle Busch has his mojo back and, love him or hate him, that's terrific for NASCAR.

Busch fell 2½ laps short of NASCAR history Sunday when an empty gas tank prevented him from winning the Cup race and completing a weekend sweep of the three national events. That he was even in the running for the record was a huge turnaround considering how low key Busch had been since failing to make the Chase.

Most everyone expected missing the Chase to be some sort of learning experience for Busch, one that would potentially send him on a tear similar to the one Tony Stewart went on when he failed to make the Chase in 2006.

Instead, he sputtered around for a month before rebounding with consecutive top-10s at Charlotte and Martinsville. Crew chief Steve Addington was fired a day after his fourth-place run at Martinsville, but stayed with the team through Talladega, which Busch had a shot at winning late before being shuffled out of contention in the frantic final laps.

New crew chief Dave Rogers took charge this past week, and it may have been the spark Busch needed to get back on track. He won the Truck Series race for the second consecutive week, and followed it with a Nationwide Series win that all but sealed his first NASCAR championship.

Then came his debut race with Rogers and Busch was back. He led a race-high 232 laps, but had to gamble on gas in order to pull off the win. When his tank ran dry, his brother scooted past him for the victory and Busch had to settle for 11th.

I will caution that many drivers often see an initial boost in their first few races with a new crew chief (see Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew), and the performance usually evens out again as it takes considerable time for everyone to sync.

Although many still don't understand the decision to replace Addington, who won 12 races with Busch in less than two full seasons, it will be long forgotten if Rogers makes Busch relevant again.

Busch is cocky, controversial and headed into a contract year, and that's going to make 2010 interesting for everyone.

3. Paging Jeff Gordon, Paging Jeff Gordon: Opportunity knocked, and no one was apparently home.

Gordon had a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Johnson's misfortune Sunday, and simply put, he didn't.

Despite starting on the pole, the four-time series champion was saved by a debris caution from going a lap down and ultimately finished 13th. Instead of slicing Johnson's lead in half or more, Gordon still finds himself 112 points away from his long overdue fifth title.

“I'm just terrible at this place,” he said.

Terrible might be an exaggeration, but Gordon has certainly had his struggles and his April victory – his only win of this season – was his first in 17 previous starts.

Gordon said he doesn't know why he doesn't have a great feel for Texas, and the track challenged him the entire day in a way that made it impossible for crew chief Steve Letarte to help him claw out a better finish.

“We seemed to be the best at the beginning of the race and we made some adjustments trying to make it better based on what I was telling them, and we just went backwards from there and lost some track position,” he said. “It was a frustrating day.”

It's perplexing to see Gordon swing and miss at his chances, and it came the same day that Denny Hamlin publicly criticized the veteran for privately pushing NASCAR to toughen its stance on bump drafting at Talladega a week earlier.

It had been widely believed that it was Gordon who went to NASCAR president Mike Helton to ask for tougher policing, and Gordon himself admitted to speaking to NASCAR about the issue when he arrived in Texas. That led Hamlin to question NASCAR's wisdom in allowing one driver to dictate the style of racing, and he even questioned if Gordon raised the issue simply to benefit himself.

I'm not suggesting that Gordon can no longer get it done, or that Gordon doesn't have the right and responsibility to approach NASCAR about any issue under the sun. But I am disappointed he didn't pounce on a golden opportunity Sunday, and that, I'm afraid, is very un-Gordonlike.

4. If Sam Hornish Jr. is still subject to scrutiny, what's Danica Patrick going to face?

Johnson was not real happy with Hornish on Sunday after their Lap 3 accident, which Hornish doesn't even believe was entirely his fault.

Racing alongside David Reutimann minutes into the race, the two made the initial contact that sent Hornish into Johnson as the points leader made it three-wide.

“I got hit by (Reutimann) and didn't even have time to correct before I got up into Jimmie,” Hornish said. “I don't ever want to feel like I've affected the outcome of the championship when I'm not in it. It's unfortunate, you get somebody behind you that's got a good car and runs into you on lap three. It's no fun.”

Hornish was in a later accident that led to his 40th-place finish and harsh criticism from Johnson.

Nearing the end of his second full season in NASCAR, one of the greatest racers in IndyCar history is still taking his lumps. It makes me, and probably everyone else, wonder just what's going to become of Patrick in her foray into stock cars.

It's believed she's closing in on a deal with JR Motorsports to run a limited Nationwide Series schedule while also completing a full IndyCar season. How in the world that is going to be enough seat time to get her accustomed to stock cars is anyone's guess. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens when she goes through the similar issues that Hornish has suffered through since making the switch.

What's going to happen when she has an on-track incident with Busch, or Kevin Harvick or Tony Stewart? My guess is they aren't going to be as kind to Patrick as they are to some of the others who are struggling to make the transition. Not because she's a woman, but because she'll only be partially committed to fitting in and paying her dues.

5. Maybe Johnson doesn't clinch the Cup title on Sunday, but the other two races are pretty much over.

Ron Hornaday Jr. takes a 197 point lead over Matt Crafton in Phoenix in the Truck Series, while Busch is up 272 points over Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series. Busch's margin could be reduced this week if he's penalized for a rule violation found in pre-race inspection, but it doesn't matter.

Even with a 25-point penalty, he'll still clinch Saturday in Phoenix if finishes seventh or better. Should he have an off day, then all Busch needs to do is finish 30th or better in the final two races.

Hornaday can clinch on Friday simply by finishing ahead of Crafton. If he doesn't, then a finish of 22nd or better in last two races gets him his fourth championship.

It's not exactly what the Truck Series had been accustomed to, particularly after last year's title came down to three drivers racing for the championship in the season finale at Homestead.

But that seems to be OK in the lower tier series, where domination isn't viewed the same way it seems to be when Johnson is running away with the Cup title. People seem to be accepting of the same winners week in and week out, so long as the overall competition is good.

Both series have their moments, but for the most part put on pretty good shows, particularly at the front of the Truck races.

Hornaday, who earned five of his six victories this season in a consecutive five-race stretch, and Busch, with 19 finishes of first or second, deserve to cruise control their way into the celebrations.