Fryer’s Five: Here comes Denny

MIAMI – Long after the confetti had fallen on Jimmie Johnson’s record fourth championship, he and crew chief Chad Knaus stood atop a South Beach banquet as the crowd serenaded the duo to Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

Somehow, Denny Hamlin wiggled his way in between them.

Both Johnson and Knaus hugged him, and all three swayed to the music as the party hit its pitch.

Think Hamlin didn’t belong? He did. But more important, the champions didn’t mind sharing the spotlight: Although this season belonged to Johnson, he knows he’s going to have to contend with Hamlin for years to come.

Hamlin claimed his career-high fourth win of the season Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he capped a Chase for the Sprint Cup championship that saw him hang with the No. 48 team in all but one race.

Although the record book will show Hamlin finished fifth in the standings, the focus will be on his three Chase DNFs and a bad showing at Dover. What will be overlooked are six top-five finishes and laps led in all but two of the races. So will the fact that in all three of the races Hamlin failed to finish, he was keeping pace with Johnson.

“Each one of those races where we blew up, we were leading, and if we had just averaged seventh or eighth I think in those races, then we’re out on the front stage celebrating right now,” Hamlin said. “It’s tough to play the numbers games and what if. All I know is we’ve been competitive enough to run with those guys, and we’ve come a long way as a race team.”

And Hamlin has come a long way, too.

There have been more than a few bumps in the road since his breakthrough 2006 rookie season. Hamlin recognized this before 2009 began. With Tony Stewart gone from Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin knew he wanted to fill the role as team leader and knew he’d need to make some personal changes to be effective.

So in a sense, much of this season has been a year of self-improvement for Hamlin. His team saw the changes, respected the effort he was making, and knows with a little luck, they can take the next step.

“I think the last couple years were humbling,” said crew chief Mike Ford. “Denny’s confidence and his driving and realizing that he needed to take a leadership role with the team and work through the issues rather than stomp feet, walk away and be frustrated.

“Being able to work through issues came a long way, and that to me is the difference. The strongest point of our season was gaining that unity.”

Here are five more things from the final race weekend of the year:

1. Hamlin is a man of his word:

He promised to get his revenge on Brad Keselowski in the Nationwide Series race, and Hamlin indeed did 35 laps into Saturday’s race when he spun his nemesis.

Hamlin didn’t wreck him or wad up a bunch a sheet metal. With one hard bump, he simply launched Keselowski into a spin that sent a message but didn’t end his race.

Then the fireworks really began.

First there was a standing ovation from many rival crew members as Hamlin drove down pit road to serve an aggressive driving penalty, followed by the raucous cheers from the crowd when Hamlin’s post-race thoughts on the incident were played over the public address system.

There was the usual back-and-forth in the drivers’ post-race comments, which is where many onlookers believe Keselowski once again went too far. In telling a live television audience that Hamlin “has a lot of problems, on and off the race track,” Keselowski raised more than a few eyebrows.

Hamlin, jubilant after the race, quickly stopped smiling when the remark was repeated to him.

“I’m doing just fine,” he said with a steely gaze. “I don’t know about him.”

Who knows what Keselowski was insinuating, because he never offered anything beyond the initial vague accusation. And that’s cowardly.

2. Was this the weekend for payback?

It sure seemed that way after a tangle between Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart in Sunday’s Cup race.

The action started when Stewart passed Montoya, then cut inside his lane to hold his position. The fast-charging Montoya drilled the back of Stewart, who retaliated later with a door-to-door slam. That contact caused a tire failure on Montoya’s car that led to him hitting the wall and losing his temper.

After his car was repaired, Montoya returned to the track and promptly sent Stewart into a premeditated spin.

“I always said payback, it’s a bitch,” Montoya later posted on Twitter.

This is the drama NASCAR fans long for. Trust me, there are more people talking about the Hamlin-Keselowski feud or the Montoya-Stewart flap than there are talking about Johnson’s history-making run.

Although NASCAR punished Hamlin and Montoya this weekend for aggressive driving, both drivers felt a good bit of satisfaction following their actions. More and more drivers have shied away from letting their emotions show in this watered-down version of NASCAR.

But if more acted out, NASCAR could maybe stop its current ratings slide.

3. We apparently aren’t going to have Chad Knaus to kick around forever:

Knaus raised a few eyebrows, namely Johnson’s, when he declared midway through his post-race news conference that he’ll be retired in 10 years, with a son and a daughter and a wife.

“I have three questions,” Johnson interrupted. “Retired? Son? And daughter? You have a lot to do in 10 years, buddy.”

OK, so maybe Knaus has a bit of regret over all the things he’s sacrificed in his bid for excellence. But he still has hopes and dreams and plans to accomplish some personal satisfaction in the future.

He also knows that while the team he’s assembled is good enough to win championships for years to come, he won’t always be the one atop Johnson’s pit box.

“I can’t be a crew chief forever,” Knaus said. “I’ll be honest, I can’t run at this pace for 10 more years. It’s impossible. But I love what I do. I engulf myself in what it is that I do, and there’s nothing I’d rather do.”

That’s the dedication that’s needed to succeed at this level, but it comes with sacrifices along the way.

Knaus has certainly made his and given up an awful lot to get Johnson into the history books. Someday, he’s going to step back, take a deep breath and attempt to right those wrongs.

And he’ll have Johnson’s support.

4. What did Brian France say this weekend?

Not a whole lot.

The NASCAR chairman sat for a 45-minute question-and-answer session at Homestead, but there wasn’t a ton of new information revealed. He doesn’t think the Chase system is flawed and he won’t make any changes to the format just to keep Johnson from winning in the future.

“The only way fair to look at it is not to pick apart the format, but recognize excellence,” France said. “I don’t think historians could have predicted how good they are. What I wouldn’t want to do is take away from the accomplishment of Jimmie and his team. In this format, dominating four straight years is incredibly difficult to do.”

France didn’t rule out changes to the current car, so long as it doesn’t drastically impact team costs, and he doesn’t think the economy is going to be any better next season for fans or NASCAR competitors.

But other than an endorsement for Danica Patrick’s potential foray into NASCAR, France didn’t cover any new ground.

In some respects, it could be a good thing that he feels as if status quo is the way to go. But there’s still an element of dissatisfaction among many NASCAR fans, and there are still things that need fixing.

Here’s hoping France realizes that.

5. Is the Volkswagen Beetle coming to NASCAR?

That would be hilarious. But it’s not going to happen.

Yes, there were Volkswagen representatives at Homestead this weekend, and those said reps did indeed meet with NASCAR. But that doesn’t mean the German automaker will be building stock cars anytime soon.

Since chairman Brian France issued an invitation into NASCAR to foreign manufacturers who produce cars in this country, Volkswagen has apparently been just one of several automakers to take a good look at America’s top-rated motorsports series. With fuel injection maybe just a year away from the Sprint Cup Series, it’s not so far-fetched for more foreign automakers to show an interest in joining Toyota in NASCAR.

But there are some very big fundamental differences standing in the way, particularly when it comes to Volkswagen.

For starters, Volkswagen doesn’t have a V8 engine that fits NASCAR specifications. The V8 is used in NASCAR, but considered a bit of dinosaur outside this country. With no desire to take a step back in technology, VW likely is more interested in the fuel-friendly V6 and V4 engines that are popular in Europe.

While the marketing opportunities in NASCAR are abundant, there aren’t many gains to be made in terms of technology. So if outside automakers – particularly Volkswagen – are looking for a racing series to showcase the latest and greatest gadgets or green technology, then NASCAR is not the right place.

At least not right now.