The No. 48 Team Is Something Special

A lot of people out there are pointing at the fact that Jimmie Johnson has all but locked up the 2009 championship with three races still to go as absolute proof that the Chase for the Sprint Cup format is garbage.

A lot of people are wrong. It is not a Chase thing, it’s a Jimmie thing.

Johnson and his team hold a 184-point lead over second-place Mark Martin as the Chase heads to Texas this weekend. They won’t clinch in Fort Worth, but they could put themselves in position to clinch at Phoenix next weekend.

Yes, that is discouraging for those who would like to see a cage match at Homestead in the final weekend. But no, amassing big point leads in the final weeks of the Chase is not pro forma.

It’s happening this time because Johnson and that 48 Hendrick Motorsports team are so dang good.

In fact, they are not just good, they are special.

That team is clicking like few other teams in the history of motorsports have clicked. They are up there with the Ferarri team of Michael Schumacher and the NHRA teams of John Force and Tony Schumacher.

Roll out the cliches for them: They have chemistry, they complete each other’s sentences, they are hitting on all cylinders, the left hand knows what the right hand is doing on the team, the gears are all meshing, they are making their own luck and it’s all true.

Jimmie and Chad Knaus represent a harmonic convergence. Some say egg-head Knaus is what makes it all go while others say Johnson is so smooth and efficient as a driver that he could win no matter the crew chief.

The fact is, they combine to make for a team so successful that many in the garages were ready to hand the championship to them just two races into this year’s Chase. A fourth-place at Loudon and a win at Dover? Forget about it.

Yes, the team has the money and equipment and logistical support of Hendrick, but so do Earnhardt and Gordon and Martin, and so did Casey Mears and Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers.

The deal is this: Chase or no Chase, Johnson would be piling up championships. His team would have noodled out successful plans on how to be there at the end without a Chase the same as they have with the Chase.

They are that good.

It just so happens that at the time and place in history where they have brought this all together, the championship is decided in a playoff format.

Simple as that.

Instead of ripping the Chase as a flawed format, one would think that racing fans would be praising Johnson and Hendrick for what they have done.

How about some love for what is without a doubt, one of the top teams to ever take to a race track.

Jim Pedley is managing editor of Racin’ Today. Read more NASCAR news at racintoday.com.

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