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1. Juan Pablo Montoya Owes 2.7 Million Dollars to the IRS; Does This Change the Image of the Sport?
It wasn't actually huge news this week, but it was pretty odd. Forbes posted an article detailing that Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the number 42 for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and future driver for Penske Racing in IndyCar, owes 2.7 million dollars to the IRS of the United States. The large debt came from tax fillings between 2007 and 2008 where the Montoyas' said they only made 2.4 million dollars while they actually made 9.5 million dollars. I don't really want to talk about the money owed because it isn't really big news, but it does pose a question. Does this continue to add on the redneck stereotype in NASCAR? Now, hold up before you guys flip out. I don't mean like Montoya himself, but the actual money. I also don't believe the stereotype, but think about it. According to the redneck NASCAR stereotype, all NASCAR fans, drivers, and owners are dirt poor. With this amount of money being thrown around and people not reading the full article, they are going to think the “redneck” owners weren't paying him anything and he was lying about how much he was making. Then, everybody starts believing that everybody is even poorer than they previously believed. Then, you just have a lot of unnecessary junk started about the sport and a lot of NASCAR fans get ticked off from having to deal with it. I know it may sound far fetched, but think about it. Not everything posted on the internet is read in full and a lot of generalizations are made even without full knowledge. Hopefully, this isn't more than a mistake and everything gets back to normal quickly.
2. Can We Go Ahead And Give Jimmie Johnson the 2013 Sprint Cup Championship?
Well, the margin is close between Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, but it is still far away considering how good Jimmie Johnson is near the end of the season and how many championships he has. This leads into my question for the topic: can we go ahead and give Johnson the 2013 Sprint Cup championship? I'm sure people are going ahead and giving him the championship, but I'm not. I mean, I know Johnson is good and everything, but let me give some examples of why Kenseth shouldn't be counted out. One reason I mentioned earlier is just how much better he is with Joe Gibbs Racing. His previous track record at races in the Chase was very bleak in terms of him winning the championship. I mean, he was pretty bad at Roush in most of those races, but with JGR he has been amazing. He has won races at tracks he could not even sniff the lead at in races with RFR. That just goes to show that he can't be counted out just because of previous results. A second and final reason is just the luck and mistake factor. Kenseth has had so much luck this year that it is not even funny. I mean, he has come back in races and won where it looked like he had no chance. Plus, his pit crew and his equipment has been some of the best all year long. This is unlike Johnson who has had a fair amount of pit mistakes and bad strategy calls all year long. Indianapolis comes to my head if you guys know what I mean. What do all these examples mean? All this means is that you never count anybody out even when it looks bleak. Matt Kenseth is definitely not out and he is going to surprise us in these final two races.
3. Did Matt Kenseth Miss His Chance at Texas?
Well, after saying all those good things about Matt Kenseth, I do have one concern. Did he waste his chance to gain on Jimmie Johnson at Texas? Personally, I think he did. Let me recap the race a little bit. Johnson completely dominated by leading the most laps and cruised to the victory over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in second. Kenseth finished fourth, which is not too far back, but it did cost him a few points that he really didn't have to lose. This leads into my reasons why he missed his chance at Texas. One reason is Kenseth's domination at one and a half mile tracks this year. He has a fair amount of wins at mile and a half tracks this year and he has a lot of good finishes. Texas is a mile and a half track and he looked like he would have a good chance to gain points. Jimmie Johnson, on the other hand, had struggled at the tracks. All that changed as Johnson grabbed max points and stretched his points lead a little bit. I just felt Kenseth could have driven up there and raced with him more. He didn't and his finish showed that. A second and final reason is Kenseth's success this year in the Chase. For a time there, Kenseth was the best driver in the Chase. I mean, he had two wins to start the Chase, but he began to lose momentum. He missed some opportunities, but it looked like Texas would be a nice momentum boost. It turned out not to be and he fell in a deep hole in terms of catching Johnson. Like I said earlier, you can not count Kenseth out and he might come back to take the championship from Johnson.
4. Will We See Another Wreck and Fight at Phoenix?
In case you guys don't recall the craziness between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer last year at Phoenix, let me recap. Early on in the event, Bowyer made slight contact with Gordon that caused Gordon to sail into the wall. Gordon had huge amounts of damage and he was really angry with Bowyer. As the race neared the end, Bowyer came up on Gordon, who was driving a bit slower than him entering turn 3. Gordon took Bowyer's line entering turn 3 and Bowyer decided to hit the apron. He did that, but Gordon came down and turned him into the outside wall. The two piled into the outside wall and collected Joey Logano. All three had absolutely destroyed race cars and they could not return. Bowyer pulled to the garage where Gordon all ready was. The two teams began pushing and shoving in the garage area while Bowyer ran towards Gordon's hauler. The ensuing shoving match overshadowed the actual race and left a lot of tempers still hurt. My question to you guys is this: will we see another brawl today? You know, we have a good chance. For one, it is the next to last race of the season. Everybody wants to finish the final race of the season, but maybe not the next to last. This means that rivalries built up all year long could be brought back out. This leads into my second and final point which is that we have a rivalry that has built up over the year. Have we heard from Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano lately? These two still haven't completely settled their rivalry that started at Bristol earlier this year and ended up costing Hamlin a few races due to a wreck at Auto Club. Will these two clash and settle their rivalry again? I don't know, but it would definitely be very interesting to see unfold.
5. My Pick to Win
Last week, Jimmie Johnson dominated and took the win at Texas. Last time at Phoenix, Carl Edwards took his first win of the season in only the second race. Last time at Phoenix in the Chase, Kevin Harvick took the win in a race marred by a couple of huge wrecks. Will those same wrecks happen today? After watching the Truck and Nationwide races this weekend, I think we are definitely in store for some huge wrecks. It should be very interesting to watch and I hope the battle for the championship stays extremely close. Today, I am going with a few different drivers. I think Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and Carl Edwards are good picks to win today at Phoenix. I hope you guys enjoyed reading my thoughts. If you have any differing opinions on the issues at hand, let me know with a comment down below. I will be unable to write about the race today, but I will definitely be writing about the finale at Homestead next week. I hope the race is good today and until we meet again.
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