Backstretch Motorsports

Last Sunday at Talladega, Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Crown Royal Ford) ended quite a few droughts.

First, he ended a personal 86-race winless drought that dated back to July 2007.

Second, he ended a Roush Fenway Racing drought that dated back to this year’s first Auto Club Speedway race, won by teammate Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford). That was 30 races long.

Third, he erased the slate on the non-Chaser race-win drought. That slump lasted 23 Chase races, all the way back to teammate Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M /Super 33 Tape Ford) at Kansas in 2007.

Well, good things might come in bunches.

Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag to become the first non-Chase driver to win a Chase race this season. This weekend could prove to be more of the same.

If you’re looking for “spoilers” outside the 12-driver Chase field at Texas, consider Matt Kenseth. He has the series’ best Driver Rating at Texas, 105.8. Kenseth has top-10 finishes in his last five Texas starts.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was just seven races into his rookie season when he recorded his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Then a 25-year-old, Earnhardt started the race at Texas Motor Speedway fourth and led 106 laps on his way to Victory Lane on April 2, 2000. Earnhardt also recorded his first career win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the 1.5-mile oval on April 4, 1998.

Also, with the recent announcement of Lance McGrew as his full-time crew chief it would be wise to keep an eye out for Jr. this weekend. Texas Motor Speedway is the home of his first series win and he posted three top fives and seven top 10s in his 14 series starts there.

“I like racing at Texas. It’s a fun track.” says the Kannapolis, NC driver, “The fans always seem to be excited about us coming out there. We’ve had some good success at Texas, too, so that helps a lot and makes us get excited about coming back. I just like the enthusiasm that the crowd has and the people that are from in and around that area have for racing, so it gets me excited.”

One stat not in favor of the spoilers this week is that eight of 12 Chase drivers [Carl Edwards (3), Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart] have won at least once at Texas Motor Speedway.

With his seventh top-10 finish in the seven Chase races this playoff season, Jimmie Johnson’s average Chase finish is at 3.4.

The dominance has opened up a rather clear path to his historic fourth consecutive championship. If Jimmie Johnson averages a 10th place finish, or an 11th place finish and at least one lap led in every race, or a 13th place finish and the most laps led in every race – he will clinch the championship no matter what any other driver does.

His statistics thus far in the Chase are championship worthy: three wins, five top fives, a Driver Rating of 125.5 and an average Running Position of 7.0.

Jimmie Johnson’s sixth-place finish at Talladega enabled him to build his series standings lead to 184 points over Mark Martin. Johnson is inching closer to a truly historic accomplishment – an unprecedented fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

Johnson has been unstoppable during the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, finishing in the top 10 in all of the first seven races, including three wins (Dover International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway), and five top fives.

Johnson’s Texas Motor Speedway resume is stout. In 12 starts he has posted one win, six top fives and nine top 10s, including finishing second behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the spring.

Carl Edwards comes into the Texas event still without a victory this season, which is hard to believe considering Edwards had a series-high nine wins last year. Edwards’ eighth 2008 victory was in the Dickies 500, so maybe it’s time for him to end the drought, with this return to Texas.

Edwards leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in wins at Texas with three after grabbing his first win at the 1.5-mile speedway in 2005 and sweeping both races last season. He finished 10th at Texas earlier this season.

Don’t count four-time series champion Jeff Gordon out of the title race just yet. Gordon is third in the standings, 192-points behind the leader. But Gordon won the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway, and could possibly turn his Chase around by repeating his performance and sweeping both Texas events.

Gordon has made 17 starts at Texas, posting one win, seven top fives and nine top 10s. Before his 20th-place finish at Talladega last weekend, he had strung together five consecutive top-five finishes.

Martin, is a four-time series runner-up, Gordon is a four-time series champion himself. Neither will yield.

In ’seat-swap’ news, three races remain in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, but for most teams, 2010 preparations have been underway for some time.

Penske Racing made one of the more visible moves this week with its announcement that Brad Keselowski will take over the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge for the rest of the season.

Keselowski already was to succeed David Stremme in that seat in 2010. Doing so now was deemed important for momentum’s sake.

“Penske Racing wants to give Brad an opportunity to work with the team and get to know the race car as we prepare for the 2010 season,” owner Roger Penske said. “These three races will provide a good base for both Brad and the team as we head into next year. Penske Racing also thanks David Stremme for his contributions to the team this year. We wish David the very best moving forward.”

Stremme, who finished 22nd last Sunday at Talladega, ends his tenure with 33 Penske starts.

Keselowski, who won the spring NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega for owner James Finch, has run 12 series races this season, five for Finch and seven for Hendrick Motorsports.

He’s currently in third place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, running a full schedule for the Hendrick-supported JR Motorsports.

Next year marks the first full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup season for Keselowski.

“I am very excited to begin working with the Penske Racing team and I look forward to competing in the No. 12 Penske Dodge in the final three races of the year,” Keselowski said. “We all have high expectations for next season and beyond, and being able to race with the team this year will only help us as we look toward 2010.”

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