Updated July 14
It's easy to get wrapped up in Kyle Busch's remarkable season, but let's not etch his name on the championship trophy just yet.
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| Chase is the perfect word when it comes to Jimmie Johnson during the final 10 races. (Getty Images) |
And it wasn't as if Gordon was a slouch in those final 10 either. He had two victories, six top fives and nine top 10s, and it still wasn't enough to hold off Johnson and the 48 team, which has had a knack for turning it up a notch late in the season.
Johnson had won four times with six top fives and led a lap in all but one Chase race en route to the 2007 championship. In 2006, he finished first or second in five of the final six races. In finishing second in 2004, he won four of the final six races. And in 2003, he ended the season finishing second or third in the final six.
So you can rest assured the 48 team will harken back to the one that got away Saturday night at Chicagoland as they fixate on putting an end to Busch's dominant run.
"On that last restart, I should have given him the inside," Johnson said. "For a two-lap shootout, the outside always wins. I didn't make the best decision there on the restart. I apologized to my guys and to Lowe's and to everyone. On the bright side, we had a great race car and great stops and we showed that we can beat that No. 18 tonight."
Busch was surprised as anyone that he was able to pull out his seventh win of the year. When Johnson overtook him on a restart with 16 laps remaining, he had all but conceded. But another caution with five laps left gave him new life.
"Without that caution, the race was over," said Busch, who has won three of the past four races. "Just judging by what was in front of me and what I knew at that particular point, the race was over. Jimmie was going to lead us to that checkered flag without that caution."
But the caution did come, giving Busch one last shot. He made a magnificent move around the outside of Johnson on the restart and hung on all the way to the checkered flag. Busch hasn't need much luck this season, but when good fortune has presented itself, he has had the wherewithal to take advantage.
"I'm hoping we don't lose it," Busch said. "There's definitely been some luck in this first part of the season. You know, you've got to have some of that to win some of these races.
"Some people say you would rather be good than lucky. Some people say would you rather be lucky than good. I would rather have a little bit of both and be able to go out there and capitalize with all of it on your side."
Power Rankings after Chicagoland:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Even if Johnson were to finish last and Mark Martin were to win and lead the most laps in the next race at Texas, he would still hold the points lead by 23 points. | ||
| 2 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| There was a time when Martin had a bit of luck at Talladega. From 1988 through 2001 he had 18 top 10s in 28 races. In 12 races since 2002, he has just two top 10s with nine finishes outside the top 20. | ||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| He has four victories in his past 12 trips to Talladega. However, he finished outside the top 10 in the eight races he did not win, with finishes of 19th or worse in his past four visits. | ||
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 4 |
| He captured second at Talladega in the spring of 2008, but has finished no better than 15th in his other five visits to the track. | ||
| 5 | Tony Stewart | 5 |
| Though he won last fall at Talladega, he has finished 22nd or worse in five of his last seven trips to the track with three DNFs by way of crash. | ||
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 6 |
| He has led at least one lap in all eight of his visits to Talladega, but has just two top 10s to show for it with six finishes of 21st or worse. | ||
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 7 |
| He has three finishes of 21st or worse in his past four visits to Talladega after finishing outside the top 10 just three times in his first 14 trips. | ||
| 8 | Kasey Kahne | 8 |
| Sunday marked his second second-place finish at Talladega. In 12 starts at the track, those are his only top 10s. | ||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 9 |
| His 36th-place finish Sunday was his sixth of 33rd or worse in 16 starts at Talladega. "We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I'm the guy that gets upside down," Newman said. "I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see; at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here." | ||
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| His win in the spring of 2008 is his lone top 10 finish in 10 starts at Talladega. | ||
| 11 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| After three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, he has finished outside the top 10 in his past six trips to the track, but at least he wasn't flying into the catchfence like in his last visit. | ||
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| Like his Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Edwards, he had three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, but has failed to finish in the top 10 at the track since. | ||
| 13 | Greg Biffle | 13 |
| Finished a Talladega career-best fourth on Sunday, his second consecutive top 10 at the track after finishing no better than 13th in his first 12 visits. | ||
| 14 | Clint Bowyer | 14 |
| He won't complain too much about a 12th-place finish considering he has finished 35th or worse in four of his eight visits. | ||
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 15 |
| His 21st-place finish Sunday was his fifth consecutive finish of 20th or worse at Talladega. He has been running at the finish of all 18 of his starts at Talladega. | ||
