At the beginning of the season I said that Jimmie Johnson’s team “is the best in Cup until someone rips the mantle from his shoulders”. Carl Edwards gave it a great tug, but for the third straight season the banner, confetti, trophy and 7 million dollar check are still in Johnson’s possession. Johnson has raised [...]

I’m sure Darren is not happy that Jimmie Johnson won yet another championship. I on the other hand enjoy being a fan and witnessing records and history being made. I love witnessing history such as Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally winning the Daytona 500. Then there’s Jeff Gordon passing Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the all-time [...]

Don’t listen to DW, Jimmie Johnson doesn’t not have to worry about Homestead. Darrell Waltrip says Sunday’s race is filled with dangers for the #48 team and it’s the race of their lives. The reality is the only thing that will doom Johnson is an early wreck or an engine failure. A mistake on pit [...]

It’s election night and I hope everyone reading this exercised their right to vote. Here in South Carolina (deep in the heart of NASCAR country) I almost expected an amendment question to be on the ballot asking if the Chase format should be changed for 2009.
Just as Obama has been leading in most of [...]

No, it’s not what you think: there’s no way I’m going there. You should definitely vote (and if you don’t office linebacker Terry Tate will pummel you), but One Bad Wheel is not about to tell you how to vote.
Instead let’s talk about the popular notion that the Chase is broken and the only way [...]

Everything worked out for the #99 team at Texas, but Bob Osborne made a stupid and unnecessary call at the end. As predicted, Carl Edwards won stomped the field at Texas. What wasn’t expected was that Edwards would try and seal the win on fuel mileage. Sure it worked out, making crew chief Bob Osborne [...]

Back to back 1.5 mile tracks creates a dearth of storylines. The top cars last week will be the top cars this week. The tires are likely similar, although Texas offers more grip than Atlanta. Jimmie Johnson will enter Phoenix with the points lead, so nothing to see there. There weren’t any feud-starting wrecks at [...]

Few would consider the weather to be party to a Hendrick conspiracy.
Of course trailblazer Darren Fauth believes otherwise:
“I saw a headline (I think over at ESPN) a few weeks ago about Mother Nature giving the Championship to Johnson. I mildly thought it interesting when I saw it. Of course being a ‘Johnson hater’ I was [...]

It seems like everyone loves Atlanta. The high banking and even higher speeds means people can pass wherever their cars work. The downside is that cars get very strung out, so while your car might be able to pass anywhere on the track you first have to have someone in sight before overtaking said cars. [...]

So last week I pointed out that Mike was bucking Jeff’s fantasy preview advice. He also bucked the trend of taking either Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson to win Martinsville. Instead, he took Earnhardt Jr. and backed up his decision by pointing out, “The last two fall races Junior has run in the top [...]