Today was the 36th and final Sprint Cup race of 2012 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Two drivers went into the weekend with a shot at the Championship.
Jimmie Johnson started the day trailing Brad Keselowski by 20 points. Brad had to finish 15th or better and would win the Championship, no matter what Johnson did.
There's an old saying "It's not over until the checkered flag falls." Anything can happen in NASCAR. There are too many variables and too many things can go right or wrong.
Keselowski was middle of the pack most of the day. He was running 12th-18th most of the race. Johnson was all over the map. He led 25 laps and at one point was ahead of Keselowski by 7 points.
Then everything unfolded in the worst of ways.
Johnson went to the pits for a routine pit stop. While there, the NASCAR official assigned to his pit box noticed that a lug nut was loose. Johnson would have to make a second pit stop to correct the issue. That dropped him down one lap but still in contention.
A handful of laps later things went downhill for Johnson.
He started to report of smoke in the car. Then suddenly he slowed. He headed to pit road and the crew discovered they had a drive shaft/gear issue. No way were they going to fix that in the pits. Johnson headed to the garage and never returned.
Keselowski finished 15th to clinch his first Sprint Cup championship.
Brad's only 28, in the prime of his racing career, and could be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. He also gave car owner Roger Penske his first Sprint Cup after 20 seasons in NASCAR. Keselowski becomes just the sixth full-time active Cup Champion (the others are Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson).
The future of NASCAR looks bright. I believe Brad will be a great representative of the sport for NASCAR, Sprint, and his sponsor, Miller Lite.
Jimmie Johnson started the day trailing Brad Keselowski by 20 points. Brad had to finish 15th or better and would win the Championship, no matter what Johnson did.
There's an old saying "It's not over until the checkered flag falls." Anything can happen in NASCAR. There are too many variables and too many things can go right or wrong.
Keselowski was middle of the pack most of the day. He was running 12th-18th most of the race. Johnson was all over the map. He led 25 laps and at one point was ahead of Keselowski by 7 points.
Then everything unfolded in the worst of ways.
Johnson went to the pits for a routine pit stop. While there, the NASCAR official assigned to his pit box noticed that a lug nut was loose. Johnson would have to make a second pit stop to correct the issue. That dropped him down one lap but still in contention.
A handful of laps later things went downhill for Johnson.
He started to report of smoke in the car. Then suddenly he slowed. He headed to pit road and the crew discovered they had a drive shaft/gear issue. No way were they going to fix that in the pits. Johnson headed to the garage and never returned.
Keselowski finished 15th to clinch his first Sprint Cup championship.
Brad's only 28, in the prime of his racing career, and could be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. He also gave car owner Roger Penske his first Sprint Cup after 20 seasons in NASCAR. Keselowski becomes just the sixth full-time active Cup Champion (the others are Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson).
The future of NASCAR looks bright. I believe Brad will be a great representative of the sport for NASCAR, Sprint, and his sponsor, Miller Lite.
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