IRONY: an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected. After Matt Kenseth whooped the field in 2003, the NASCAR 'Chase' points/playoff system was created to make sure the Miami finale was a nailbiter. For 2009, it will actually lessen the drama. Under the new/current system, Jimmie Johnson is heading to Miami with a 108- ...

Is Tony Stewart glad that Mark Martin didn't win the championship? See what Smoke said after Martin accepted a Stewie Award at the live broadcast in front of... From the Marbles found this 40 hours ago on youtube.com Find more top sports news, videos, and blogs on BallHype: Autos, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart

Image by wcupmartin6 via Flickr This is it, the final weekend of the 2009 NASCAR season.  All of the national series ... years, 2004-06. (more on the Homestead weekend and NASCAR news after the jump) Johnson is going for a first -- his fourth consecutive ... pay much more attention to the sport at the end of the season during the Chase... "What we often see is a follow-the-herd mentality," ...

... championships if we were under the old points system. The reason behind the complaint: NASCAR fans worship at the altar of Earnhardt and Petty ... 39;s four championships, the breakdown of points under both systems. 2009 Chase format: Johnson, Mark Martin ... 39;s always been one of those two. Whine verdict: Almost baseless. The Chase may have shuffled the competitors, but it doesn't change the fact ...

Howard University continues to blaze trails when it comes to bridging the divide between African Americans and NASCAR. Howard sponsors several students in NASCAR's ... in an article by the Detroit Free Press. Kern will pitch an idea about how NASCAR can appeal to younger fans. Read more about Kern and her quest for the NASCAR Chase for the Championship here. Related Randy Moss Motorsports

Yahoo! Sports NASCAR: Don't give Johnson the Cup title just yet New Albany Tribune I thought he had the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup title pretty much sewn heading into the race at Texas Motor Speedway. … Martin continues to go hard after JohnsonKansas City Star Chase has become a hot pursuitBoston Globe Jimmie Johnson just wants to forget TexasLos Angeles Times ...

... , on Sunday, driving the #48 Chevrolet for Lowes, after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, 'Checker O'Reilly ... points championship, Eau Claire's Paul Menard, out of the chase, finishing 29th, after a 41st place start. “We certainly ... No. 98 Ford Fusion, sponsored by Johns Manville/Menard's, will make its final start of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Homestead-Miami ...

... stands at 106 career victories. The 2009 Late Model championship chase was a three-man race for much of the season with Jim ... After several seasons of being in championship contention but coming up short, 2009 was finally the year that Andrew Durand was able to take home a ... crew members who possess a valid 2009 NASCAR License. For more information about the 2009 Stafford Motor Speedway Champions ...

... playoff format in Nationwide, Truck series By NASCAR.COM November 17, 2009 02:36 PM EST ... t forget to vote for whom you agree with more in the poll at the right. Should NASCAR implement a Chase format in the Nationwide and Truck series? ... Cup titles at Phoenix the past two years. The Chase format has flaws and until they are fixed, I wouldn't use it elsewhere. Currently, Chasers are ...

... NASCAR media corp held a fantasy league of sorts that was only for some of the NASCAR accredited media members and celebrity fans of NASCAR. What we had to do was take the 12 Chase drivers and estimate where they would finish in each of the last 10 chase ... , fellow professional bowler Danny Wiseman and a whole lot of NASCAR media reporters from many venues. Turns out I finished 20th in ...

... , 14 Top Tens Kahne had a nice season that never materialized in the Chase. The problem here is that no team is entering the off season with more question marks then ... Fives, 15 Top Tens Ryan Newman returned to the Chase in 2009 but he didn't return to victory lane. If Ryan ... Win, 13 Top Tens Brian Vickers should be a NASCAR spokesman for why the Chase only needs 10 drivers. Brian Vickers didn' ...

... , Carl Edwards, failed to win at the Cup level in 2009. - The sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt ... .G. France and William C. France were selected as the first five inductees in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, currently under construction in Charlotte and scheduled to ... Pablo Montoya, from Bogota, Colombia, qualified for the Chase and blossomed into NASCAR's first foreign-born star. The ...

... in a row, making Nascar history. Of course, IMHO, its recent history, just because he’s won four chase championships, I don’t hold that in as high regard as I would four ... ;t compare these guys anymore like we used to be able to, the points system is completely different, and I am sure if you applied the Chase rules to every Nascar season it would change the results, mainly because the ...

... Jimmie Johnson was chasing much more than a championship. He was also chasing NASCAR history. The most dominant driver of this decade won a record ... championship. He raced hard for wins in nine of the 10 Chase races, and for all 400 miles at Homestead, where he threatened ... began in 2004, Johnson has won 18 of 60 Chase races. He's done it by almost never choosing the safe route ...

... points.  Strategies can and will change depending upon the way NASCAR hands out points.  All we're dealing ... points system.  Obviously, had we been under the old points system in 2009, teams would have tried different things to grab points.  ... comparisons mostly because I think it's fun, not to suggest that NASCAR has blundered by instituting the Chase system.  The powers ...