TV TIMES
By Lou Modestino
Keselowski’s Sprint Cup Championship win is a popular one
Underdog Brad Keselowski’s points championship celebration at Homestead on Sunday came about because he and his team made less mistakes than his adversary Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick team. It was a storybook ending to the long, grueling drill which is part and parcel of the NASCAR Sprint Cup waged every year from February to mid-November. The result of strategic driving and fine tuning of his racer gave Brad and his car owner, Roger Penske, their very first NASCAR championships.
Brian France’s Chase To The Sprint Cup Championship worked in his favor again. Had Jimmie Johnson won it for the sixth time, there would have been a lot of angst from the “Anybody but Jimmie crowd”.
Almost lost in all the fireworks and confetti hoopla was Jeff Gordon’s win of that last Cup race of the season. There were the usual tense concerns throughout the race like does Gordon have enough gas to make it to the end? But he did, and after it was all over, a jubilant Gordon said, “I want to thank Dupont (his sponsor). I knew that we had a great race car today. We also played the perfect strategy, not like last week (at Phoenix where he wrecked). It’s just awesome to be here in victory lane with my family.”
At the checkers, Gordon crossed The Stripe first then Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex. Keselowski finished 15th and was still 20 points ahead of Bowyer and 40 points ahead of Johnson.
In the limelight Keselowski said, “I’ve been told that I had a chip on my shoulder and many people have told me, ‘You’re not good enough to win a championship.’ It’s not just a one man effort. It was my team. Without them, I’m nothing. We were not the fastest today. Jimmie was.” Later Brad couldn’t have appreciated the efforts of his team enough as he told ESPN, “I have one hell of a team. The difference is that we never give up.” The points champ also thanked all of the fans that turned out at Homestead.
Paul Wolfe, a former NASCAR K & N Series driver and the crew chief for Keselowski’s Dodge, said, “It’s a special day and the result of how we grew stronger over time. Everyone on the team helped to get us here.”
Meanwhile, team owner Roger Penske said, “This the top of the mark for us. This race team is outstanding. We’ve been close before but were never able to deliver. I love you Brad.” The Captain continued, “Three years ago we had a plan. All of my employees (40,000 of them) helped in this big effort. This is a great sport, a great day for our NASCAR family.”
Also there’s some irony in the fact that Dodge won’t be returning to NASCAR next year because Penske is heading to Ford in 2013, and Dodge will go out as the winning car maker in the NASCAR championship.
Penske made it a point to thank all of the service men and women who make our way of life possible. He went on, “After 23 years in NASCAR, it’s been a great season. I take my hat off to all of my guys and Brad Keselowski. The competition in NASCAR was so tough that you have to keep working at it and not ever letting up.”
In victory lane and taking in part of the celebration was Brad’s dad Bob, a former ARCA stockcar driver, and his mom Kay who said, “It’s the pinnacle of success.” That’s an understatement, as Brad held a huge facsimile of the check from Sprint that he won which was a whopping $5.6 millon.
The key point in the Homestead race was when Jimmie Johnson went out with major mechanical problems 41 laps from the finish leaving the way clear of Keselowski to take that coveted championship. It was also another economy run as many of the top running drivers had big concerns that they didn’t have enough fuel.
Not so pleased was five-time champion Jimmie Johnson who lamented, “It’s pretty heartbreaking. But it was still an amazing year, and I’m proud of how we raced this year.” JJ ended up finishing 36th. In addition to his race-stopping malfunction was the fact that he had lugnut and fuel problems that occurred earlier prior to the mechanical problems that finally did in his efforts for a sixth championship.
Lots of comments came from everywhere such as Rusty Wallace, a former Penske driver who just missed winning a championship for himself and Penske. The ESPN color analyst said, “This was a huge success for Roger, and Brad has paid his dues.”
Carl Edwards, another NASCAR Cup driver, was among those making post race comments. “Before the race, I could see that Penske was nervous in contrast Brad who was very cool all day while he was racing.” Edwards also revealed that when he was running close in the NASCAR championship, “There was lots of pressure on me. I can imagine what it was like for Brad. He’s done an amazing job of developing his efforts as he learned from everyone around him. He’s really good. He’s also going to be a team mate next year.”
Former Cup driver now in the ESPN anchor booth, Dale Jarrett also gave his opinion. “You don’t win a Sprint Cup championship by accident. He’ll (Brad) be around for a long time. Andy Petree, a former team owner, now a color analyst for ESPN quipped, “The Penske Team had it all together.”
In the other races at Homestead, Cale Gale won the Camping World Truck Series 200 race managing to beat out Kyle Busch. James Buescher took the championship. Joey Logano won the Nationwide race a day earlier, while Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., took the championship over Elliott Sadler by just 23 points.
In Austin, TX, at the GP of the USA, Lewis Hamliton won that followed by Sabastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Vettel still leads the points with that circuit’s final event coming next weekend in Brazil. The announced crowd at that newly-opened venue in the state capital was 100,000.
The weekend’s AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix saw ratings slip slightly over last year. The race received a 3.3 household share, which is the same as 2011, but the 2.8 rating overall, which translates into 4.423 million viewers, is down by about 343,000 total viewers compared to last year. The 2012 number was higher than the 2.5 rating the race pulled in 2010. Ratings have been down over 2011 in eight of the nine Chase races; only Chicago pulled in more fans through a year-to-year comparison.