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closeObservations | Piling up some serious points
DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007
Some observations on Sunday's race from David Poole of The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com:
If Jeff Gordon wins and leads the most laps at Homestead, he'll have 6,681 points. If that happens, Johnson still wins the championship with 109 points, which is 18th without leading a lap or 19th if he leads one. If Johnson does that, he will have scored 1,621 points in the Chase. The first three Chase winners scored 1,486, 1,487 and 1,437 points in the respective 10-race playoffs.
Hendrick Motorsports has won the past six races and 18 of 35 races this year. That's the way teams like Petty Enterprises or Holman-Moody used to dominate. It's not unprecedented, but it does seem ironic. The car of tomorrow was supposed to even things between the haves and have-nots. Eventually, it might. But as many suspected before the season began, this year the top-tier teams have been the first to seize on the car's quirks and make them work in their favor.