This is exactly why Jimmie Johnson loathes NASCAR’s new points system and why everyone else is loving it.
Johnson won the Pennsylvania 500 Sunday to extend his lead in the Nextel Cup standings to 232 points over Jeff Gordon, who took over second place from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If this were last year, Johnson would have all but wrapped up his first championship. But it’s not, he hasn’t and drivers like Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin still have a shot.
“I don’t like it, but you know what? I stand to benefit from it,” said Martin, whose second-place finish moved him up to 13th in the points standings. More important, it pulled him within just 89 points of 10th place.
“Everybody looks at things from different angles. The competitor doesn’t like it so much, but the fans should love it. And every competitor’s loss is another man’s gain. So if it hurts Jimmie, it will help someone else. So check that guy. He’s going to give you a thumbs-up on it.”
As odd as this sounds, Johnson’s victory doesn’t hurt anybody. It doesn’t matter that he now has the exact lead Matt Kenseth had on his way to the championship a year ago, because in a month and a half, Johnson’s lead will be gone.
With 10 races to go, NASCAR will–for the first time–readjust the points of the drivers in the top 10. Assuming Johnson holds on to first place, whatever lead he has will be wiped out and replaced with a five-point lead over the second-place driver, who will have a five-point lead over whoever’s in third place, and so forth..
“You might want to get all your smiles and good photos out of us now,” Johnson said, “because with 10 to go it won’t be the same.”
Johnson started 14th Sunday, took the lead on Lap 32 and kept it for much of the rest of the way, holding off Martin and Kahne, who finished third.
“I don’t know if anybody can beat Jimmie Johnson here right now,” said Gordon, who finished fifth. “Those guys are so strong.”
Nine of the top 10 drivers in the Nextel Cup points standings changed positions, including Earnhardt, who gave way to a backup driver for the second week in a row. Still ailing from second-degree burns suffered in a crash two weeks ago, Earnhardt completed 61 of 200 laps before John Andretti took over and wound up 25th.
