Barring a complex kidnapping of Jimmie Johnson or a bizarre last minute rule change outlawing all silver and blue cars, the 2008 championship is already wrapped up for the #48 team. While it’s more of a blowout than past years, there hasn’t been a real surprise in the last four season finales. The points leader usually enters the race with a healthy lead and a Roush car wins the race. While that affects the interest level in the race, the truth is NASCAR fans are hard core. We will all watch every week no matter what. Here’s a few reasons to not only watch, but postpone that nap on the couch for a few hours after church.

1. History part 1. Jimmie Johnson will become the first driver since Cale Yarborough (1976-78) to win three straight Cup titles. That’s an incredible accomplishment especially when you consider how many more teams are capable of winning races in today’s NASCAR. In 1978 only seven drivers won a race. In 2008 12 drivers have taken the checkered flag.
2. History part 2. If Johnson somehow wins on Sunday he will join Kyle Busch(remember him?) and Carl Edwards with 8 wins this year. That has never happened in Cup since NASCAR went to a condensed schedule in 1972.
3. Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth are still looking for their first wins of the season. Kenseth has won at least one race in the last six seasons and won the Homestead event last year. Gordon last saw a goose egg in the win column in 1993, his rookie season. Coming off a ridiculous 2007 (6 wins, 21 top 5’s and a record 30 top 10’s), Gordon hasn’t figured out a way to lead late. In fact there aren’t even that many races to point to where Gordon deserved to win.
4. America’s Funniest Home Videos! So there’s this fat guy jumping on a diving board, and the diving board breaks and he falls into a pool! That’s killer.
5. Tony Stewart’s final ride with Joe Gibbs and Home Depot. 2 Championships, 33 wins and 356 starts for Stewart in the orange and white #20 car. It also breaks up the longest running driver-crew chief tandem in the sport. It was less surprising when Jr walked away from a struggling DEI team, but it’s still a little strange to think that Stewart is passing up a chance to compete for titles in the short term to go back a step with his own team.
6. Goodbye Big Three? Could it be possible that Chevy, Ford or Dodge may not be around come February? It sounds crazy, but if the companies are losing money it’s just as crazy to continue funding for motorsports. With one of the tightest manufacturers’ championships in recent years, it would be especially sad to see one or more of the American automakers not be around next year.
7. Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola Just like September call ups in baseball, it’s time to take a look at the youngsters. Joey Logano isn’t entered, but Keselowski and Almirola have both already shown more on the track than Logano has. Not that Logano won’t be a star, but Keselowski and Almirola both look like they could compete for top 5’s and top 10’s with regular seat time.
8. Rusty Wallace I’ll tell you what, he thinks everyone is having a great race going and can see anyone winning this race. He will also tag someone for building momentum for next year. Right, because a top five in November will mean a great 2009.
9. Carl Edwards What if Edwards hadn’t caused a big wreck at Talladega? What if his crew and battery hadn’t gone south at Charlotte? If not for those two aberrations, Edwards would be entering Homestead as the favorite. During the Chase he has 7 finishes of 4th or better, including 2 wins, but it is still well short of what Jimmie Johnson has done.
10. John Madden will be there with his Turducken. No, not really. But how cool would it be if Madden stopped by with his magical, meaty bird of plenty? My family used to love watching Madden and Pat Sumerall on Thanksgiving just for all the talk about food and you could tell Madden was really passionate about it. I remember one year when he was doing Monday Night Football, they still brought him a Turducken and he circled all six legs and then karate-chopped into it with his bare hands.

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