Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Johnson triples up at Martinsville
Thursday, October 25, 2007

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Virginia, three of the four Hendrick cars continued to show why they are the leaders of the COT performance curve.

It started with pole sitter Jeff Gordon leading most of the opening laps before a loose lug nut relegated him to the back. Kyle Busch led for a while, but it Jimmie Johnson who stole the show by battling with Gordon and a late hard charging Ryan Newman to rack up his third consecutive win at Martinsville Speedway.

Whoever was going to win this race would have to get through a record setting 21 caution periods (126 laps) for mostly minor incidents. There was the usual rubbin' and shovin', resulting in hard feelings and broken cars. Throw in some blown engines and it was an atypical day at the paperclip.

Rounding out the top five finishers included Newman, Gordon, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth.

The latest results saw Johnson claim his seventh win of the season, 30th of his career, yet still sits back of Gordon in the Chase by 53 points.

Clint Bowyer sits third after a ninth place finish, slipping to 115 back of the top spot.

Most of the remaining Chasers didn't exactly have banner days, and with four races to go, it certainly appears as a two-man Hendrick battle to the end.

The teams move to Atlanta for the next round where Gordon and Johnson have both won races.

The Craftsman truck race on Saturday resembled more of a short track demo derby than a professional auto racing competition.

There were wrecks everywhere, in fact, one late in the go looked like something from a 'big wreck' at 'Dega. The whole back chute was blocked with trucks strewn about the pavement.

When the smoke cleared at the end of the 200-lap mess, it was Mike Skinner standing tall in victory lane. The ex-champ narrowly edged Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday (who was a man on a mission for most of the race), David Starr and Rick Crawford.

Two notables, newcomers Dario Franchitti and Jacque Villenueve endured for a while anyway, the wrath of rock 'em sock 'em pick 'em up racing. While Villenueve got as high as 13th, he and Franchitti were both roughed up by several drivers ending their days early against the fence. I guess their only saving grace is that they both are making races whereas fellow open-wheeler Sam Hornish Jr is now 0 for 5 in making a NASCAR event.

Skinner now leads Hornaday by a scant 11 markers with only four races remaining. I suspect they'll beat and bang on each other until the final lap of the final race. Hornaday has been especially brutal this year, shoving aside most that get in his way.

Open Wheel News

The final chapter of the Champ car series for 2007 ended over the weekend in Australia with a final exclamation point by the now four-time champion, Sebastien Bourdais. The new champ leaves the series with numerous wins and four consecutive titles while heading across the pond for a full-time F-1 ride. He'll miss winning, because the team he's headed for is junk.

One F-1 team that certainly was not junk was that of Team Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel. The mumbly speaking driver surprised many with the final win of the year and first F-1 title, eclipsing rookie Lewis Hamilton and two-time champion Fernando Alonso on Sunday in Brazil.

Kimi took the win in front of Felipe Massa and Alonso with Hamilton a distant seventh. It certainly has been a more interesting season than most in recent memory.

From Rumorville

Don't be surprised to see Bobby Labonte wheeling the Petty No. 45 Dodge before the end of the season. It appears the idea of taking advantage of using a champion's provisional has spread to Petty Enterprises with Kyle being real close to falling out of the top 35. These days, especially with the first five races of next year being worth so much money and it's within the rules to play these games, it's something teams have to do to survive.
--- It was a surprise to me the other day to hear there may be an opening for Johnny Sauter (normally driver of the HAAS No. 70) in a second Cup car at Robby Gordon Motorsports for next year. They could be quite a combo if you think about it.

West Coast Racing

I watched two nights of the All-Star racing from California, featuring the best of the East and West junior Busch leagues. I especially enjoyed seeing 17-year-old Joe Gibbs development driver Joey Lagano barely hold off local Danville driver Peyton Sellers. The young driver picked up $33,000 for his efforts while Sellers had nothing to hang his head about with a great runner-up spot and $22,000 to get them back to Virginia.
Did you know?

With Jimmie Johnson's latest win, he now sits 18th on the all-time win list with 30. Current nearby career winners include Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart with 32.
That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will review the NASCAR battle from Atlanta and more racing news from around the globe.