With four Sprint Cup races remaining, the title-clinching scenarios for two-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson remain too cloudy. His 149-point lead over Greg Biffle is considered huge, but the gap could be cut in half in just one race.
On paper, Biffle and third-place Jeff Burton, who trails Johnson by 152 points, are still in the hunt. But not according to Cale Yarborough, whom Johnson is trying to match as the sport’s only driver to win three consecutive crowns.
“The handwriting’s on the wall. It’s going to happen,” Yarborough said Tuesday during NASCAR’s national teleconference.
Yarborough, who won his first of three straight titles in 1976, is fifth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list with 83. The four-time Daytona 500 champion is also a three-time series runner-up.
If Johnson ties the record, Yarborough will be honored.
“I understand that I was Jimmie’s hero when he was growing up, so if he does it, more power to him,” Yarborough said. “If he does it, I’ll be in good company. I hope he feels the same way.”
Yarborough is surprised his record hasn’t been tied or broken in the past 29 years. Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt captured a series-record seven championships, and Jeff Gordon has four. But none did it in three consecutive years.
“Thinking back with Petty and Earnhardt, Gordon, you would think that some of those guys would have put three together within those 30 years,” Yarborough said. “But thank goodness they didn’t.”
Johnson said winning three straight Cup titles might be the hardest streak in professional sports.
“I think we have more variables in our sport than any other sport,” he said. “You’ve got this vehicle with all these moving components and four tires that you’re going to worry about and you change those all the time, and you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Thirty-six races and 43 stars on track every weekend. It’s just a tough, tough sport. I think if somebody ran the numbers on odds and all that stuff, the odds to repeat are less in our sport than in any other sport out there.”
Bandimere and hockey.
Bandimere Speedway and the Avalanche will host the “Hot Rods and Hockey Car Show” on Saturday before the Avs’ game against the Buffalo Sabres.
The car show runs from 3-6 p.m. outside the front entrance of the Pepsi Center. There will be 230 show cars — everything from top-fuel dragsters to muscle cars — plus a Harley-Davidson motorcycle rally and live music by Brethren Fast. Information:
SPOTLIGHT: A.J. ALLMENDINGER
Looking for a ride
The 2006 Grand Prix of Denver winner and former Thornton resident began his second year in Sprint Cup with Red Bull Racing. He was released about a month ago and has driven for Michael Waltrip Racing and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Allmendinger signed on to compete in the final five races for GEM, and he finished 15th in his first start in the No. 10 Dodge last Sunday at Martinsville, Va., where he qualified 39th. Allmendinger, 26, doesn’t have a contract for next year, but he’s confident he’ll strike one soon.
ONE THE MOVE: SCOTT SPEED
Former F1 driver debuts
Speed, who replaced A.J. Allmendinger for Red Bull Racing, finished 30th — five spots ahead of where he started — in his Sprint Cup debut last weekend at Martinsville. Among seven drivers who have started just one race this year, Speed has the second-best result.
