Online Wager Minute: Jimmie Johnson Faces Uphill Battle in Quest for Fifth Straight Title. Just a few weeks ago almost anyone that has ever made an online wager on NASCAR was resigned to the fact that the great Jimmie Johnson was going to win his fifth Sprint Cup title in a row. There are just some things in life that are certainties, like death, taxes and Johnson winning NASCAR’s biggest prize.
But stock car racing is far from an exact science and there are so many variables in involved in NASCAR racing that you can never take anything for granted as the online wagering public has learned over the past few weeks.
In that span, Johnson has gone from a comfortable lead in the NASCAR standings to now trailing in the Chase with just 2 races left on the calendar. Johnson has never trailed this late in a chase since his winning streak of four straight driving titles began and this is indeed something new for NASCAR fans as well.
In mid-October with Johnson sitting atop the Chase point standings and driving as consistent as you please almost anyone looking to make an online wager on the Cup outcome would have put their money on Johnson.
But then something strange happened.
Top Chase contender Denny Hamlin won in Martinsville. And then he won again two weeks later in Texas. After his win last weekend in the AAA Texas 500 Hamlin now leads all drivers in the Chase for the Cup standings and with just 2 races left in 2010 this battle looks likes it going to go down to the wire.
At present Hamlin has 6325 points. He leads Johnson by a narrow 33 points.
But Hamlin and Johnson are hardly the only drivers with a shot as Kevin Harvick is lurking just 59 points back and well within reach of his first Drivers title if he can grab a win in one of the final two events.
And for the first time in half a decade there is a high probability that we’ll see a new NASCAR driving champ.
But don’t count Johnson out just yet. If you’re looking to make an online wager on the outcome of this race it’s still a tough call to bet against the champ. He recently swapped out his entire crew for teammate Geoff Gordon’s pit crew, which is widely regarded as the best in the business. This can only help Johnson’s cause and it’s all but certain the title will be settled in the season’s final event in Homestead.