4LT GS Roadster
With the installation of the Chase format in 2004, the odds are decidedly against a driver clinching the championship before the season's final race at Homestead. Until his early-race accident last weekend at Texas, Jimmie Johnson appeared to have a relatively decent chance of being in that position at Phoenix International Raceway. And even though the odds are long against it happening, Johnson could still clinch his fourth consecutive title one week early.
However, when it comes to swings of fortune in the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix, it seems Dale Earnhardt's name comes to mind most quickly. In three consecutive seasons beginning in 1989, Earnhardt found himself in the thick of the championship battle with two races remaining -- and twice, he wound up wearing the crown at season's end.
Complete resultsIn 1989, controversy from the previous race at Rockingham was still on the minds of the three main challengers when the Cup Series descended on the Valley of the Sun. Mark Martin had just won his first Cup race, beating Rusty Wallace, who had collided with Earnhardt during the event, saddling the Intimidator with a 20th-place finish. However, Earnhardt fans received a bit of vindication when Wallace crashed while trying to lap the slower car of Stan Barrett and wound up 16th. Martin and Earnhardt both scored top-10s and cut into Wallace's points lead. However, despite Earnhardt winning at Atlanta, Wallace was able to hold on for a 12-point margin of victory.
In 1990, Earnhardt trailed Martin by 45 points heading into the Checker 500 at Phoenix. He wound up dominating, leading the final 262 laps as Martin struggled with a sour engine and then was collected in a last-lap crash coming to the finish line, resulting in a 10th-place finish. That swing put Earnhardt ahead by six points, and he stretched that margin to 26 with a third-place finish in the season finale at Atlanta. Martin fans will remember that was the year Martin was docked 46 points at Richmond for a technical inspection penalty.
So when NASCAR's premier series returned to Phoenix in 1991, Earnhardt had already seen both sides of the championship picture there. Carrying a 157-point advantage on Ricky Rudd and 203 points ahead of Davey Allison, Earnhardt knew he could play things conservatively and still have the championship sewn up by Atlanta, but it almost got away early, as he spun out on Lap 56.
"The car was loose and I just kept driving it and driving it," Earnhardt said. "Finally, I hung it out too much and around and around it went. It was a show. I was lucky to keep it off the wall."
While Allison went on to dominate, particularly during the final green-flag run of 107 laps, Earnhardt was fortunate to only be one lap down in ninth place.
"We didn't have it today," Earnhardt said. "I think the motor was a little bit weak, but the setup was a little bit off, too."
However, the 156-point advantage Earnhardt had at the end of the race virtually clinched the championship. All he would need to do two weeks later at Atlanta was to take the green flag.
"I wish we could have been a lot better here," Earnhardt said. "I would have liked to wrap it up today. If I don't fall out of a tree deer hunting the next two weeks, we'll be OK. Then we'll get them at Atlanta. We'll go for it there."
On the other hand, Allison was pleasantly surprised at how good his car ran after the team made wholesale chassis changes following a lousy practice effort earlier in the weekend.
"As far off as we were in practice, to be so good today, I just can't believe it," Allison said. "I sat down last night and talked to [crew chief] Larry McReynolds and [uncle] Donnie Allison and we decided to try some things."
Even following the final caution flag of the day, Allison assumed he'd be pressed by someone in the field. Instead, he built up an 11-second margin on Darrell Waltrip at the finish.
"I figured it was going to be one of those cat and mouse games with some more caution flags and other guys making adjustments and suddenly running stronger," Allison said. "But when they dropped the flag for the restart and I pulled away from Rusty, I thought, 'I don't believe this.'"
Interestingly enough, it was Allison who put himself in a position to win the 1992 championship when he returned to Phoenix the following year and won. Instead, he wound up the unwitting victim of a crash at Atlanta when Ernie Irvan's tire went flat, and Alan Kulwicki went on to edge Bill Elliott for the title.
NASCAR.COM - PIR played big role in title battles involving Earnhardt - Nov 12, 2009
