Opinions on Johnson's championship in light of penalties?

Question

I would like to have some opinions on why Jimmy Johnson still dominated after all the cheating and penalties. I mean, even if he didn't get the penalties he would have blown everyone else away. Does anyone else find this conspiritorial??? And why doesn't anyone talk about it? Everyone is still talking about the New England Patriots bending the rules and if they make it into the superbowl it will be talked about constantly!! But Jimmy Johnson wins the championship and his crew chief's cheating and getting caught isn't discussed at all!! What gives??

Good point Ed P!! But Gordon's team was also caught cheating and given the same penalties, so I guess I should have said Hendrick's domination instead of just Jimmy's!

Answer 1

I think no body really cares. Nascar is losing its luster, costing too much to attend the races and if your not a Hendrick fan not much need in going. I don't watch the races on TV like I used too. I think they (Hendrick) have an edge on the competition by knowing how to bend the rules in their favor. But that's just my opinion. I don't want to take anything away from them they are a great team. It just makes fans lose interest when the same team wins week in and week out.

Answer 2

Gordons team slaughtered everyones. Both Jphnson and Gordons team had Penalties and Crew Chief Suspensions at the beginning of the Year. Both overcame these and Gordon was ahead by like 387 points after 26 races. Johnson got the lead back by the resetting of the points--But Gordon passed him back up until the last 2 races of the season . Johnson won the 4 in a row. Under they old system Gordon still would have won by like 343 Points. So you can see Johnson really didnt blow anyone away!!!!!

Answer 3

The cheating in NASCAR frustrates me more than any other issue. In my opinion, not only should the crew chief and owner be fined money, but the driver should be penalized points also. I think that JJ and JG should have had points taken away earlier this year, or even benched from racing. I know that's harsh, but unless harsh measures are taken, the cheating is going to continue; Chad Knaus has basically come right out and sais just that. I can't fathom the mentality that the Hendricks organization has: 'We're going to cheat, if we get caught, fine. Just pay the fine, suffer the suspension, and move on. It's not going to stop us.' I don't get that. I also don't get how the supposed crew chief "suspension" does any good when the chiefs are allowed to be outside the track, sending text messages and being in contact with the filling-in cc giving tips, etc. That's not right either!! They should be banned from ALL communication!!! More than that I don't get NASCAR having such a pansy attitude on Knaus'/Hendricks repeated cheating, unless of course the rumors of Hendricks bribing officials is true. Could certainly be...does anyone remember Rick Hendricks and the federal counts of bribery he was charged with over 10 years ago??? If he would do it then, more than likely he'd do it now. People can argue all they want about how good of a driver JJ is or JG is. They definitely have talent. But to me, when you cheat, it just proves that while you may have talent, you obviously don't have integrity or character and feel like you have to cheat to get ahead. Anyway, this is just how I feel. I decided not to get season tickets for 2008 because I'm so fed up with the sport. I even stopped watching the last several races because its just ridiculous. Don't hate me here, but I think maybe Tony Stewart hit it right on the head earlier this year in his comments on his radio show.

Answer 4

I think you can judge the validity of the championship based upon the opinions of the other drivers and teams. You're not hearing anybody who's actually in the sport whining about him being caught cheating.

Rule violations are looked at differently in NASCAR than in other sports. The article that was referred to by a previous post talks about it. In NASCAR, it's almost like the rules are meant to be challenged. Take a look at the fighting in hockey.....it's accepted as part of the sport. But you wouldn't see people get away with that in any other sport.

And by the way, nobody is talking about the New England conspiracy anymore..... At least nobody other than the whiners who can't handle that they're the best team in the NFL this year. And if they make it to the Superbowl it'll be a non-factor, as they were caught early in the season.

Answer 5

First, I don't really think that his crew cheated. Their car fit the guidelines set up by Nascar. Nascar just did not like that they changed the shape of the car in between the checkpoints. There were no rules that state what the shape has to be outside of the checkpoints.

What New England did was cheating. There are NFL rules that specifically say you can not record the other teams signs.

When you think about, the Patriots were not penalized that much. So, they give up a draft pick, big deal. They should have been punished much worse. Chad Knaus served his 4 week suspension. Jimmy was docked 100 points.

Answer 6

I think if your caught cheating, you should be disqualified from the chase. Nascar just isn't a consistent group, they're too afraid of losing the $$ from sponsors. Hendricks program is well above the curve and everyone needs to play catch up. They dominated the COT races, they dominated most all the races this season, but I ask myself did they get there because they were better or because they had "a little help". All the teams try to get that extra edge, been that way since Nascar's existence, but when cheating comes to the surface, it's swept back under the rug and hopefully forgotten except for small tidbits heard by the announcers.
For me Nascar is ruining the sport with their inconsistencies. I've been a fan since mid 70's, but this year I just couldn't get into it. I usually go to see both Atlanta races but gave away my seats. I just couldn't see spending my $$$ at the race to support Nascar's disregard for the fans. I hope they fix the problems before Daytona, or I won't be going there in 08 either.

Answer 7

There was a good article on this recently in Yahoo sports somewhere about Chads cheating and winning. This is the only problem I have - The guy (chad knaus) has cheated repeatedly and they continue to let him be a REPEAT offender, yea some guys get busted for cheating on occasion but Chad has been caught MANY times in just one season and paid a small penalty at least for him. If i had any say so it would be "ok Chad, getting caught once or twice in a season OK but this is your 4th 5th or 6th time so your asss is going back to the Busch series for a season so you can think hard about it and if you continue to think that you can disrespect us by being caught repeatedly and continuing to cheat and get caught then your asss can just leave Cup and Busch entirely and not come back". But the main point this guy said in this article was that apparently...cheaters DO win! And also its like, they won the cup yes and on the other hand they are the team that cheats the most. I know everyone does but this team has been busted the most. Its just kind of contradictory to say 'hey we are the most winning AND most cheating team in nascar'. Or at least the one that gets caught for it the most. ; ) lol.

Answer 8

Johnson had a tremendous season no question about it. You're right, the penalties didn't effect the outcome of his season. In fact, I think it helped him. Just look at the patriots spygate scandal on opening day. Now they have a chip on their shoulder and are out to demolish everyone for questioning their validity and character. I will say this though, what Johnson's crew chief did and the patriots coaching staff did were unsportsman-like and a black eye to their sport. As far as the penalties, NASCAR got that part right and the NFL didn't. That's probably why very few are discussing this topic. Most fans really believe, me included, that the Patriots were not penalized enough.

Answer 9

Both drivers should have been eliminated from the chase. What they did was CHEATING. They were told not to mess with the car and they did... That is Cheating! The reason they dominated is because they cheat. Jimmie should have NO CUPS because they CHEATED last year too. Chad should be banned from the sport, he gets caught EVERY year!

Answer 10

Both Johnson and Gordon got hit with penalties. You know that Gordon is sick seeing if the chase didn't exist he would of ran away with the title with his winning and top 10's this year. Any body for renaming NASCAR to HENDRICKCAR which is now especially with the COT.