The Last Man Standing...

Photo taken from Motorsports.com. Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards wait to practice at Phoenix.

With Phoenix down only Homestead left to go it would appear that barring a miracle Jimmie Johnson will be this year's Sprint Cup Champion. Basically Jimmie has to show up and finish better than 40th to win his third championship. Oh and Carl would have to win at homestead too. Carl gave it a good go today and finished 4th but really there was nothing he could do even a win wouldn't have gotten him that much closer to the unstoppable Jimmie Johnson. If you want to play around with point standings and see just what might happen on Sunday here is a link to ESPN's race simulator might help you work out in your head just how it will all go down.

http://assets.espn.go.com/nascar/results...

So since we are all on the same page about that side of the points there are a few other point races going on that don't get much TV time and are just as important.

Owners Points:

The Top 35 in owners points earn and an automatic start in the Daytona 500 in February next year and so that makes this last race very important. Right now 17 points separate 36th and 35th in owner's points so look for the guys back there to shake things up a bit to insure that their team isn't in the go or go home position come Daytona.

Rookie of the Year:

This race isn't so hot really your only contenders are Regan Smith and Sam Hornish Jr. and since Hornish finds himself out of the top 35 in points I'm pretty positive that Regan Smith should have this all wrapped up. The other contenders are either in search of new rides or already back to their pervious jobs in other series like the Indy Cars.

The other big headline in NASCAR is that Jeff Gordon has yet to get a win this year. Sorry Gordon fans but I think this is going to be a winless year for Jeff with only homestead left I see other drivers being the big players in next week's race. Look for Gordon to get a good finish but no win.

I am loving all the comments it's great to see what you guys are feeling about the season and NASCAR in general so keep them coming! Let me know if I didn't say something about your favorite drivers last ditched effort in the race, or if I didn't talk about that certain driver that wrecks everyone on track and never gets called back to the hauler. I love to hear it all so thanks to those who have commented and will. Here are a few shout out responses to those that did last week.

Injesstice: Your right it's no secret in my house that Carl isn't one of my favorite drivers but truth be told it's for one reason only. My dad likes Carl and honestly life just wouldn't be half as exciting if he didn't give me a hard time about my choice in driver and I didn't have anything to give back to him lol. Although there are a few things we can agree on. I am very disappointed to see Jimmie Johnson win again this year and what makes it worse is there really is no way anyone else could take it what a shame. The other thing is the ABC coverage. If they are going to carry the race they should carry it to the end. Some people dont get ESPN2 and so just when the race is getting down to the wire and anything could happen they get America's Funniest Home Videos. It's a crock and I can't wait to hear that famous "Boogity Boogity Boogity" from DW next season at least they cover until the end of race.

Pulpitrider: Spunk would not be a word I would use to describe Carl Edwards ummm maybe anger management would be a better way to put it. Hahaha, no Carl is a great choice in driver he wouldn't be almost leading in both series if he wasn't. (Don't you tell my Dad I said something nice about him.) Anyway I'm so glad you brought up the BEARCATS! Some of you might not know but I am currently in school at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, home of the Bearcats (Google it they are a real animal) and well our Football team is pretty great. We have been to the national championships in Florence, Alabama 3 years running and if all goes well we will again be making that long and sometimes dangerous road trip down there to see them again this year. We have a first round bye in the playoff and then we will be playing either UNO or Pitt State in the second round. We have beat both of those teams before, maybe you remember the Pitt State game, pretty decent game. Any way I look for us to beat them and then have to play Abliene Christian in the third round of play offs that's where it can all go downhill fast. We lost to Abliene Christian in the first game of the season this year. We were a different team then and honestly there wasn't anything on the line so I think this should be a much different game. So yeah Bama Bound for sure, you up for it?

OK so on to Homestead and last race of the year. Here's to a miracle and a different champion! Please?