By Keith Waltz Jimmie Johnson took firm hold of his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship on Nov. 11, 2007, by winning the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. The victory was Johnson’s fourth straight and 10th of the season, the most in both categories since Jeff Gordon won four in a row and notched 13 wins during his 1998 title season. Johnson needed only an 18th-place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch the championship regardless of where title-rival Gordon ended up. “I’m just trying to keep it simple and not get caught up in things,” Johnson…

By Jared Turner The deck is half full. With only this Sunday’s Chase elimination race at Phoenix International Raceway left to set the Championship 4, two drivers have already punched their proverbial tickets to be among the quartet of championship-eligible drivers in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. While Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards can catch their breath this weekend as a result of their wins at Martinsville and Phoenix the past two weekends, respectively, the six remaining Chase drivers will fight it out in one race for the two remaining slots in the winner-take-all finale in South Florida. Of the six…

By Jared Turner The bad blood that has long existed between Kevin Harvick and the Dillon brothers lingers on. Remember the run-in between Harvick and Ty Dillon three years ago that prompted Harvick to level a “silver spoon” accusation against both Dillon boys – Ty and older brother Austin, the grandsons of legendary team owner Richard Childress? At the time, Harvick was a lame-duck driver at Richard Childress Racing and took issue with Childress grooming his grandsons to eventually become full-time Sprint Cup drivers for the organization (Austin is currently in his third year as a full-time Cup driver for RCR; Ty…