TNQC and TNRC after Homestead

Well, going into the final weekend there were a couple of good storylines with my titles; could Jamie McMurray come from the clouds and pip his teammate for the QC? Could Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin do enough to knock off Jimmie Johnson in the RC?

Ultimately, Jamie Mac will be doing his best Captain Kirk impression of "Kaaaaaaaaaaaahne!" after the Washington Wonder stole maximum points in the final race, denying McMurray the four points he needed once Montoya bombed out. Carl Edwards was best of the rest with, in possibly the surprise of the year, AJ Allmendinger edging out Greg Biffle for 14th.

All up, 52 drivers scored points in qualifying (and three washouts)...and yes, I shall list them all. Congratulations to Juan Montoya and the #42 crew for, finally, shoving Johnson off his qualifying perch.

Juan Montoya was the qualifying master for 2010.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying championship - full field:
1 - Juan Montoya, 122 points (3 poles)
2 - Jamie McMurray, 119 points (4 poles)
3 - Kurt Busch, 101 points (2 poles)
4 - Ryan Newman, 95 points (1 pole)
5 - Kasey Kahne, 91 points (4 poles)
6 - Jimmie Johnson, 90 points (2 poles)
7 - Clint Bowyer, 88 points
=8 - Jeff Gordon, 79 points (1 pole)
=8 - Mark Martin, points (1 pole)
10 - Tony Stewart, 75 points (2 poles)
11 - David Reutimann, 74 points
12 - Kyle Busch, 67 points (2 poles)

13 - Carl Edwards, 807 points (3 poles)
14 - AJ Allmendinger, 677 points (1 pole)
15 - Greg Biffle, 640 points
16 - Martin Truex Jr, 606 points (1 pole)
17 - Joey Logano, 563 points (1 pole)
18 - Denny Hamlin, 515 points (2 poles)
19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 487 points (1 pole)
20 - Jeff Burton, 465 points
21 - Paul Menard, 462 points
22 - Sam Hornish Jr, 415 points
23 - Matt Kenseth, 378 points
24 - Marcos Ambrose, 357 points
25 - Elliott Sadler, 348 points (1 pole)
26 - David Ragan, 320 points
27 - Brad Keselowski, 309 points (1 pole)
28 - Kevin Harvick, 285 points
29 - Regan Smith, 271 points
30 - Scott Speed, 199 points
31 - Casey Mears, 147 points
32 - Dave Blaney, 136 points
33 - Joe Nemechek, 130 points
34 - Bill Elliott, 96 points
35 - Reed Sorenson, 81 points
36 - Brian Vickers, 78 points
37 - Aric Almirola, 75 points
38 - Bobby Labonte, 69 points
39 - Michael McDowell, 41 points
40 - Jeff Fuller, 30 points
=41 - Boris Said, 12 points
=41 - Michael Waltrip, 12 points
=41 - JJ Yeley, 12 points
44 - Robby Gordon, 10 points
45 - Chad McCumbee, 9 points
46 - Landon Cassill, 6 points
=47 - David Gilliland, 3 points
=47 - Jeff Green, 3 points
=49 - Trevor Bayne, 1 point
=49 - Mike Bliss, 1 point
=49 - Patrick Carpentier, 1 point
=49 - Travis Kvapil, 1 point

Now for the RC. 48 drivers scored points...which was an omen in the end as, by dint of finishing ahead of his chief rivals, Jimmie secures the 2010 TNRC. Even allowing my 'half points' system to be scrapped and full points awarded every Chase race, he still would have done it so don't grumble about that. Like his teammate did in the QC, Matt Kenseth ran away in the end over Mark Martin for 13th. So congrats to Jimmie Johnson and the whole 48 team on, yet another, great year.

Jimmie Johnson racks up another RC.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - full field:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 138.5 points (6 wins)
2 - Kevin Harvick, 126 points (3 wins)
3 - Denny Hamlin, 117.5 points (8 wins)
4 - Carl Edwards, 82 points (2 wins)
5 - Greg Biffle, 81.5 points (2 wins)
6 - Clint Bowyer, 78 points (2 wins)
7 - Jamie McMurray, 72 points (3 wins)
8 - Tony Stewart, 69 points (2 wins)
9 - Kyle Busch, 64 points (3 wins)
10 - Kurt Busch, 55 points (2 wins)
11 - Jeff Gordon, 50 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 39 points

13 - Matt Kenseth, 762 points
14 - Mark Martin, 665 points
15 - Joey Logano, 643.5 points
16 - Juan Montoya, 611.5 points (1 win)
17 - Ryan Newman, 555.5 points (1 win)
18 - Kasey Kahne, 539.5 points
19 - David Reutimann, 519 points (1 win)
20 - AJ Allmendinger, 438.5 points
21 - Martin Truex Jr, 417.5 points
22 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 393 points
23 - Paul Menard, 384 points
24 - David Ragan, 286.5 points
25 - Marcos Ambrose, 264.5 points
26 - Brad Keselowski, 196 points
27 - Regan Smith, 189.5 points
28 - Sam Hornish Jr, 151 points
29 - Elliott Sadler, 143 points
30 - Scott Speed, 142.5 points
31 - Aric Almirola, 106.5 points
32 - Reed Sorenson, 102 points
33 - Brian Vickers, 99 points
34 - Robby Gordon, 75 points
35 - Mike Bliss, 51 points
36 - Bobby Labonte, 49.5 points
37 - Bill Elliott, 45 points
38 - Casey Mears, 28.5 points
39 - Trevor Bayne, 24 points
40 - David Gilliland, 16 points
41 - Boris Said, 15 points
=42 - Steve Park, 12 points
=42 - Ken Schrader, 12 points
44 - Kevin Conway, 9 points
45 - Jan Magnussen, 7.5 points
=46 - Patrick Carpentier, 6 points
=46 - Chad McCumbee, 6 points
48 - Hermie Sadler, 0.5 points

Thus endeth the 2010 TN titles...whether I tweak it in the offseason is up for debate.

Will he or won't he?

The 'he' in question being Mark Webber with the discussion being about, not the Championship funnily enough, what he will be doing in 2011.

Having stated the other day what everyone already knew (that being that the big wigs at Red Bull would prefer to see Vettel win the title if given the choice), he's now opened the way for further whispers about whether he will see out his contract with Red Bull next year in an interview with the BBC if you take the article title at face value.

Reading between the lines though, I'm not sure he's said anything out of the ordinary.

He's 34, coming towards the end of the shelf life for an F1 driver, has been having easily the best season of his career and, if he does what he did in May by taking two wins in the space of a week (Spain and Monaco), will be crowned World Champion in Abu Dhabi on November 14.

"Pressure? What pressure, mate? Oh, that..."

I mean, there is a substantial difference between being asked "why did you retire?" over "why didn't you retire?" and I'm not just talking about two letters and the apostrophe.

Rumours have been tossed around the Australian, despite signing a one year extension a few months ago; he's going to retire, he's replacing Felipe at Ferrari being the main two...but I don't believe he will do anything other than be plonking his butt behind the wheel of a Red Bull when the 2011 season starts in Bahrain next March.

This Aussie hopes it's with a '1' on the nosecone.