Snowed today, and I guess that means racing season is officially over in Wisconsin. Damn the winters sure get longer and longer as I get older. Picked up a Lake Norman N.C. magazine and dreamed of what might be someday if we relocate to Nascar country around Statesville or Concord.

Oh well for now back to reality and my predictions for the rest of the Nascar racing season. A little surprised that Hamlin and Johnson are not dicing in the front of the points race. I am not sad that Jimmy is not running away with the standings. Not that I dislike him for any reason, and in fact I probably would like to have him as a neighbor or friend, just do not like to see the same face over and over at the head table. And Denny has just not had the finishes necessary to keep him anywhere the top five points leaders. Gibbs teams seem to rebound though and perhaps they will start out with a bang at Daytona in 2012.

At least I do not need to give any praise to; (Gag---Choke---Puke) Kyle (Cryle) Busch this year. What a pain in the butt this guy is, and I agree with Daryl Waltrip that this young man will NEVER win the cup championship as long as he lets his emotions get in the way of his driving. Skill, you bet and he certainly can take a mediocre perform better than expected, but something snaps when he feels that another team is not letting him have his way on the track. I hope he learned something from the truck race last weekend and gets some help before he injures or kills a fellow driver. “Get professional help Kyle and drive with respect for your fellow racers and the fans will respect you”.

But back to what will happen this year. I believe that four teams have a chance and Kenseth in fourth position is our logical pick for favorite son status, but realistically a lot of great things would need to happen in the next two races and bad things happen to the top two leaders. Harvick is in a similar situation in third. He was hanging around in the lead during the first half of the NASCAR chase but has faded towards the end with a 13th place finish at Texas literally leaving him barely hoping for a championship.

So that leaves Smoke versus Carl with two races and three points separating them. Tony has come from no where and he himself at one part of the chase stated he did not deserve to be racing with the other contenders for the championship. But race he did and he found victory lane several times to propel into the envious position of 2nd. So my heart says, Tony Stewart should be the champion for all the great racing and determination. Plus I just like the guy.

My head on the other side says that Carl certainly could win as he got into first place by his great consistency and racing with aggressive patience, (something I preached to Swan as he was leading the points coming out of the fall Rockford race). You do not need to win them all just be consistent and hang close to the front. Carl will not compromise his car by putting himself in a bad position in the next two weeks. So my pick for 2011 NASCAR champion is……………

Carl Edwards. Check back here after the Phoenix race to see if my predictions are coming true. More articles will be written in the following weeks, even though racing is done in Wisconsin as we watch the snow!!

RACING TO THE CHECKERS

"Sparky" Jim