UNBELIEVABLE - Stillwell Nearly Takes The Lead!!!

Before Martinsville, Stillwell's team was 600 points behind Hansen, and it looked like there was no chance that one of his drivers could win the Chase. Now, Jimmie has come back with a vengeance and he has a legitimate chance to win it all. Stillwell was nearly 600 points behind Hansen before Martinsville, but now he only trails Hansen by only 16 points. It had first appeared that Stillwell was in fact in the lead, but because of the 25 points for getting the pole, Hansen retains the narrow margin. Hansen has benefited immensely from the pole bonus this year, with his drivers winning nearly 2/3 of the poles this season. (That's a guess, but it sickens me) The scary thing is that we should be looking at Jimmie Johnson's fourth straight win. At kansas, Jimmie clearly had the best car and led the most laps. Had there been a caution anywhere in the last 150 laps, he would have won easily. Because it became a fuel mileage race, he lost and ended up 14th. At Talladega, he had the pass made on Earnhardt before Vickers wrecked him. At Lowe's he finished 2nd to Kahne but led most of the day and it looked like he had teh strongest car - he just needed a longer run at the end to be able to win. And then he dominates at Martinsville. Jimmie is going to win this season. It will not be the 4th straight (what might have been) season, when another undeserving champion is crowned.
As far as the THUD league is concerned, it really looks like the Cup Champion will determine the THUD champion. Harvick still has a chance to win it for Dogger, and in that case, the 500 point bonus will not come into effect. But we are witnessing the third straight season where the THUD championship is coming down to the final race. What Excitement. Here are the past weeks totals:

Talladega: Hansen - 1277, Stillwell - 960, Dogger - 796
Lowe's: Hansen - 1108, Stillwell - 1062, Dogger - 675
Martinsville - Stillwell - 1292, Hansen - 792, Dogger - 820

Total - Hansen - 34,730 Stillwell - 34,714, Dogger - 29,255

Congrats to Dogger for reaching the 800 point mark last week for the first time in a month

PER HANSEN'S REQUEST:

Here are the top 10 drivers, for the season, under the THUD League point system:

1) Matt Kenseth - 4,788
2) Jimmie Johnson - 4,624
3) Kevin Harvick - 4,556
4) Tony Stewart - 4,417
5) Jeff Gordon - 4,302
6) Kasey Kahne - 4,277
7) Jeff Burton - 4,128
8) Denny Hamlin - 4,084
9) Kyle Busch - 4,082
10) Dale Earn. Jr - 4,051

It's quite a bit different than the current top 10 - too bad for Tony!

Quite possibly the closest two-way battle in THUD history!!!!

While we do not how the season will end up, it is very clear that we have had one of the closest two-way battles in Thud history. No offense Dogger, but your team has been, shall we say, "thinking about their golf swings" all season long. For the past nine weeks, Stillwell and Hansen have not been more than 400 points apart. I believe that that is the closest such stretch in league history. We have had several close finishes, where the winner hasn't been decided until the final race, but most of those involved dramatic, unbelievable comebacks where the 2nd place finisher nearly pulled off a miracle comeback - but then didn't. Last year, for instance, Stillwell won the final 7 races of the season, but still lost the championship to Dogger. This year, since mid-August, Stillwell and Hansen have been absolutely neck and neck every single race. With just 7 races left in the chase, it will be very exciting to see if Stillwell and Hansen can hang close together or if one of the teams will run away with it.
It's not looking good for Team Hendrick (and Stillwell), as all 3 drivers are in the bottom half of the top 10. We could witness a rookie win the title this year, as Denny Hamlin has been extremely consistent on every track. He appears to be Stillwell's strongest hope of pulling out the THUD league this year. With Talladega coming up next week, everyone will be holding their breath to see who comes out of it alive and who gets caught up in a wreck, damaging all Chase hopes.
We had something happen in week 26 that has never happened before in THUD history. At Richmond, Hansen and Dogger tied for the win with exactly 1,020 points apiece. Therefore, both teams will get half of a win and be credited with 25 bonus points. Speaking of Dogger, he has come on fast of late and has increased his win total to 6 and a half wins on the season. That is a much better showing than the two wins he had at the season's mid-point. It is, of course, too little, too late, as he still trails the championship lead by several thousand points.

After 29 weeks, here are the THUD standings:

Hansen - 31, 453 points (10.5 wins)
Stillwell - 31, 350 points (12 wins)
Dogger - 26,964 points (6.5 wins)

Only 103 points separate 1st and 2nd place!