Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on winning the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup and collecting his thrid consecutive championship.

I called this one back in  September at the start of The Chase – but to be honest, it wasn’t exactly a difficult result to forecast.

I’ll start this post with a full disclosure. I’m a Lewis Hamilton fan. I’ve been aware of Lewis for years, watching his rise through the ranks via the pages of the specialist racing media, and watching him race on TV whenever I got the chance. He reminded me of the days I spent watching the young Ayrton Senna move from FF1600 to F1 legend. I believe that Lewis has the natural skill, talent and that quintessential something that makes certain people into champions. In fact I believe that he will undoubtedly end up a multiple world champion, and could be the Senna of his era.

So given all that, you’d think I would have been delighted by the outcome of last Sunday’s climax to the F1 season. Watching Lewis Hamilton snatch the World Championship on the last corner of the last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

But in the week since the checkered flag fell I’ve begun to question if the right guy came away with the title. Just to clarify – for most of the year I have been torn between my belief in Hamilton’s future, and my admiration of Felipe Massa’s determination.

I’m not a great admirer of the Ferrari team, never have been, not even when my favorite drivers drove for them. While I didn’t want Ferrari to win, I wouldn’t have minded if Massa did. While Hamilton reminded me of Senna, in some ways Massa reminded me of James Hunt. Like Hunt, Massa had a reputation for crashing in his early days, he came up through the ranks and came into F1 with a smaller team. Also like Hunt he seems a genuinely nice guy, well from what we see on TV. I also believe that this year was perhaps Massa’s one and only shot at the title. (I admit I may be doing him a disservice with that observation.) As I said I was torn.

Looking back on the season we can see that both drivers lost points due to mistakes, but Hamilton’s looses were mainly due to driver mistakes, while Massa’s were mainly due to mistakes in the team.

Which brings us to Brazil. Knowing what he had to do, Massa drove with flair, speed, skill and above all passion. He did everything he possibly could. And, for a few brief seconds was a worthy champion.

 Lewis Hamilton driving around for the fifth place finish he needed may have been the mature and sensible thing to do. But it wasn’t the Lewis I knew – it was more Prost than Senna. When the stunning Sebastian Vettel passed Lewis demoting him to sixth place and out of the title I was stunned. Partly by Vettel’s audacious move, but mainly by Hamilton’s lack of response. Where was the passion, the skill and the bravery? At that point as far as he knew the championship was lost – so why not try and regain it by going all out?

When the Toyota of Timo Glock pulled over in his attempt to stay on the increasingly wet pavement, the championship was gifted back to Hamilton. And I think that’s where my issues started. If Hamilton had gone all out and raced his way back into fifth place with a daring move on the last corner I would have been ecstatic. But that didn’t happen.

So Felipe Massa, the man who drove his heart out (almost literally), who won most Grands Prix in the season, lost what may be his only chance to have been crowned World Champion in the most spectacular fashion possible, by winning in front of his home crowd.

So did the right guy win?

Mathematically and by the rules of the sport – Yes.

Emotionally – No.

After a forty year gap a US Grand Prix returned to the raod racing scene in America, this time with an event at the Riverside International Raceway in southern California. The 1958 United States Grand Prix was an unofficial non-points scoring event that wasn’t associated with, or sanctioned by, the FIA as an official Formula One World Championship event. In fact the event was for sports cars and counted as part of the USAC road-racing championship. It was won by Chuck Daigh driving a Scarab-Chevrolet. Daigh was one of the Scarab engineering crew before stepping into the drivers role. He would go on to compete in six official F1 points scoring GPs during the 1960 season. He remains the last American driver to have won a “United States Grand Prix.”

The Riverside course of the late 1950s was a fast and dangerous course that included a back straight just over a mile long.

… with the top two championship contenders battling it out for the lead over the last few laps of the last race, and one of the closest finishes in series history.

Congratulations to Helio Castroneves on coming from the back of the field to take the race win, and congratulations to Scott Dixon for taking the 2008 IRL crown. It doesn’t get much better than this  – here’s to more of the same in 2009.

So after this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond, the field for stock car’s “post-season playoffs” has been set, and like many others I have my thoughts about who will win, who won’t, and why.

So here’s my list of the 12 Chase Contenders and how I think they will perform.

Kyle Busch -Arguably the best thing to happen to NASCAR this year. Yes he is brash and aggrogant, but he has every reason to be. A natural talent behind the wheel and true racer. In my opinion, the best raw talent since Earnhardt Sr. But is he paying the price for overstretching himself, and the team, early in the season when he was dominating all three NASCAR divisions? He can win races, but I’m not sure he’s ready to win his first championship.

Carl Edwards – I tend to think of Edwards as NASCAR’s “sly fox” – he plays up his homeboy mid-western roots, and can use his disarming smile and charm to get away with a lot. On his day he is one of the best, and toughest, racers – but again I’m not sure he has what it takes to race with the big picture in mind.

Jimmie Johnson - After what seemed like a lack-luster season the two time defending series champion is back running strong and winning races. Were the #48 team planning their season on getting ready for The Chase? They’ve done it before, so why not this year, and Johnson has the experience to do it yet again.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – NASCAR’s favored son is in The Chase much to the relief of the marketing and TV people, but does he have what it takes? Good on his day, but when the car’s off, so is he.

Clint Bowyer - The dark horse of the championship. What he may lack in outright speed and aggresion he more than makes up for in race craft. He may not be the most exciting driver to watch, but he can produce the results when needed.

Denny Hamlin - OK, I’ll admit I have a problem with Hamlin. He always comes across to me a a slightly spoiled petulant teenager. He can win races, but he doesn’t seem to have the personality to build a team around him. And to win you need a team.

Jeff Burton - The wiley veteran who can still produce victories when needed and is a master of the “big picture.” Again not that exciting to watch, but could end up near, if not at, the top when it’s all over.

Tony Stewart - “Smoke’s” temper tantrum when finishing second at the Richmond race demonstrated why he has been winless this year and won’t win the championship either. He has lost his bond with his crew chief and team, and his mind has already turned to running his own operation next year.

Greg Biffle - “Biff” is something of an enigma. He never really seems to have delievered on the promise he showed in trucks and the lower series, but is always around at the end of the day. He may not win much, but he quietly and steadily amasses points. And that’s what you need to win championships.

Jeff Gordon – In recent years the once dominant #24 crew have been over shadowed by their #48 team-mates, but this year Gordon seems more settled and they look to be on the way back. Maybe not a contender this year, but could be back at the top before too long.

Kevin Harvick – Harvick’s perfomances always seem inconsitent. Wins come infrequently, but when they do they are at the right time, like his Daytona 500 win last year. I find Harvick difficult to read both on and off track. He always has been, and remains, something of an unknown quantity.

Matt Kenseth – A steady and unspectacular racer with the personality of a dead sheep. Last time Kenseth won the championship NASCAR chanced the format to make things more exciting. He just scraped in to the chase this year, and he was lucky to do that.

So having said that, who’s my pick to lift the Sprint Cup trophy at Homestead in November? I’d love it to be Kyle Busch – but I believe that, once again, the #48 team have timed things right and that Jimmie Johnson will carry the momentun of two recent wins into The Chase and end up winning the title. (But keep an eye on Clint Bowyer.)