With that in mind, we’ll put our blog here into a bit of hibernation. We’ll keep an eye on what’s going on, even if we don’t write about it every day like we have been.

If some sort of major news does break, we’ll break into the hibernation and add our own little bit of perspective. And I’ll try and add some fresh posts during the major offseason events — the banquet in New York, January Thunder. And the next thing you know, it’ll be February and we’ll be back at it again.

And certainly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank you guys for reading. Our web boss, Nicole McMullin, promises me that people are tuning in, even if the response box is often bare.

That’s OK though. At least I haven’t gotten any e-mails/comments that said, “Man, you suck, you ought to pack it in.” So I’ll take it I’ve not enraged anyone greatly.

That said, though, we always welcome comments and feedback. I want to make this whole deal as user-friendly as possible, so write up a comment or

And if you want to tell me that I suck and I ought to pack it in, I welcome that too.

So where does Johnson go from here?

After coming close so many times — he was eight points away from a title in 2004 and hasn’t finished below fifth in each of his five full-time seasons — a title may seem more like a relief than an accomplishment.

And that’s a dangerous step towards complacency. I’ve heard theories from several people that the reason Jeff Gordon hasn’t dominated the way he had in the past is due, in part, to that. Maybe not complacency per se, but the guy’s already won four Cup titles and, love him or hate him, has established himself as one of the elite NASCAR drivers of all time. What does he have to prove to anyone?

Certainly, that’s a bit more understandable for a guy who’s got four titles than for a guy who just won his first.

Johnson did his part to brush away the question when asked about it on Sunday.

“Better answer [for] that question in Daytona. Right now I’m just worried about getting a cold beverage and celebrating,” he said. “I’m not even considering next year. We are going to enjoy this and just focus on what we’ve done tonight and this season.”

Next season will come soon enough. The epitaph for this season will begin and end with Johnson; he won two of the four crown jewel races (Daytona and Indy) and finally broke through for the title. We’ll also remember the season for Tony Stewart’s near miss to get into the Chase, but then rallying to win more Chase races than any other driver. And then there’s the topsy-turvy Chase itself, which at times looked more like fate picked a driver out of a hat to have a bad week. (Johnson himself faced long odds after the fourth Chase race at Talladega, but had time to regroup, unlike Jeff Burton.)

It’s also the final season before Toyota and the Car of Tomorrow, but we’ve talked about that already.

(And a quick note on NBC’s final telecast: I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see them go. We heard yet another Bill Weber reference to the Hendrick plane crash. There’s no doubt it was an incredible tragedy that profoundly affected the whole Hendrick organization, but they seemed to have moved on, and it was tiresome to hear Weber bring it up every time a Hendrick driver did well.

And another rant on Wally Dallenbach, particularly his comment on Juan Montoya: After Montoya was taken out by Ryan Newman, the customary post-wreck interviews were conducted and Dallenbach made reference to Cup racing being the hardest thing he’ll ever do. Look Wally, the guy was in Formula One, where competition is absolutely cutthroat. The best drivers from the rest of the world want to go to F1. A comment like that reeks of homerism and is baseless at that.)

Both are big, big issues. One may be bigger than the other, depending on who you ask. So let’s take them in order.
Many folks have reported that people associated with the big three American models currently in the garage — Chevy, Ford and Dodge — are nervously waiting to see how the Toyota story plays out.
Those established folks have an inherent advantage, of course, with years of on-track experience. But what’s worrisome for them is that Toyota has been successful in most every kind of racing it has its hand in: the old CART series, IRL and, most recently, the Craftsman Truck Series.
That in and of itself might not be cause for concern. But TRD has shown it will put resources and money behind its efforts to win; and given the financial state of American automakers, that’s probably where the biggest worry comes in.
Rumors persist, though they’ve often been denied, that one of the Big Three will get out of NASCAR altogether.
TRD may not be a hit right out of the gate in February, but they’ll grow. Think about Dodge’s ascension — and they currently have 10 drivers in the Cup series. By the time the green flag drops at Daytona, Toyota will have around seven.
It may not be next year or even the following year, but TRD will be a force to be dealt with. And that’s why other folks are worried.
Car owners may be worried about the COT too, but for different reasons. They’ll have to phase out their entire fleet of cars to make room for the COT. NASCAR maintains that the new cars will be safer for the drivers, and it’s hard to argue with that.
It’s also hard to argue with owners’ complaints, which have been vocal and ongoing. But NASCAR took a hard line, determined to get the COT on the track. It’s been tested several times this year, with mixed reviews from the drivers.
To NASCAR’s credit, they’re taking things slowly. The COT is set to run 16 races next year, less than half of the schedule. And the places it will run are tracks where aerodynamics are of little concern — the three short tracks, the two road courses, Phoenix, Dover, New Hampshire and Darlington. One key marker will be next fall, when the COT runs at Talladega. In 2008, the superspeedways come on board.
This is going to be the overarching story of next season, particularly as the series closes in on the first Bristol race. There’s going to be a lot of fallout, and not just on the track. Some drivers have already complained that they’ll feel like they’re running two different series.
And there is merit to that. I think a lot of folks appreciate NASCAR’s cautiousness with the COT, and the only other option was to get everything going in one fell swoop. Looking at both sides, if NASCAR was committed to doing this, they’re doing it the right way.
Sure, things will be different for a while, especially for the drivers. But they’ll be different for all the drivers. Maybe NASCAR will find out that the COT doesn’t work as well as hoped; if they decide to scrap the program, at least they can bail out before they and all the owners go all-in.
• YATES A HAPPY MAN: Updating yesterday’s post, Robert Yates said he’s found sponsorship for both of his Cup entries and his Busch entry. Though there’s no driver, the biggest hurdle is out of the way.
Yates wouldn’t reveal who the sponsor is, but only said a contract is all but signed and sealed.
“It’s wonderful,” Yates said in Homestead. “We’re gonna focus on racing and that’s’ really what I know today. We’re gonna run our three cars — our two Cup cars and our 90 car — and things are great.”
Hear, hear.

Such is driver movement; it never happens in a vacuum.
When the series returns to Daytona in February, at least something will be different on eight current Cup teams. Most will have driver changes completely, some will stay within the same team but drive a different car (Joe Nemechek), and some will drive in the same car but share the ride with someone else (Ken Schrader). And that doesn’t include the influx of Toyota teams, but more on them tomorrow.
When the series came to Daytona this past February, there were 15 drivers that weren’t in quite the same place as they were in 2005 — and that only includes Cup’s bigger-name teams.
Driver changes are nothing new, of course. What is a new phenomenon is drivers changing teams — or announcing their intention to change teams — in mid-season. Like Elliott Sadler moving to Evernham from Yates in August, or the memorable three-team swap to replace the retiring Rusty Wallace in late 2005. You’ll recall Kurt Busch was hired from Roush, who in turn hired Jamie McMurray from Ganassi, who in turn put Mears in the No. 42 and Reed Sorenson in the No. 41.
According to Jayski’s 2007 team chart, six drivers will see their contract expire at the end of next season, so driver movement could be a bit more muted than the past two seasons.
Let me amend that and make “could” in all capital letters. There’s a huge if in the equation: One of the six drivers whose contract expires is Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jayski suggests, and I concur, that if Little E and DEI don’t re-up before August, there will be endless speculation about Junior’s future until something is resolved. Junior and DEI have had some minor squabbles here and there, but that’s probably no different than anyone else.
While it’s something that’s off the radar for now, the issue will slowly resurface as the 2007 sea-son unfolds — unless something definitive happens in the meantime.
It’s a situation that bears watching. DEI has a gold mine with Junior; he’s far and away the most popular driver out there, and one would assume that Anheuser-Busch shells out a LOT of money to make sure that they’re associated with the most popular driver out there. DEI is going to have to give Junior a contract that’s fair; and even a fair contract is going to cost a hefty chunk of change.
Jeff Burton’s contract is up next year too; if nothing’s resolved with him, there’s an easy storyline: Junior returning to the place where his dad became famous? But given Burton’s performance this season, it seems like Childress Racing won’t be so easy to give him up.
There’s lots of speculation for you, but a lot can happen between now and August. By then, it may all be a moot point, but we’ll have to wait to find out.