Long: NASCAR's present, future looking good

MIAMI — Neatly crease the wrapping paper at the corners. Scotch Tape the end flaps. Get ready to tie the ribbon and add the fancy bow, probably in the colors of Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet.

But what memories, questions and conclusions going forward are being packaged for shipment to the NASCAR Sprint Cup archives?

The 2009 spotlight most often has sought out Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch and Mark Martin.

Addressing them one at a time:

Question: Will even a fourth consecutive Cup championship, all but certain after the Ford 400 at Homestead on Sunday, evoke proper appreciation for the talents of Jimmie Johnson?

Would there be more of a fan and media reaction to his excellence if Johnson, soft-spoken and mild-mannered off the track, had climbed from his car in a fury at some point this season and punched Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart? That's not his nature.

The perception of Johnson also suffers from the fact he drives for the sport's preeminent owner, Rick Hendrick, partners with its best crew chief, Chad Knaus, but appears to dominate almost effortlessly.

But Sunday he is likely to become the fourth member of a club occupied only by racing legends. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (with seven each) and Jeff Gordon have as many as four championships. History will some day pay proper tribute to Johnson even if NASCAR fandom appears a tick slow on the uptake.

Certainly Hendrick has a proper appreciation for Johnson. He said Friday that he has signed the California-cool pilot to a contract through the 2015 season. "Jimmie and I talked about a lifetime deal," Hendrick said half in jest, "but I couldn't borrow enough money to make it work."

Question: If this late-season surge by Miami adoptee Montoya foretells a championship quest in 2010, will it be premature to start comparing him to icons such as Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt in terms of versatility if not quite yet achievement? All excelled racing anything with wheels, evidenced by the Daytona 500 victories achieved by both Andretti and Foyt.

But history has proved, and continues to prove, that NASCAR Cup competition is a tough nut to crack for open-wheel stars accustomed to steering cars that weigh almost 2,000 pounds less than stock cars.

Montoya has dueled with Michael Andretti in Indy cars and with Michael Schumacher in Formula One. He won the CART championship over Dario Franchitti as a rookie in 1999 and absolutely dominated in winning the 2000 Indianapolis 500 in his first visit to the world's most fabled track.

He toyed with the competition. I remember writing of his stunning performance, "He came, he saw, he shrugged, he conquered."

Montoya never claimed a Formula One championship but won seven times in six seasons on that international circuit, including in the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix. Never did he look overmatched dueling with the Schumachers and Alonsos and Raikkonens.

NASCAR is a different animal. The period of adjustment can be overwhelming.

For his first 2 ½ full-time Cup seasons after reuniting with Chip Ganassi, for whom he won in CART and at Indy, results were skimpy.

But Montoya, with a tight focus on making the Chase for the Cup, achieved that and then began stringing together top-four finishes that for a period made him the greatest thorn in the Hendrick Motorsports hide. Consider that a preview of coming attractions.

Ganassi doesn't mince words: "He's going to go down as one of the all-time greats. I'm telling you. Twenty years from now they'll be talking about him."

Question: Will Kyle Busch's volatility eventually allow him to capitalize on the full measure of his extraordinary talent?

Montoya, asked Friday about his son Sebastian's emerging recognition of his father's acclaim, evoked laughter when he replied, "My son is actually a huge Kyle Busch fan. I'm not lying."

Whether the sport's current bad boy is driving in the Camping World Truck, Nationwide or Cup series, Montoya said, 4-year-old Sebastian knows which car or truck Kyle is racing.

Typically, anyone looking for Busch should start at the front and work back.

It won't take long to find him.

Kyle Busch did miss the Chase by a few points this year but won four times. He has won seven of his 14 starts in the Truck Series. And he already has secured his Nationwide Series championship with Saturday's Ford 300 finale remaining.

Former Cup champion and ESPN analyst Dale Jarrett, holding court Friday, was asked if Johnson's acclaim would catch up with his extraordinary achievement if someone wearing the "black hat" emerged as a rival.

"That would help, yeah," Jarrett said. Laughing, he added uncritically, "Kyle seems to be the guy who wants to do that. He kind of relishes that position."

Question: What's the sentimental story line that will linger from this 2009 season?

That's so easy. It's not only that Mark Martin, 50, is contending to the wire for a title that has narrowly eluded him four times previously, but also it is the joy and comfort it has brought to him.

Martin for years has baffled admirers by his belief that he was not on a par with the best in this business.

I often retreated to Martin's erstwhile description of himself as "just a hillbilly from Arkansas who used to race on quarter-mile dirt."

He would beat himself up routinely.

He didn't smell the roses.

He fueled a perception that, after a victory, he wouldn't pause to celebrate before he already was worrying about the next race.

Now he's forever smiling. And NASCAR smiles for him.