The gleaming Ford 400 trophy belonged to Denny Hamlin.
But the night, the 36-week season and a place among the immortals belong to Jimmie Johnson.
With a fifth-place (5th) finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson captured an unprecedented fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) driver’s championship (2006 – ‘09). While Denny Hamlin collected the 267-lap Ford 400 win, the limelight belonged to Johnson, who is the only driver in the 61-year history of the sport to win four consecutive titles.
Led by Chad Knaus, the No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS team gave Chevrolet it’s 26th drivers’ title in NASCAR’s premier division and ninth championship for team owner Rick Hendrick.
‘‘I’ve worked my entire life to get to this position,’’ Johnson added. ‘‘It’s not like we backed into this. We’ve gone out and worked really, really hard. It’s rewarding to have that payoff.’’ MiamiHerald.com
Johnson’s title run also completed Hendrick Motorsports’ sweep of the top three positions in the final standings, the first time an organization has achieved that distinction. In winning his fourth Chase, Johnson finished 141 points ahead of Mark Martin, who entered Sunday’s race 108 points behind his teammate and finished 12th.
Jeff Gordon secured a third-place finish in the points with a sixth-place run.
With his niece Alesha Gainey facing an emergency liver transplant in North Carolina, team owner Rick Hendrick wasn’t at Homestead to celebrate Johnson’s record and several others that accrued to the organization. Hendrick Motorsports won its ninth owners’ championship, tying Petty Enterprises for most all time. NASCAR
“Obviously, the last four years have been unbelievable,’’ said Johnson, who has 29 of his 47 career wins during that span. “To love the sport like I do and respect it like I do and the history, from the pioneers of the sport to Bill France Sr. and the Petty family and you go through what Mr. Hendrick and what he’s done in the last 25 years, to look at all that and do something that’s never been done in the sport before is so amazing and something I’m so proud of.
“I’ve always to set my marks high, but I had no clue that this would happen.’‘
“I never, ever thought I’d see it done, to be honest with you,’’ Gordon said. “I think it’s absolutely incredible and I think it’s something that I don’t know if I’ll see in my lifetime ever happening again. But they’ve shown that it’s possible and they’ve also shown just how good they are.’‘
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Ford 400 at Homestead - Race Results
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Johnson arrived at Homestead haunted by his crash on the third lap of the Dickies 500 two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, which whittled his 184-point lead to 73. Johnson overcame that setback with a dominant victory at Phoenix last week to take a 108-point lead over Martin into the finale of the 10-race Chase.
“You know the pressure of winning the fourth didn’t really hit me until I hit the fence at Texas,’’ Johnson said.
Martin, who kicked off the Chase with a victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, struggled all race with his car’s set up and wound up 12th in the race and runner-up in the championship for the fifth time in his career.
“We made history in multiple ways tonight at Hendrick Motorsports, and for me it’s just incredible, just incredible to have had a chance at it,’’ said the 50-year-old Martin, who was bidding to make history by becoming NASCAR’s oldest champion. “We were the only team in the garage that had earned a chance in the last race at it, and that’s quite an accomplishment.’’ Boston Globe
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