Jimmie Johnson Emerges from Homestead Mayhem to Match NASCAR's Best
Jimmie Johnson has been around, disrupting the NASCAR balance of power, in every way and every kind of Chase devised to thwart him. It took 15 seasons to get seven championships.
The seventh appeared at Homestead-Miami Speedway like a thief in the night.
"Just didn't think the race was unfolding for us like we needed it to be the champs," Johnson said to NBC Sports, "but we just kept our heads in the game."
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Johnson started the Ford EcoBoost 400 last, a result of an inspection irregularity. He led three laps. Guess which ones. He won for the first time at the 1.5-mile oval that annually settles the Chase for the Sprint Cup. None of that was overly important.
The championship was his seventh. No man has ever won more. Johnson joined two others on NASCAR's Mount Olympus.
No Chase existed when Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt won seven championships each. A title is a title and seven are seven, regardless of how the system is configured.
Petty, looming legendarily nearby, said of the new kid on his block:
"Records are a mark and they set something for everyone to shoot at. Jimmie and his team have done that tonight. They set a goal to get where they are at, and circumstance and fate made it a reality. They did what they needed to do and now they are at seven championships. Congratulations to him and his team. Jimmie is a great champion and this is really good for our sport.
"
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke for his father, who didn't live to see it and probably wouldn't have led any cheers. Dale Earnhardt would have grudgingly acknowledged the company. Junior said his father would have wanted to be at Homestead-Miami Speedway to shake Johnson's hand. It would have been a vise grip. Johnson would have winced.
| Driver | First and Last | Age at 7th | Wins | Poles | Avg. Finish |
| Richard Petty | 1964/1979 | 42 | 200 | 123 | 11.3 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 1980/1994 | 43 | 76 | 22 | 11.1 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 2006/2016 | 41 | 80 | 35 | 12.1 |
Johnson won his seven in fewer years and at a younger age than Petty or Earnhardt. In terms of the entire season, this was his weakest championship year. He didn't seem to have much of a chance until there were 10 laps to go. Carl Edwards, who seemed champion apparent, tangled with Joey Logano, who wound up second.
Sparks flew and Edwards' Toyota bounced around like a rocket crashing and careening across a desert floor. The aforementioned thief in the night, Johnson, emerged.
What also emerged was the inevitable comparison between Johnson, Petty and Earnhardt, dominators of different times and definitions of the championship.
A Chase—or any title determined by the performance of a driver in 10 races, or anything less than a full season—would have been unthinkable in the times of Petty and Earnhardt.
Mirror, mirror on the SAFER wall. Who's the greatest of them all?
It's just too soon to judge. The variables are too many. Johnson's career isn't over. It's too soon for historical perspective and conclusive analysis.
Championships alone do not define the discussion. Among the drivers regularly mentioned as all-time greats are several—Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, et al.—who never won any championships at NASCAR's premier level. They raced at a time when running every race was comparatively rare. They saw no money in it.
Now the first 26 events make up the sporting world's longest, most ambitious preseason schedule. Even the final 10 are divided into elimination rounds. Four drivers have an equal chance when the final green flag of the season drops. Not even Johnson had ever won such a game of chance during the first two years of its existence.
He said:
"It's different, for sure, to come in with equal points and know that you've got to beat the competitors. I don't know. In some ways, it took a little stress off because it's pretty simple what you have to do. Although I looked at their rear ends most of the night and wasn't able to mix it up with them, I think this format creates a lot of stress, a lot of drama, and I'm sure the world felt like anybody but Jimmie Johnson was going to win the championship with 20 (laps) to go, and then it changed so quickly with a green-white-checkered (overtime) finish at the end. It's a pretty crazy format, to say the least.
"
When it was all over, as confetti flew and corks and flashbulbs popped, something new occurred. Longevity kicked in. Johnson finally got his due from fans who have long resented his unprecedented success. In fact, it started beforehand, Johnson said:
"When I jumped in the back of the pickup truck after driver intros, and they had the four of us (finalists Johnson, Edwards, Logano and Kyle Busch) and we were going around the track, I usually get flipped off a lot. They shoot me the bird everywhere we are, every state, everywhere we go. I kept looking up and seeing hands in the air, thinking they're shooting me the bird again. It was actually seven. All the way around the track, everyone was holding up seven, and it just gave me goose bumps, like, wow, what an interesting shift in things.
"
Seven championships equal the best.
Hmm. What could truly set Johnson apart? Oh, maybe an eighth?
"I don't know what the chances are, but let's go," he said. "I'm so excited to put that in front of myself, and the team has another hurdle to get over and another accomplishment to achieve...I look forward to the challenge of trying to get number eight."
Gee. Nothing satisfies this guy.
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All quotes are taken from NASCAR media, team and manufacturer sources unless otherwise noted.
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