Jimmie Johnson's Martinsville Win Boosts Hopes of Tying NASCAR Titles Record

At long last, Jimmie Johnson's destiny beckons. Only two drivers in NASCAR history have won seven titles. As for those two, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, opinion is divided as to which was the greatest of them all.

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Johnson has six. Five were in a row, which no one else has even approached. Winning at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday means that Johnson, a friendly, hardworking guy with the name of a friendly, hardworking guy, is poised for stock car racing immortality.

As he said to NBC Sports after winning the Goody's Fast Relief 500, "I have been trying to ignore this conversation about seven [championships], but now I can't. We're locked in."

Driver	Titles	Most Recent	Victories	Average Finish	Races
Richard Petty	7	1979	200	11.3	1,184
Dale Earnhardt	7	1994	76	11.7	676
Jimmie Johnson	6	2013	79	12.1	540

The Chase for the Cup schedule has races ahead in Fort Worth, Texas, and Avondale, Arizona (Phoenix International Raceway). Johnson already knows that when the season ends on November 20 in Homestead, Florida, he will be racing against three others for the championship. The Chase began with 15 to beat, then it dwindled to 11, now to seven, and three weeks away, three.

The three other drivers have yet to be determined. Johnson got his invitation out of the way with his ninth victory at NASCAR's oldest track, the vexing, paper clip-shaped half-mile (.526) in southern Virginia.

This is Johnson's first trip to the finals since NASCAR created them with a Chase format change in 2014. He has never won at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but then again, he has never needed to at the end of those six championship seasons.

"I'm just going to do my thing," he said, which could be the signature sentence of his entire career.

"We've got one race, at a track we haven't won at yet. We assume we're going to have to go down and win at [it]."

In the category of unnecessary luxury, Johnson has won the past four fall races at Texas Motor Speedway, the next stop in the Chase Round of 8. He could win again, but it doesn't really serve any advantage other than shaping which three will join him in the Homestead finale.

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have shared six championships. Knaus is the sort of fellow who can play down the importance of seven championships with a straight face:

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I hear and see a lot about seven. You've asked me a lot these questions in the past, honestly. I'm not worried about the seventh. I'm just worried about the next. That's what I want to do. I want to go out there and put our best foot forward as a team, and go out there and try to do the best we possibly can to win the next championship. I'm not worried about the seventh or eighth.

"

Sure. Whatever. If tomorrow the United Nations made Knaus emperor of the earth, he'd say he was worried about running the solar system.

Then he'd take it over. He's relentless. Later, he couldn't resist pontificating again about the notion that Johnson winning a record-tying championship is significant or that the next victory, his 80th, is any different from Chase Elliott's first or, for that matter, a World Series decided between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians:

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I hate to be that broad about it, but it's not about the numbers. It's not about seven. It's not about tying Dale (Earnhardt). It's not about tying Richard (Petty). It's not about beating Dale or Richard, beating Jeff (Gordon) for most wins. I think you guys miss what we're about. We want to go win Texas. You follow me? We want to go win Phoenix. Then, guess what? In a few months, Daytona is rolling around. We want to win that one, too. That's the way we approach every single race. It's not about what we're eclipsing.

"

Undoubtedly, this is why Johnson championships seem to follow the same pattern. He slumps in the summer. He finds his form at the head of the stretch (Chase), like a race horse. The crew chief who approaches every single race the same way is rounding into form with a driver whose average finish in the first five races of the summer (races 14-18) was 26.2, and, in the five most recent, 7.2, with victories in two of them.

It's a familiar pattern. For some reason, each time, journalists of all ilks habitually act surprised. Knaus hides his tactics in plain sight and still manages to get away with it.

Knaus is bearable, though, because his driver is likable. Imagine Felix Unger, bereft of humor, and Oscar Madison, lacking slovenliness, and they're The Odd Couple.

Johnson, for instance, was willing to concede that the significance of winning a seventh championship had occurred to him.

"I'll probably lie to all of you guys and say I'm not going to think about it at all," he said, "but it's inevitable. Fortunately, I don't have to think about it for three weeks, but we're going to enjoy this and savor it. We're going to get our ducks in a row for Homestead."

Meanwhile, the other great dynamo of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon (four championships, 93 victories), finished sixth in what is likely the final race of his career. Gordon came out of retirement to run eight races subbing for injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. When Johnson joined the team, Gordon was his mentor. Gordon knows Johnson well. He said:

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When things are on the line and things matter most, Jimmie and that team know how to step it up to another level. They showed that today. He'll be showing that again in Homestead. I was back there in sixth or seventh place just watching him go after the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin). That was just phenomenal driving and racing. Then he just drove away.

"

The 79th triumph was not without its mistakes. Johnson's Chevrolet coasted to a halt during a caution period, apparently not as a result of running out of gas but some confusion over a switch in the cockpit that was off when it was supposed to be on, or vice versa. He got it refired, managed to remain on the lead lap and off he went to win again.

Gordon said:

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With Jimmie, I know. We are driving similar equipment. I get to see what that team does every year and what Jimmie's talents are. Because of that, I think he is the best that I've ever raced against and possibly the best there has ever been. Even days were I felt like I had a car that I felt could compete with him, he did extraordinary things to get more out of it. He is a pretty calm, cool guy, but boy, when you put that helmet on him and you get him in the race car, he just becomes another person and takes it to another level. He doesn't have to win the seventh to prove that to me, but I also know that stats and numbers mean a lot out there in the world of comparisons.

"

All other stories disappeared when Johnson took the checkered flag. It's all about Johnson and which other three will join him for the jubilee in Homestead.

Joey Logano knew it when he talked to the media on Friday at Martinsville:

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Winning here at Martinsville might be the biggest win of the year. It might be what wins you a championship, if you think about it. Being in this Round of 8, if you win, you're obviously going to Homestead. You know you're not finishing worse than fourth in points, and it gives you the ability to think about nothing but Homestead for two weeks while other teams have to think about the next two races to get themselves in. You've got to get there before you can win the championship, so I think it's a pretty big advantage to win this one.

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Advantage, Mr. Johnson. Catch him if you can.

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All quotes are taken from NASCAR media, team and manufacturer sources unless otherwise noted.