Jimmie Johnson won his sixth NASCAR championship in eight years on Sunday to stake his claim as one of the most dominant competitors in the sport’s history.
Johnson, needing only to finish 23rd or better to spoil Matt Kenseth’s career season, was in cruise control mode for most of the day at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnson had just one hiccup en route to his ninth-placed finish, when a stack up on a restart caused Johnson and Kenseth to bang slightly, costing Johnson 15 spots.
Although the incident caused slight damage to the fender on the No.48 Chevrolet, Johnson only dropped to 23rd in the field. A caution allowed him to head to pit road for repairs.
Johnson was soon off and running as if nothing had happened.
He claimed the championship by 19 points over Kenseth, and looming squarely in his sights is the mark of seven titles held by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.
“I have six, and we’ll see if I can get seven,” said Johnson, who has been asked repeatedly of late where he thinks he stands in NASCAR history.
“Time will tell. I think we need to save the argument until I hang up the helmet, then it’s worth the argument.”
Kenseth, needing a Johnson collapse to have any shot at the title, positioned himself to pounce should anything go awry. He led a race-high 144 laps and finished second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
“It was just an unbelievable year for us. Obviously we wanted to win the championship as good as we ran all year,” said Kenseth, who won seven races in his first season with JGR.
Kenseth’s effort just wasn’t enough against a Hendrick Motorsports team that wouldn’t be denied for a third consecutive year.
“If Jimmie would have got a flat or something, that would have been all right,” Kenseth lamented. “Never seen anything like this in the sport and probably never will again. … Maybe he’ll retire.”
Johnson won a record five straight titles from 2006-10, was mathematically eliminated before the 2011 finale, but was back in the title hunt last season. But he had a tyre failure in the second last race at Phoenix and then a mechanical failure in the finale to lose the championship to Brad Keselowski.