Jimmie Johnson sweeps into history books with Homestead win, title
Jimmie Johnson won the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, clinching the 2016 Sprint Cup championship in a wild finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
It is the seventh career NASCAR Premier Series championship for Johnson, which ties him for most of all time with Hall of Famers Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.
As Johnson took the checkered flag, his crew chief, Chad Knaus shouted into the team radio: "You're a good man and you're a great champion. Now you're a seven-time champion, brother."
Johnson was understandably emotional after the race. Asked if he ever thought he would one day tie Petty and Earnhardt for most career NASCAR Premier Series titles, he replied: "Oh my gosh, there is no way on earth. This is just beyond words."
He clinched it on a night when there were several times, beginning with the very start of the race when he was dispatched to the rear of the field following a pre-race inspection issue, where it just didn't seem like it would happen.
"I just didn't think the race was unfolding for us like we needed to do to be the champs, but we just kept our heads in the game," Johnson said. "Chad called a great strategy, made some great adjustments for the short runs. Luck came our way and we were able to win the race and win the championship." I wouldn't be here without so many people believing in me and giving me this chance. From my dirt days - my parents first and foremost. My brothers. My wife and family today. Car owners, sponsors, Chevrolet, Lowe's, so many amazing people along the way that believed in me to give me this chance.
It did not come without lots of late-race drama.
On a restart with 10 laps to go, with Carl Edwards starting in second and fellow Championship 4 driver Joey Logano lined up directly behind him, Edwards went low to block Logano and a wicked wreck ensued.
Although Logano was able to drive through it, Johnson, who was in fifth on the restart and third amongst the four title contenders, was in position to earn his record-tying seventh championship when it was over.
Edwards’ No. 99 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was destroyed, as were his title hopes. He blamed no one but himself.
“That’s 100 percent on me,” Edwards told his team over the radio.
“He came down right in front of me,” Logano told his own team.
Edwards then proceeded to walk to the infield care center, stopping on the way at Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske pit box to express to Logano’s crew chief and team members that he accepted blame for the incident, which ended up collecting nine cars in all.
Meanwhile, there were still five laps left to decide the race win and, more importantly, the championship. After a red-flag period that lasted more than 31 minutes, Johnson lined up in the fourth position on outside of Row 2 next to fellow Championship 4 competitor Kyle Busch on the inside.
Logano, meanwhile, lined up in eighth for the restart. Both Logano and Johnson got great restarts, with Johnson surging to second behind Larson and Logano going all the way from eighth to third before yet another caution came out for a spin and wreck by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., setting up still another finish – this time of the green-white-checkered overtime variety.
And this, time, Johnson started on the inside of the front row alongside Larson – with Logano lined up right behind him in the same exact position that Edwards and Logano were in only a few laps before. Johnson surged to the front and left Logano and the rest of the field in his wake.
Kyle Larson, who ended up second in the race after getting passed by Johnson on the final overtime restart, appeared to be cruising to a relatively easy victory when the No. 32 Ford of Dylan Lupton had a tire go down, bringing out the caution with 10 laps to go that set up all the fireworks between Edwards and Logano.
Johnson ended up driving up through the wreck to emerge behind only Kyle Busch in the Championship 4 field, setting him up to earn a piece of NASCAR history a career in the making.
It wasn’t the only piece of adversity that Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team had to overcome on the night.
Johnson encountered big trouble before the green flag even dropped when there was an issue with the front A-post in pre-race inspection on the No. 48. The A-post is a piece of metal that runs from the front firewall area to the front end of the roof and connects the two – and when it didn’t met the pre-race specs designated by NASCAR, Johnson was dispatched to the rear of the 40-car field to start the race.
Johnson had qualified to start in the 14th position, and he quickly made up lost ground when the race started. By Lap 20, he was up to 13th; by Lap 40, he was up to sixth.
But later in the race, Johnson’s No. 48 team stumbled through a 17.1-second pit stop that cost them valuable track position – and for most of the night, while he ran around the top five, Johnson was third or fourth amongst the Championship 4.
Kyle Busch had troubles of his own. He had to make an unscheduled green-flag stop on Lap 138 when he felt a right-front tire possibly going down, dropping all the way to 21st in the running order as the first car one lap down.
Busch worked his way not only back onto the lead lap but into the front of the Championship 4, in second place overall behind Kyle Larson. But with 25 laps to go, Edwards ran him down and put himself in position to earn his first championship once again by completing the pass.
Of the Chasers, Edwards led 47 laps and Logano led six. Johnson led only the last three.
But they all were left chasing Larson for the race win much of the night. Larson held a 3.5-second lead with 20 laps to go, but Edwards was not concerned with catching him. Edwards only wanted to hold off Logano, Johnson and Busch, who dropped spots on pit road with a slow pit stop when his rear tire changer slipped and fell.
But Edwards got a tad too aggressive in trying to block Logano, Johnson was there to take advantage – and did so, writing his own page of NASCAR history in the process. When Johnson also surged to the front and passed Larson on the final overtime restart, he put an exclamation point on it by taking the race win, too.
It was the series-high fifth win of the season for Johnson and the 80th of his career. Finishing behind Johnson and Larson, who led a race-high 132 laps, were Kevin Harvick, Logano, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch.
Edwards ended up 34th. In his final NASCAR Premier Series start, the retiring Tony Stewart finished 22nd.
They all were left to congratulate Johnson in the end. He, in turn, thanked all who have made his storied career possible.
"I wouldn't be here without so many people believing in me and giving me this chance," Johnson said. "From my dirt days -- my parents first and foremost. My brothers. My wife and family today. Car owners, sponsors, Chevrolet, (sponsor) Lowe's, so many amazing people along the way that believed in me to give me this chance.
"Jeff Gordon, Rick Hendrick, all the men and women at Hendrick Motorsports for working so hard to get these cars fast and giving me an awesome 15 years with the company. Just thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you. I'm so thrilled to be in this moment, so grateful for the opportunity and so thankful and blessed. I am at a loss for words."
