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By Bob Pockrass
AVONDALE, Ariz. – The passing of the championship torch – from the retiring Jimmie Johnson to Chase Elliott – at Hendrick Motorsports is complete, after Elliott capped off the 2020 season with back-to-back victories and his first NASCAR Cup Series title on Sunday afternoon.
The 24-year-old Elliott carried the momentum from winning at Martinsville Speedway a week earlier – in a walk-off moment to advance to the championship at Phoenix Raceway – by leading 153 laps on Sunday, including the final 43, as he cruised to the triumph by 2.74 seconds over title contender Brad Keselowski.
"I just never would have thought that this year would have gone like it has," said Elliott, who got a big hug from his father, 1988 Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. "I mean, NASCAR Cup Series champion – are you kidding me? Unreal."
The other two title contenders – Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin – followed Keselowski, and then Johnson capped his full-time Cup racing career with a fifth.
Johnson, a seven-time Cup champion and 83-time race winner, had announced nearly a year ago that 2020 would be his last full-time season. He will race IndyCar road courses next year for Chip Ganassi Racing, and the race Sunday was full of tributes and sweet moments with his family.
But he wanted to talk about his successor.
"I'm so happy for that guy," Johnson said of Elliott. "Great friend, great family. I've been friends with his mom and dad for a lot of years. I can recall going snowboarding with Bill out in Colorado and Chase was maybe eight years old, something like that, on skis. Super quiet. Wouldn't say much.
"To watch him grow up and to be around him, and to give him some advice from time to time, has really been meaningful for me."
The feeling was mutual.
"To share a moment like that in Jimmie's last race and to win and to lock the championship, those are moments you can only dream of," Elliott said after this fifth win of the season.
"This is a dream. I'm just hoping I don't ever wake up."
Here are a few takeaways from the title race:
Elliott had fast car, made no mistakes
Elliott pretty much had a flawless race except for his team failing tech twice prior to the race, which resulted in him dropping to the rear for the start of the race. The car had an issue with the body that the team had trouble correcting, not passing until its third time through inspection.
Ironically, Johnson won the title in 2016 after having to drop to the rear, and Johnson reminded Elliott of that, who rallied his way through the field quickly, finishing third in the opening 75-lap stage.
Elliott led 93 laps and finished seventh in the Phoenix race in March, and obviously had an improved car. The Hendrick and ECR (Childress) engine shops announced last month that they would collaborate on the development of a single Chevrolet engine. There were elements of the ECR engine package in Elliott’s car Sunday, crew chief Alan Gustafson said.
While Elliott made no mistakes, Keselowski won the second stage, but lost five spots on pit road and then lost time to Elliott on the final green-flag pit stops.
"Obviously at the end of Stage 2, I was right where I wanted to be, in the lead, and we lost a spot, which is not fun," Keselowski said. "But it's a team effort, and just was tough to fight back through.
"We got up to second there at the end, and I feel like we were pretty equal. [The 9 car [of Elliott] and I. I would have loved to have had a chance to race it out, but that's not the way it played out."
Hamlin, Logano just not fast enough
Hamlin noted that the only other Joe Gibbs Racing car in the top-10 was Kyle Busch. Hendrick and Team Penske put three cars each among the first nine finishers (four for Penske considering alliance car Matt DiBenedetto).
"Our organization hasn't really been very good on the short tracks this year," said Hamlin, who won seven races this season. "It's kind of a learning period for us.
"But we put our best effort forward. We had no mistakes today, did everything I possibly could. Just I had nothing there to go."
After the final round of green flag pit stops, Logano thought he might be able to hold off Elliott. But it took Elliott only eight laps to pass him.
"I thought we were in a good spot," Logano said. "We were right with the 9 right before the green flag cycle and was able to come out in front of him.
"And then, like I said, he just had a lot of speed that last run. They really found something."
Johnson not only driver ending career
It wasn’t just Johnson’s last race as a full-time Cup driver.
Clint Bowyer, who is headed to the FOX broadcast booth next season, finished 14th. Matt Kenseth, who replaced Kyle Larson in April at Chip Ganassi Racing after not having raced since 2018, finished 25th in what possibly was his final race.
Bowyer finished the year 12th in the standings; Johnson finished the year 18th.
Drivers often make plans for their uniform pieces – helmet, gloves, etc. – for their final race. But Johnson isn’t sure what was discussed will happen.
"Chase and I have been talking about a helmet swap, so this might be a good opportunity to swap helmets with him tonight," Johnson said. "We'll see how that goes."
