We can’t think of a guy who belongs in the history books as much as Jimmie Johnson does. On Sunday, he snagged his 6th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship over at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
We saw Johnson enter the race with a 28-point lead over Matt Kenseth on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. For those keeping score, Kenseth won the series championship back in 2003. Johnson had finished in 9th place in the Ford EcoBoost 400, which led to a final margin of 19 points above Kenseth.
Johnson, who is now 38, is one of just three racers to win six or more NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships. Ahead of him in the record books? 7-time champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, both of whom are Hall of Fame members.
Johnson’s victories haven’t been sporadic. They’ve been consistent. He had five consecutive wins from 2006 through 2010. And he finished at least first or second in eight of the past 12 seasons that he’s been competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series full time. For those who are looking for some odds of the next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, SportsBettingOnline.ag will be the place to go.
He’s also racked up 66 victories, making him the second most winning active drivers, right behind Jeff Gordon’s 88 wins.
At one point on Sunday, however, it wasn’t looking great. On a Lap 193 restart, a bunch of slow cars at the front forced several cars to wiggle out of control. That led to a chain reaction, forcing Johnson to bang into Kenseth from behind. There were concerns that a tire was going to go, and the chain reaction pretty much plummeted Johnson from 8th place to 23rd, leaving him with a margin of 14 points. But Paul Menard’s car ended up blowing a rear tire, subsequently bringing out a caution, and the crisis was averted at the pit stop.
Clearly, Johnson makes it all look easy. And when he glides into the record books soon, he’ll make it all look like a cakewalk once again.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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