The Virginian-Pilot
©
HOMESTEAD, Fla.
His adrenaline fading, the weight of what Jimmie Johnson invested to win a record-breaking fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship showed.
After a brief celebration with his wife, crew chief and crew and a series of interviews, Johnson headed back to the stage at the start/finish line for more pictures, more cheers and more memories.
On the way he grabbed an acquaintance on the shoulder and looked at his father.
Johnson let out a heavy sigh and continued walking.
The toll of a year-long quest was over. He and crew chief Chad Knaus made history.
Richard Petty didn't win four Cup crowns in a row. Dale Earnhardt didn't do it. Neither did Cale Yarborough.
Jimmie Johnson did it Sunday.
His fifth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway gave him the title. It also saddled teammate Mark Martin with his fifth runner-up finish for the championship in a race Denny Hamlin won.
"I can't believe we made history," Johnson said.
That his fourth title comes in only his eighth season leads to questions about how much more he can accomplish.
"I'd love to win more championships and more races than anybody has done," said the 34-year-old Johnson. "I'm not sure how realistic that is."
More wins and titles are possible with how Knaus has kept the team's core together. Johnson and Knaus are given a lot of credit, but insiders say much of their dominance is a result of keeping many of the crew members on the team for all the titles.
While Johnson and Knaus relished what the team accomplished, they couldn't ignore the future.
"I just got the gut-wrenching feeling," Knaus said, "that the 2010 season is coming soon."'
Jimmie Johnson looked forward. At the lights, cameras and crowd. With conviction - but without betraying his words - he explained Thursday how he handled the emotions of being so close to a record-breaking effort.
"There is no emotion," he said. "It's all business. I am not allowing my mind to slip any."
He did after Talladega. He avoided the crashes, finished sixth and left with a 184-point lead with three races to go. Many, including some drivers, declared him champion. Johnson admitted he felt good about his situation. That feeling faded.
Gary Johnson flew with his son to Texas the following week and said Jimmie was nervous.
"He couldn't sit still," Gary Johnson said.
Call it a sense of foreboding.
Johnson wrecked three laps into the Texas race, spent more than an hour in the garage for repairs and lost 111 of his 184-point lead.
That reminded him he couldn't let emotions interfere with this title run. And why he wouldn't until Sunday night.
After a week of hype, the moment to start engines arrived. There was little to do but focus on 400 miles to history.
"Let's go out and enjoy the day today, boys,"' Knaus radioed the crew before the race. "It will be one of the best days of your life."
Johnson shot to the lead when the green flag waved. His mood changed as the race progressed. He yelled on the radio about how some drivers, including Juan Pablo Montoya and Clint Bowyer, raced him. Although Johnson entered with a 108-point lead, a crash could still end his title hopes.
"I definitely was revved up tonight," said Johnson, who rarely curses on the radio but did so this time.
Johnson's biggest worry came on lap 117 when Knaus had him pit during a caution. Many of the leaders didn't. Johnson fell from seventh to 23rd, back where he could get collected in somebody else's accident.
"I expected a lot more to pit there," Knaus radioed Johnson. "I'm sorry bud."
Johnson ran laps nearly as fast as the leaders. He was back in the top five with 75 laps left. Slow pit stops cost him positions but he was still safe enough that the championship would be his.
Johnson wanted more.
Twelve laps from the finish, Johnson radioed Knaus, wondering if he could catch the leaders. Knaus said no.
"Is that a dare?" Johnson asked.
"No, that is not a dare," Knaus said. "That is a fact."'
Being the best isn't good enough for Knaus.
"We don't typically hire people for their skills," he said recently in the lounge of his team's hauler. "We hire people for their personalities."
In a sport that's always evolving, Knaus has kept the team's core together. He is one of seven crew members who have been a part of all four titles. Two others have been around for the l ast three championships.
The stability includes the team leadership. Car chief Ron Malec, considered Knaus' second-in-command, and race engineer Greg Ives, third-in-command, have been with Johnson for all his titles.
Rich Gutierrez also has been there for all the championships as a brake and suspension specialist and gas man on the pit crew. When Knaus interviewed him eight years ago, he asked Gutierrez, then working at Petty Enterprises, what he wanted to do.
"I want to win," Gutierrez said. "I'm sick of getting beat every single week. I work my guts out and having nothing for it."
Every crew member shares that attitude. Even when someone moves on - often to another position at Hendrick Motorsports - they train their replacement. Inside the halls of the Hendrick shops, that's protocol.
"If I were to miss a week, I would like no better than to see us win every practice, win the pole and win the race because for me it's saying that I did a good job training whoever may come in my position," Ives said.
Knaus' secret?
Kickball.
A few weeks before the Chase began, Knaus had the team gather in Kannapolis, N.C., to play the grade-school game that served as work for him.
They were divided into three teams. Guys who worked in the shop were paired with pit crew members. Those who travel were teamed with those who didn't.
While they all worked toward the same goal, they didn't always spend time with one another.
"You kind of had to bring everybody together and understand each other's personalities, their ability to even play the game or put them in situations," Ives said.
And see how well they interacted and how well the captains led.
Just like in the race shop.
The reward for Knaus came at the end of Sunday's race when he pulled out his cell phone and videotaped his team celebrating on pit road as Johnson drove by.
"I knew this was going to be a big deal," Knaus said. "I wanted to have something to remember it by."
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By the way
By the way, who won the actual race? It's hard to know if there was an actual race buried somewhere in the Chase.
Winner
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I mentioned the race winner only in passing in this story. The focus of this story was to be about the champion and their path to the moment whether it was Johnson or Martin. The paper had more on Hamlin and the race in a companion article to this piece. However, I understand, if you didn't see that story or it's not posted, it doesn't do you any good. With so many avenues to get the basics -- i.e, who won the race, who won the title -- we tried to take the story deeper into why and how Johnson won the title. I'm actually working on a story for tomorrow's editions on Hamlin. I hope you find that satisfactory.
Thanks
It seemed like the Chase and it's winner was the only story that was going to be covered. It can be hard to dig thru the site to find the basics.
Hehehehe….
‘Jimmy’ Johnson? The former Cowboys head coach?
Die hard, real fans.......
jimmy jonhson wins 4 in a row. really is he the best
NASCAR has to offer? He is the most dominant, or consistent driver on the circuit if he won 4 in a row. Who is he? He dang sure aint a Petty, Earnhardt, Yarbourough, Allison, or even the earlier racers. No flair what so ever. Vanilla.
4 in a row, thats a dynasty in a sport where parity is written into the rule books. So who the heck is Johnson? In 15 years, will his name come up as someone in the sport. Will he be looked at as an Intimidator? Do people flock to the tracks to see jimmy johnson? Is he a draw? Earnhardt was a draw, someone you either loved, or hated. At the Dover race in the mid 90s, the crowd cheered so loud when Earnhardt had to pull his black #3 into the garage. The other half of the fans where shocked that the #3 was behind the wall. Does jimmy garnish that same feelings? Granted, some in the stands will have the same feelings, but will it be almost everyone person in the stands? Jimmy is out of the race, big deal. jimmy wins another race, big deal. Jimmy is in the lead for the Cup, big deal. He is not the person to hang the sport on. Vanilla.
eeek, its mikey waltrip
yea, is there even a mikey wallace? probably not.
am I a psydo fan, or a fan that realizes the sport I enjoyed is dying? Hav you noticed the grandstands in the races? Two years ago, there would not be open seats, now a lot more of the seats are empty. Even NASCAR realizes they have a dying product on their hands. In the middle of the season, they come up with the double file restart all the time thing? Why did they do that? The fans are bored. It's a snooze fest.
Fans are so bored that we have a problem with mikey wallace, or mikey waltrip. NASCARs no bump drafting rule implemented at the last taladaga race made that race so boring even the commentators brought it up. Bet NASCAR tore them a new one after the race was over, or tried to. I used to get excited about Sunday races, and enjoyed the Saturday GN races. Not anymore. Watching grass grow, watching the gauges on a diesel engine, or watching a NASCAR race, they all the same now. Boring.
Hehehehe…
I love pseudo fans. ‘Mikey Wallace’?
Denny Hamlin didn’t say a word about Keselowski. Didn’t back up what he didn’t say either. Did he? Plain vanilla………
Toss the plates! Let’s sail a car into the stands! Yeeee Hawwww!
‘Smoke’…... Remember when he put a cheap shot push on Robby Gordon. Remember the look on his face when Gordon turned around and started after him too. Ain’t thinking Montoya is much worried about him in a race car or face to face. Plain vanilla………
Congrats to the 48 team. To Hendrick. My prayers for your family and niece. You’ve suffered more family grief than I could take without losing my mind.
I didn't catch the race...
...but I did have an equally exciting afternoon watching the last remaining leaves fall off my oak tree!
Jimmie Johnson is a good
Jimmie Johnson is a good driver and Hendrick has put together a great organization. I was hoping Martin would win it he is a real class individual. Nascar needs to get back to its roots. The cars need to be cars off the showroom floor,,of course madified for safety. It doesnt matter now what car name is on the it they all have the same templates. Get rid of restrictor plates and let them race if you are afraid of speed find another job. If the speed is a real concern put a differnt spoiler or other areo drag item on the car. Gone are the days of Petty Allison Pearson Yarborough and others ,,who made the sport great. Let the drivers speak without the wrath of Nascar muting them
Nascar no longer has the jazz for me.
NASCAR has made their sport so vinilla that it does not matter who wins. There is no real action. Take the Fall Talaidaga race, normally, side by side, all race, 3 wide, shuffled from 1 to 20th, back to 1st in 2 laps.
Look at Thunder Valley, it is an excercise in doing 500 laps now. No real action. Hooo Hummmm.
NASCAR has as its last two races, Homestead and Phoinex. What? Who cares about those races?
Then who are the drivers? There is Mikey Wallace and Tony Stewart who just might say something about another driver, the track, or NASCAR itself. The rest of the drivers, yea, I can do the interview. It was a great race, my car bla bla , my crew bla, thank the fans and sponsers bla bla..What is that? Grats Jimmy, thanks to corporate NASCAR, big deal. Wish it was more entertaining, like yesteryear........