Realistically Jimmie Johnson’s run at a sixth straight championship ended before Phoenix but he was officially eliminated from contention on Sunday afternoon.
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[/media-credit]A new Sprint Cup Series champion will be crown next week in Homestead-Miami, the first time since 2005 that Lowe’s Racing No. 48 won’t be on top. The remaining two drivers who can win the championship are ones who have tried to dethrone Johnson in the past.
Edwards came close in 2008, winning eight races but came up shy by less 60 points in the season ending race, which he won. Stewart was the driver who won the championship in 2005, holding off Johnson who crashed midway through the race. Edwards is looking for his first title, Stewart his third.
They will be the main storyline for the next week but a big story as well is that Johnson is no longer the champion. After their second and third place runs respectively, Edwards and Stewart both said what the 48 team has done has been remarkable, something that most likely will never occur again.
“I haven’t won two straight so I have no clue what five straight feels like,” said Stewart. “I don’t see anybody doing it again. I think it’s been absolutely remarkable to begin with for Jimmie to put five in a row together. And I know this year hasn’t ended up like he’s wanted by any means but I think he goes to Vegas and hold his head up high knowing what they’ve accomplished.”
Johnson will go down as one of the best drivers in the sport. What he and his team have accomplished the last five years has been both fun and frustrating to watch. It’s been impressive and deflating. Everyone knew there would come a day when the streak would be over but the more they kept winning, the more that day seemed to be pushed off.
Now it’s here, someone else will take possession of the head table in Las Vegas. No more golden horseshoe jokes, or thinking they can do no wrong. Even when it looked like Johnson and company were going to lose, such as last year with Denny Hamlin, they always found a way to win. Or when it just didn’t seem possible to win three in a row, they not only did that but backed it up with four and then five.
They have rewritten the history books as well as what is possible. Their competition changed but their ability to win didn’t. The tracks and the cars changed, but their focus didn’t. And the situations changed such as being the point leader to having to win it from behind and they still came out the champions.
As for this year and what has brought that streak to an end, the competition caught up or maybe Johnson just lost, it’s for observers to decide. There’s no denying though that Johnson and his team didn’t go down easily.
They were always there during the regular season. He still dominated races and keeping a steady pace in the points. The only difference between 2011 and years past is that Johnson was dominating but he wasn’t winning. He only had one victory entering the Chase, then earned his second at Kanas. Even then, it still seemed like it would be enough to get them to the top.
Never a team to count out, everyone watched and waited to see when the 48 team would kick it up a notch and start whipping everyone’s tails. They never did, instead it was Edward and Stewart who pulled away from the field. Now they get to fight for the trophy that Johnson hasn’t let go of since 2006.
It is unlikely that Johnson’s feat will ever be matched. Except maybe by Johnson himself, believes Edwards. Moving forward he’ll still be known as five-time but instead of wondering how many championships he could win in a row, now it’s about how many he could win total.
Sure, they’re down this year, still hoping to finish in the top five in points to keep their another one of their streaks alive. But just as unlikely as it is to see another driver come along and win five titles in a row, it’s unlikely to think that Johnson will never win another one. A sixth is still possible, as is a seventh, which would match Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Johnson would love nothing more than to do so.
He noted Sunday that he’ll reflect on his five titles in the off-season as he and crew chief Chad Knaus try figure out how to be better going into 2012.
“I just think it’s amazing,” said Stewart. “You understand why people didn’t want him to win a sixth one but at the same time, I’ve said it from day one, how do you knock down a guy that’s going out and doing what he’s supposed to do and doing what we all if we could trade places with him would do it in a heartbeat go out and win five in a row. I think you have to tip your hat to him.”
Stewart says that it’s remarkable that at the top level of NASCAR Johnson and his team were able to do what they did. They should have pride in that accomplishment, Edwards agreed. He also noted though, that Johnson will never quit and will keep trying to do what no other driver has ever done and add to his legacy.
As drivers, fans, media and others alike look back on the past five years and prepare to celebrate a new champion in a week, there were be many more thoughts on Johnson’s run. It’s one that while it might have grown tiring to watch, was respected and amazing to see happen.
Or as Johnson tweeted Sunday night, “It’s been one hell of a run.”
