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CUP: Johnson Makes It Look Easy Again
Written by: Tom Jensen   
11/22/2009
Homestead, FL
 
Jimmie Johnson celebrates with the trophy after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. (Photo: Getty Images) ยป More Photos

In the end, Jimmie Johnson made his record fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship look like so many of his 47 race victories: Ruthlessly efficient and clinical, with little drama as to the ultimate outcome.

Yet decades from now, the enormity of what he, crew chief Chad Knaus and the rest of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team accomplished likely will be appreciated with the degree of significance that it deserves.

Johnson finished fifth in Sunday’s season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, to claim this year’s championship by 141 points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin, who ended the race in 12th place.

But for all the talks about scenarios and points gaps and possible outcomes, this one really was never in doubt. Johnson qualified on the pole and led the first lap, which meant all he had to do to take the title was to finish 27th or better. And that never even came into play as Johnson outran Martin all night.

Of course, with the fourth championship secured, the question becomes, where does this team rank in NASCAR’s hierarchy and in sports in general.

The only two drivers with more Sprint Cup championships than Johnson are Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.

According
to NASCAR, there are only a few other franchises in all sports that have won four consecutive championships.

The New York Yankees (1936-1939 and 1949-1953), Boston Celtics (1959-1966), Montreal Canadiens (1956-1960 and 1976-1979) and New York Islanders (1980-1983) are the only teams in the history of the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL to win four straight titles. Other four-peat teams are the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team (1967-1973), the WNBA’s Houston Comets (1997-2000), the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos (1978-1982) and the Cleveland Browns (1946-1949) with the old AAFC.

According to team officials, Hendrick Motorsports' nine Sprint Cup owner's championships are tied for ninth behind only the New York Yankees (27 World Series titles), Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups), Boston Celtics (17 NBA titles), Los Angeles Lakers (15 NBA titles), Toronto Maple Leafs (13 Stanley Cups), Green Bay Packers (12 NFL championships), Detroit Red Wings (11 Stanley Cups) and St. Louis Cardinals (10 World Series titles). The other teams with nine championships are Petty Enterprises (NASCAR owner's championships), the Chicago Bears (NFL) and the Oakland Athletics (MLB).

And if the accomplishment by Johnson and the team has not always been well-received by fans and the media, it’s certainly earned respect in the garage.

“I didn't think anybody would be able to do that,” said Jeff Burton, who finished second at Homestead to Denny Hamlin. “Never in 100 years did I think anybody would be able to do that.”


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