Jimmie Johnson, shown here in the garage area Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, won his fifth Sprint Cup championship by finishing second in Sunday's Ford 400. (Getty Images photo).
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson’s fifth-straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship came because he kept cool while Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick both short-circuited. Carl Edwards drove to an easy victory in Sunday’s Ford 400 and was followed across the finish line by Johnson’s Chevrolet.
“I can’t believe this,” Johnson screamed over the radio. “It’s unbelievable. You guys are the best. I can’t think you enough.”
Johnson won the title by 39 points over Hamlin and 41 over Harvick’s Chevrolet.
Harvick finished third but was nailed for a speeding penalty entering pit road earlier in the race, which put him in a catch-up scenario for the rest of the race. And Hamlin was spun out early in the race and despite several attempts to get back in contention, missed a chance to pit when crew chief Mike Ford’s indecision told him enter the pits after Hamlin’s Toyota was passed the commitment line.
None of that would have mattered, however, as Johnson finished second to score his first “come-from-behind” championship. Of his four previous Cup titles, Johnson entered the final race of the season in the lead. On Sunday, he entered 15 points behind Hamlin but that dramatic storyline quickly evaporated by a series of mistakes from his closest pursuers.
“I think finally, finally after pulling this off Jimmie will get the respect that he deserves,” crew chief Chad Knaus said of Johnson. “Knowing what we had to do — come down here and beat them — and we beat them.”
Harvick nailed Kyle Busch on lap 243 sending Busch’s Toyota into the frontstretch inside wall after Busch drifted in front of Harvick. Busch’s car caught on fire and brought out the final yellow flag but Hamlin was one lap down. He got the wave around but could not pit during the caution.
“Harvick pulled a slide job on my earlier in the day, I crossed over and passed him clean,” Busch said. “My guys worked way too hard to be in this position to have a wrecked race car at the end of the year. It means so much to me to finish the year strong. I talked to him in the driver’s meeting but Kevin is such a two-faced guy it doesn’t really matter.”
Of course, Harvick had a different take.
“Kyle raced me like a clown all day,” Harvick said.
As for Hamlin, his day took a dramatic turn for the worst when he drifted up and ran into Greg Biffle’s Ford on lap 24. That sent Hamlin’s car into a spin down the backstretch with the right-front corner of Hamlin’s car damaged. He would finish 14th.
“I’m disappointed,” Hamlin said. “Our car was lightning fast until that last wreck. When we hit the 16 (Biffle) that knocked the toe-in out. It wasn’t as fast after that. It’s just circumstances but we had a great year. We won the most races (8) and we contended like we have never contended before but circumstances took us out of this one. I don’t think the 48 (Johnson) showed the strength this year like they did in the past and that opened the door for the rest of us.”
Hamlin wasn’t the only driver that would suffer misfortune. On lap 183, Jeff Burton smacked the wall but there was no caution when Hamlin was to sixth. Three laps later, the yellow flag waves on lap 186 for debris.
Harvick’s pit stop was in 7.5 seconds making him first off pit road but Harvick nailed for too fast entering pit road. Harvick did not get credit for leading a lap, though. Harvick also clipped one of Kahne’s crew members leaving the pits.
“That’s not right,” Harvick said. “How can you have one that is that far off and the other that isn’t even close. It’s not possible. It’s that one light. It has to be a glitch. That’s bleeping BS. There is no way you can be 49.6, 49.4, 50.point something and 49.1. There is no way we were too fast entering. I was right behind the 56 (Truex).
“There’s no way Gil — absolutely no way,” Harvick said. “That’s just them (NASCAR) doing what they do best.”
That moved Harvick from the lead back to 29th on the restart but two laps later Dave Blaney hits the wall for the eighth caution of the race.
Another pit under yellow and another poor pit stop by Johnson’s team leaves Johnsons 13th, Hamlin 14th and Harvick third creating a razor-thin margin between the top three.
But Johnson’s Chevrolet was better than every car on the track except for race winner Edwards’ Ford.
It was Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th Cup title in the last 16 years.
Despite getting penalized for speeding on pit road, Harvick took the championship disappointment in stride.
“We went down swinging and that is what we came here to do,” Harvick said. “Those guys outran us on that last restart there. All in all I’m proud of all my guys. We did everything we wanted to do today but win the race. This is a great spot to start building for consistent championship runs next year. We had a top three car but they got by us on the restarts. All in all, it was a good day.
“What can you do?”
After breaking a 70-race winless streak last week at Phoenix, Edwards scored his second-straight victory.
“To finish like this is unreal,” Edwards said. “It’s just these guys didn’t give up. It’s just a great way to end the season.”
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