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The Jimmie Johnson dynasty in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series stretched to half a decade at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday as the most dominant driver the sport has ever seen won his fifth straight championship with a second-place finish in the Ford 400 season finale.
As Carl Edwards motored to his second straight victory in as many weeks, leading 190 laps, Johnson fought back from early pit problems, settled into his regular routine and came on at the end to seal the title.
For Edwards, the two consecutive victories came after a 70-race winless streak.
"This is unreal," Edwards said in victory lane. "It's a great way to finish the season. I think the way we're going, if we can start like that, our Aflac team will have a shot at them next year.
"To finish like this is unreal. It's just these guys not giving up. We don't give up. We've had just an unbelievable run toward the end of this season. It's just a great way to end the season."
The championship battle was a nail-biting contest whose complexion changed time and time again throughout the 267-lap event.
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All three contenders had problems at one point or another. Denny Hamlin, the leader by 15 points coming into the race, suffered an early spin and had to repair front-end damage, but clawed his way to the front, only to suffer a setback when his crew chief, Mike Ford, called him to the pits a split-second after Hamlin committed to staying out on the track.
Ultimately, it was the damage that Hamlin had in that spin that did him in, and he finished 14th, but still came in second in the Sprint Cup championship. The final points showed Hamlin 39 points behind Johnson, while Harvick was just 41 points back.
"I am just so proud to be in this position," Johnson said. "I think we showed this year what we are made of. At times, we didn't have the most speed, but we had the most heart."
Harvick had excellent pit stops, and his crew actually got him out in the lead after a round of stops with about 80 laps to go, only to hear the devastating news that Harvick was caught speeding upon entering pit road, sending him reeling back to 29th place.
"There is no way!" Harvick wailed on his radio. "There is absolutely no way. That's just them (NASCAR) doing what they do best."
And yet, Harvick came back from that and clawed back to third -- but ultimately, with Johnson's finish -- couldn't overcome the point deficit he started the race with. Harvick was 46 points behind Hamlin at the start, and 31 behind Johnson.
Hamlin just couldn't get it done after his early spin. At one point with about 100 laps to go, Hamlin was in front of Johnson, but with a car that just wasn't working right, it all slipped away and he fell back to 18th before managing to only make it back to 14th place at the end.
"We came close, but close doesn't cut it," Hamlin said. "Those guys stepped up and performed at the end of the race like they needed to. Our car just had too many Band-Aids. There were so many Band-Aids on it to try to fix it. We just didn't have it there at the end."
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