Team Lowe’s Picks Up Fourth Consecutive Championship
Jimmie Johnson clinched his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Series Championship by finishing fifth in Sunday’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, becoming the first driver in NASCAR’s 60-year history to accomplish the feat.
“I am just blown away by the things we’ve been able to accomplish over the last eight years in the sport,” said Johnson following the race. “Obviously the last four years have been just unbelievable. To love the sport like I do and respect it like I do, and the history, the pioneers of this sport from Bill France, Sr., to the Petty family, you go through many eras up to Mr. Hendrick and what he’s done over the last 25, to look at all of that and to have done something that’s never been done in the sport before is so, so amazing and something I am so proud of.
“I’ve always set my marks high and really wanted to try to set high marks and all those kinds of things, but I had no clue this stuff would happen,” continued Johnson. “(I’m) just so honored, so happy, so fortunate.
Crew Chief Chad Knaus extended his crew chief record for consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships to four. In 2008, Knaus set the record with three consecutive Cups.
“I’m really excited,” said Knaus. “Man, what a fantastic job by this team this year. I can’t say enough about the way that the guys worked. They really focused on what we needed to do to get into the Chase, get ourselves in position to be able to go out there and try to battle for this championship. I couldn’t be prouder of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. To have three cars in the top 5, that’s pretty amazing.
“I think that with Lowe’s and Hendrick Motorsports behind us, I think we can go into the next few years comfortable and aggressive and be able to get after it. We’re very fortunate to have Lowe’s and sign those guys back up. Jimmie just signed back with HMS for a few more years, and that’s a great thing. I think we’ve got some good stuff coming in the future. I’m really, really excited about it. Our team is stronger than it’s ever been. It’s a bit of a dream.”
Heading into the 267-lap race, Team Lowe’s Racing led second-place Mark Martin by 108 points and had to finish 25th or better to clinch. Johnson started the race first, ran in the top 10 throughout the event and led two times for 28 laps on the way to his 16th top-10 finish of 2009.
Martin took the checkered flag 12th and finished 141 points behind Johnson in the final point standings.
Johnson has 18 Chase wins in 60 Chase races, a winning percentage of 30%. The next highest number of Chase wins by a driver is six. In this season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson collected four wins, seven top fives, nine top-10s and had an average finish of 6.8. Johnson finished the 2009 season with seven wins, 16 top fives and 24 top 10s.
“It is unbelievable,” said Johnson. “Four championships in eight years. 47 wins. Everything this team has done is truly amazing. I know that the fans and everybody respects what this race team has done. I can’t wait where this race team ends up. We’ve got a lot of racing ahead of us. I know that we are solidly in the record books. But I know we have a lot more to accomplish.”
