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AUTO RACING COLUMN

Johnson Is NASCAR's Best Closer

By MARTIN FENNELLY

Published: Nov 19, 2007

HOMESTEAD - They ran the Foregone Conclusion 400 on Sunday.

It was Jimmie Johnson's day. It was Jimmie Johnson's season.

Again.

After one of the great finishing rolls in NASCAR history - four wins in four races - the man could have spent Sunday taking 267 victory laps. As it was, he finished seventh in the Ford 400 to claim his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship.

Johnson and Johnson.

That hadn't been done since Johnson's friend and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon did it in 1997-98. Gordon was the only man with a chance to take the title from Johnson on Sunday, but it wasn't much of one.

It was Jimmie Johnson's day. It was Jimmie Johnson's season.

Is it Jimmie Johnson's era?

They say he's vanilla, boring, that he's Roger Federer on four wheels.

What isn't exciting about winning?

Johnson drove like the old-timers.

He backed into nothing.

He took and took.

"We just got into a tear that was unbelievable," Johnson said.

It's as if he drafted off the New England Patriots.

"The victories made the difference."

Running Circles Around Rivals

For years, we wanted NASCAR to make its points system put more emphasis on race winners. NASCAR tried, but it took Jimmie Johnson to seal the deal.

There was no playing it safe, settling for points in the Chase.

There was winning.

Ten wins.

Four straight wins in the Chase.

Eight top-10s in the Chase.

Meet the best closer in the business.

J.J. is NASCAR's Reggie Jackson. He's Mr. October. Mr. November, too.

"To see a guy win 10 races in one season, I thought that era was over," driver Kurt Busch said.

There was pomp before the finale. Rudy Giuliani attended his third NASCAR race of the season. We think he's ahead of Michael Waltrip in points.

But this thing was over before it began.

Gordon knew as much last week as playfully waved a white flag after Johnson won at Phoenix. Gordon had a remarkable season, winning six times with a record 30 top-10 finishes. But he couldn't hold off his relentless friend.

"What more can you do than what we did?" Gordon asked.

NASCAR chief Brian France said the lack of drama for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway had nothing to do with the Chase system. It had to do with Jimmie Johnson.

"He's better than everyone right now," France said.

Johnson is the first driver to win at least 10 races since Gordon won 13 in 1998. If it had been any other day but clinching day, he might have rolled the dice and made a real run at five straight wins, which Richard Petty did in 1971.

Johnson's stunning 2007 comes in an age of increased competition. It's not like Petty in '71. Heck, it's not like Gordon in '98.

"To win 10 races in this environment is like winning 20 in the old days," former champion Rusty Wallace said.

They say he's too boring to carry the NASCAR standard, but what's boring about a Californian who wins a race and donates his winnings to relief efforts for victims of wildfires back home. That's what Jimmie Johnson did last month. May we all be so boring.

Speaking That Timeless Language

So he doesn't fight Gordon like Cale fought Donnie. So they sat together at Sunday's prerace drivers meeting. Richard Petty recently said that the only thing different about Gordon and Johnson are their names.

But The King and the old guard understood winning.

Jimmie Johnson speaks that timeless language.

On Sunday's final lap, with a wreck the only thing that could have stolen his title, Johnson actually tried to battle sixth-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. before regaining his senses.

"It's hard to not go," he said.

There were a lot of stories this NASCAR season. We said goodbye to Bill France Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran his last race for his daddy's empire. The Nextel Cup will become the Sprint Cup. Tony Stewart will drive a Toyota. And the Car of Tomorrow is now all there is.

But Sunday was about the champion of today - and maybe tomorrow.

Is every season Jimmie Johnson's season?