Johnson reigns supreme again

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Sunday's Sprint Cup Series season finale capped one championship season and may have jump-started another.

With a fifth-place finish, Jimmie Johnson easily clinched his NASCAR record fourth consecutive Cup title. He has won championships in four of his eight full-time seasons of competition.

The biggest road block for Johnson to a fifth title may have been lurking in Victory Lane, where Denny Hamlin was celebrating his win in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

And Hamlin all but guaranteed it.

"I tell you, we're going to be there, I promise you," Hamlin said after collecting his fourth win of the season and second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. "I promise you in the next couple of years we're going to win a championship."

Two engine failures and a wreck in the final 10 races hindered Hamlin's ability to keep up with Johnson's title run, but his stats were still impressive.

In four races, including the three he didn't finish, Hamlin finished 22nd or worse. In the other six, he was fifth or better.

"I think we're showing that we have that strength to compete with those guys," Hamlin said of the Hendrick Motorsports organization. "It's just that they've done a phenomenal job.

"Four in a row for them, and I couldn't be happier for [Johnson]. There's no more deserving champion than them."

Johnson entered the race with a 108-point advantage over his Hendrick teammate Mark Martin, the only other driver mathematically still in the hunt.

Johnson, who started from the pole, wasted no time adding to that margin by leading the first lap and gaining five bonus points.

As the race wore on, it became apparent that unless Johnson blew an engine or got caught up in a wreck, he would claim the title, because he had a better car than Martin.

But that wasn't a guarantee.

Johnson got agitated more than once over his team radio as other drivers - including Juan Pablo Montoya and Clint Bowyer - nearly got into him on the track.

"There were two times we almost got pinched in the wall [by Montoya]," Johnson said. "Then when Juan and [Tony Stewart] spun, I could see it coming."

Stewart and Montoya had a second run-in on Lap 156. Montoya came back out on the track after repairs from his first incident with Stewart and soon after wrecked Stewart. NASCAR penalized Montoya two laps for rough driving.

Both drivers left the track Sunday night without comment.

In the end, Johnson avoided any trouble and as the race neared its conclusion, he asked crew chief Chad Knaus over the radio if there was an opportunity to challenge Hamlin for the win. Knaus said, "You can't."

"Is that a dare?" Johnson replied.

"No, that is not a dare. That is a fact," was Knaus' answer.

Johnson received loud cheers from the fans in the stands while celebrating his championship.

Hendrick team owner Rick Hendrick was not on hand for Sunday's season finale. He remained in North Carolina while his niece awaited a liver transplant.

Alesha Gainey, 29, is the daughter of the team owner's late brother, John Hendrick, who was among those killed in a 2004 plane crash near Martinsville, Va.

Hendrick became the first owner in NASCAR history to own the top three cars in the Cup series standings. Martin finished second in points and Jeff Gordon third.

For Hamlin, Sunday was a day to celebrate his most successful season in Cup but also to look ahead.

"With three DNFs - you look at the final points standings and call a DNF 100 points and we were right there," said Hamlin, who ended up fifth in points, 317 behind Johnson. "But those guys have been the standard.

"We hope to be where Jimmie is at in a couple of years, and we're showing that we do have a little bit of strength."