Johnson is best illustration of NASCAR Cup champion

You bellyached. NASCAR listened.

You wanted wins to have more significance. NASCAR obliged.

OK, maybe not "you" specifically, but most of you. Most of us, too. After all, racing is supposed to be about who can get to the finish line first.

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So NASCAR decided before the season began that wins would account for 10 points instead of five. By putting a greater emphasis on winning races, NASCAR now had a fool-proof "playoff" system from which a true champion would emerge.

Then Jeff Gordon goes out and sets a modern era consistency mark for top-10s: 30 in 36 races. Thirty! He also had more top-fives than any other driver, 21. Well done, sir. Now step aside.

Gordon lost the Cup by 77 points, the largest deficit thus far in the four years of the Chase. That's a statistic that needs an asterisk, however, given the change to the points system.

Johnson won the Chase in 2006 by 56 points over runner-up Matt Kenseth. Kenseth amassed 21 top-10s, three less than Johnson's 24. Remember, Gordon had 21 top-fives in 2007 and even though Johnson posted 20 top-fives the repeat champion again topped out with 24 top-10s.

The difference from the past three Chase years to this season -- keep in mind Johnson lost the inaugural Chase by eight points despite a series-high eight victories; champion Kurt Busch won three times in 2004 -- is the number of victories. Simply put, when it was go time, Johnson put the pedal to the metal.

Knowing the points would be reset at the beginning of the Chase with 10 bonus points added to the total for each victory, Johnson's championship mettle began to shine through. Tied with Gordon for most wins with four, Johnson won the two races leading up to the Chase to give him a 20-point bulge over the closest competitor.

With little fanfare before his entry to Cup and now with back-to-back championships, David Caraviello says Jimmie Johnson may be the sport's most impressive discovery.

• Complete story, click here
• How the Chase was won
• Johnson's '07 dominance
• Estes: From the champ's pit
• Cross: Face of Nextel Cup era

After Gordon posted back-to-back wins midway through the Chase to open up what had been a close "playoff" among a handful of drivers and forge a 68-point lead over second-place Johnson, the 48 team went into overdrive. The turning point, as it was in 2006, came at Martinsville.

Last year Johnson went to Martinsville seemingly out of it, trailing leader Jeff Burton by 146 points. Burton's engine gave out after 217 laps. Johnson led 245 laps en route to the victory. It slashed 105 points off Johnson's deficit. Three consecutive second-place finishes -- remember, in 2006 that was good enough -- catapulted Johnson into the lead and ultimately gave him the title.

Fast forward to October 2007 and it was Gordon who led a race-high 168 laps at Martinsville. But it was Johnson, himself no slouch with 147 laps led, who celebrated the victory. Then he won at Atlanta, then Texas; he had retaken the points lead. He added to it with a fourth consecutive victory the following week at Phoenix. (Note: Johnson previously had never won at Texas or Phoenix.)

By the time the smoke settled from the last victorious burnout -- this one celebrating Johnson's second consecutive Nextel Cup championship -- the final tally was 10 victories. Gordon won "only" six races. Second only to one. But much like the final points suggest, it was a far second to one.

So now what? Did the 2007 Chase satisfy you? It might not have been as close at the end, but it was nonetheless dramatic. Gordon was every bit as good as he was in the 26-race "regular season." But like champions do, Johnson came up big when it counted most.

NASCAR likes to label the Chase as a "playoff." The problem is NASCAR cannot compare itself to other sports and their playoffs. NASCAR does not pit one car against another alone on the track. No car is "eliminated" from appearing in the next race based on losing the previous week. Try and get the sponsors to go along with that!

But the system resulted in the premise for which it was designed. Johnson is the first champion to lead the series in victories since Gordon in 2001. Gordon even conceded as much, "I guess I was just a little bit too confident in the old consistency thing."

Indeed. Jimmie Johnson has raised the bar ... and sent a message: win, or go home.

(You know, that's a really good line from the TNT-Turner Sports-Time Warner cable vehicle. I would like to thank everyone who made it possible.)

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.