RELATED: Johnson wins Atlanta, ties Earnhardt | Jimmie pays tribute to ‘Intimidator’
HAMPTON, Ga. — The gesture was slight, yet unmistakable.
Jimmie Johnson, winner of Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, eased his car along the frontstretch in view of those in the grandstands.
His left hand, still covered in a black glove, displayed three fingers.
Three. Earnhardt. Dale Earnhardt. Unmistakable.
Sunday’s victory was the 76th for Johnson, tying the career total of the seven-time, and still very much revered, premier series champion.
We all knew the day was coming. Long before the Hendrick Motorsports driver scored No. 72 last season in Texas, No. 73 in Kansas, No. 74 in Dover or No. 75, again, in Texas.
Maybe it was when he won 10 times in 2007. Or seven times the following year. Or seven times the year after that. We knew it was coming. What we didn’t know was when.
Johnson, 40, wins races. It’s something he’s done with quiet regularity since he joined NASCAR’s top series as a full-time competitor in 2002.
And, quite often, he wins championships. Another one and he’ll join Earnhardt and the legendary Richard Petty in that category as well.
The truly good ones never dwell on the numbers. Or the possibilities once those numbers start piling up. Johnson is cut from no different of a cloth.
“I entered the sport just hoping I could win a race and keep a job for a few years,” the El Cajon, Calif., native said Sunday evening. “To have 76 and tie Dale Earnhardt Sr. is something I’m very, very proud of.”
That the two never put bumper to bumper or wheel to wheel against one another is a loss of a different kind, and one that Johnson said he regrets. Chances are, Johnson would have learned a thing or two. Many others did.
Earnhardt died as a result of injuries sustained in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. Johnson would make his first premier series start later that year, in early October at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“There’s been a big void in my mind about not having that chance … and it was literally a handful of months away from having that opportunity,” Johnson said. “So to tie him today, for myself personally, it gives me a little something — it’s a little bit of attachment to the great Dale Earnhardt and something I’m very proud of.”
Sunday’s win was his fifth on the rugged, well-worn 1.54-mile AMS layout. Earnhardt was a regular in Victory Lane there as well, winning nine times.
Nearly 20 years have passed since the track last saw an asphalt truck; it’s older now but no less cantankerous than it was in 2000 when Earnhardt scored career win No. 75.
Rick Hendrick, the successful team owner behind Hendrick Motorsports, has been around long enough to weigh in on both drivers. Earnhardt, he said, “was more aggressive.”
“He didn’t get that ‘Intimidator’ title by being nice to everybody,” Johnson’s car owner said.
“They’re two different style drivers, but both of them were awesome. Dale won seven championships, so that speaks for itself.”
Johnson, he said, is “not as aggressive, and he will race you extremely clean.
“I’m not saying that Dale didn’t (but) if he got to you and it was for the win, he was going to move you, and that’s his job,” Hendrick said. “I think that’s the difference in the two.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced for his father, raced against his father and is a teammate of Johnson.
RELATED: Junior: ‘Dad would have loved Jimmie’
How does his fellow racer stack up?
“I don’t have a problem calling him the best of this generation even as a competitor of his and having to go out there and race against him,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “… Jimmie is just a phenomenal talent.
“I knew this day was coming, but I didn’t know it until we got out of the car. I’m glad if he’s going to win and tie that record, I’m certainly glad that I got to run second today.”
With former teammate Jeff Gordon now retired from competition, Johnson has inherited the title of winningest active driver. Three-time champ Tony Stewart, hobbled by injury and scheduled to end his own Sprint Cup career at season’s end, has 48 career victories. Matt Kenseth (36), Kyle Busch (34) and Kevin Harvick (31) are the only other active competitors with more than 30 wins.
As Johnson eased his car along the frontstretch, he said he noticed fans responding by holding up three fingers in return. The reception elsewhere, he said, was unknown.
“I know what it means to me, and I know what it means to our sport and everyone in it working, as well,” he said.
“I’ll be good with all of that. If there are some fans that have other opinions, then it is what it is.”
There’s been no time for him to reflect on the win and determine where it ranks among his long list of accomplishments.
Bigger than his first win in 2002? He said he doesn’t know.
“But it’s right there with it,” he said. “This is a very, very special and meaningful day.”