Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | End-of-season standings


HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The three championship-eligible drivers who didn’t hoist the XFINITY Series trophy Saturday evening stood on Homestead-Miami Speedway‘s pit road looking both perplexed and disappointed.


A restart with three laps remaining bogged down the field and allowed Daniel Suarez to emerge from the front-running pack of contenders and race off to the win and his first NASCAR championship — a first for a Latin American driver.


RELATED: The road to a title | Community reacts to Suarez’s win


For that final restart Cole Whitt, who had run mid-pack all night, stayed off pit road to inherit the lead once the race returned to green. However, he spun his tires and was unable to accelerate, affecting Suarez’s competition as they were lined up behind Whitt’s struggling No. 14.


“I’d love to hear an explanation from him and the crew chief,” said Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones, who finished ninth after getting caught up behind Whitt. “It just didn’t make any sense. Staying out there on old tires with the four championship guys right behind. I’d love to hear why he didn’t go in the restart. There’s a lot of questions I’d like to have answered.”


The other XFINITY Series championship-eligible drivers, Elliott Sadler (who finished third) and Justin Allgaier (who finished sixth), were similarly frustrated with the situation.


For his part, Whitt told reporters in the XFINITY Series garage his team didn’t have any more tires left to change and that he tried to move out of the way of the title contenders on the restart.


“It’s as simple as the fact that we just didn’t have any tires,” said Whitt, who finished 18th. “We didn’t expect everybody to come in like that, and I was like, I knew this was going to be a handful.


“I thought if I was on the outside I would have the most room for them to go underneath me if anything happened and I couldn’t get going. With him (Sadler) hitting me, I couldn’t get going and it was just making me spin the tires worse. Obviously if you could redo it, you would change the way you did it. It’s not like we were out there to screw anybody over.”


RELATED: Sadler: ‘It’s heartbreaking’


It was of little consolation to the three championship runners-up, who all were among the top six on the final restart.


Suarez was behind Sadler on the older tires and able to get around quickly to take off for the flag. Both Jones and Allgaier were caught up behind Whitt’s slower car.


“The dejection of knowing the race came down to three laps. …” Allgaier said, after taking a few private moments to digest the outcome.

WATCH: Allgaier upbeat despite loss


“That call (by Whitt’s team) may work at Daytona and Talladega or somewhere and put you in a good spot but tonight, with what was at stake with all four of us going to restart in the top-five … the battle for the championship was going to be epic. It’s a shame.


“Tonight doesn’t define our season, though. These guys at JR Motorsports have done an amazing job all year long. To come down to this moment is so disappointing. We all held our heads really high that we were able to make the final four and to come into here with the great opportunity to fight for the championship.”


MORE: Whitt explains his side of things


After having a few minutes to digest the situation, Sadler explained that the toughest part of the night was finishing as XFINITY Series championship runner-up for the third time in his career (2011 and 2012) after being ranked either first or second in the standings for all but one week this season. But he insisted he will leave South Florida more encouraged.


“From (his team owners) Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) all the way down through everybody in the shop, they work their butts off to make sure we had a legitimate shot at holding up that trophy tonight, and that’s what hurts the most is you don’t know until the checkered flag if you’re going to hold the trophy or not,” Sadler said.


“It’s just part of this format, but it’s great for the fans. I think it’s great for our sport. It shows a lot of emotion and I think tonight’s race played out the way it should be. But all four of us really raced hard with each other up front and Daniel just got the better of us tonight.”


Posted on by Holly Cain

MORE: Drivers give best Stewart stories | 14 Days of Smoke

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The fans were gathered four and five deep around Tony Stewart‘s garage stall at Homestead-Miami Speedway following Saturday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice. Some posed for photos at the rear of Stewart’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, others stood farther back shouting encouragement toward “The People’s Champion” as he is affectionately known.

 

When Stewart left the garage to walk to his motorhome, the huge swarm surrounded him and walked, too. People young and old stretched and contorted to get alongside the three-time NASCAR champ as he walked away. Two even followed in motorized wheelchairs. Dozens asked for autographs and photographs, dropping out of the mobile mob one-by-one and flashing wide grins as Stewart acknowledged their well wishes or signed a photo.

 

Despite the crowd, Stewart never stopped moving forward. And, he has promised, that will continue in all ways.

 

His impending retirement from Sprint Cup Series racing following Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 will mark the end of an 18-year stock car career that has earned the 45-year old three premier series championships and 49 victories — including one this season at Sonoma Raceway. He is a certain first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer.

 

But Stewart has steadfastly maintained climbing out of the driver’s seat is not so much an ending as another beginning. He will still be around.

 

And while others may be getting emotional, Stewart appears to be, quite literally, taking it all in stride.

 

“I don’t know that I’m really going to miss anything because you know the great thing is I still get to see the people and be around the people,” said Stewart, who will remain active in NASCAR in his job as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. “That is probably the best part of the whole deal. I’m still going to be around the sport. I’m still going to be active. If you don’t think being an owner is competitive I can show you a bunch of different cases where it’s competitive being an owner. 

 

“That part of it is not going to change, so I don’t think I’m going to miss a lot.” 

 

Then came that trademark Stewart snark.

 

“The thing that I’m not going to miss is 9 a.m. practices on Saturday morning,” he added with a grin. “So, I never have to get up for a 9 a.m. practice ever again.”

 

Stewart certainly seemed to be taking his final race weekend in stride, alternating between work — he advanced to the final round of qualifying and will start his final race 11th — and taking in the handshakes, pats on the back and loud cheers he is receiving with every step around the track.

 

He is unable to walk two feet without another race official, fellow driver or adoring fan approaching to offer a “Good luck” and a “Thank you.”

 

On Friday, more than a hundred fans gathered to look at a Stewart show car, positioned for a photo in Homestead-Miami Speedway‘s Victory Lane.

 

When Stewart finally appeared an hour later, more than 60 crew members from the garage — some now sporting Roush Fenway Racing shirts, others from Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing — were there … all people who worked with Stewart at some point in his NASCAR career.

 

Nearly 30 drivers in Sunday’s Sprint Cup season finale have presented Stewart a helmet. One of them is from Sunday’s championship contender Carl Edwards, who gave Stewart the helmet Edwards wore in 2011 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Stewart won the race and also the title in a tiebreaker with Edwards. Many consider it the greatest title run of Stewart’s career.

 

MORE: Edwards gives personal retirement gift to Stewart

 

Michele DeBoer, 49, stood in the garage across from Stewart’s stall, decked out in a No. 14 T-shirt. She has special and specific clothing to wear in his honor for every day of the race weekend. She made the trip to Homestead from New Jersey to honor Stewart in his final start, after first “adopting” him way back in 1999 when the then-rookie Stewart drove a Home Depot-sponsored car. She was an associate for the store at the time and had never really followed the sport until she started following Stewart.

 

DeBoer and her sister saved up for this trip to South Florida so she could be a part of Stewart’s goodbye. They even booked their return flight for Tuesday instead of Monday, just in case weather delayed the race. Seeing Stewart off is that important.

 

And they are not alone.

 

“I think it was his smirk that got me; I love it,” DeBoer recalled of pledging her Stewart allegiance nearly two decades ago. “I love his feistiness, his passion for doing whatever you have to do to win. No other driver seems to have it like Tony. I know every race, he can come from 40th place and still win.

 

“I’m happy for him,” DeBoer said, smiling even as a tear started to roll down her face. “I’m glad he’s retiring from NASCAR when he wants to. He’s ready. I’m not.

 

Stewart’s longtime friend, former crew chief and SHR’s current director of competition Greg Zipadelli, said he understands the sentiment. He has worked alongside Stewart for many of the past 18 years — at both Joe Gibbs Racing and now at SHR.

 

Standing in the garage Saturday morning, Zipadelli conceded he hadn’t truly thought of the finality of Stewart’s retirement from Cup competition until he and his wife Nan talked about it on the drive from the airport earlier this week.

 

“At that point, it became real to me, how much has happened,” Zipadelli said. “For me, I still think he is one of the greatest. I still think he could do it. I understand, he’s tired of certain things and wants to move on and enjoy his life.

 

“You live a lot of your life here. You enjoy what you do. But he wants to dirt race, there’s a lot of things he hasn’t been able to do and now he will be able to do. From that standpoint, I think he’s making the right decision for himself and at the end of the day, it’s all about himself, not everybody else. You have to take care of yourself.

 

“At his age, where he’s at, he’s still good enough to do what he wants and be competitive at it. My hat’s off to him. I respect him for doing what he feels is right, not what everyone else would like him to do.”

Stewart’s own father, Nelson, couldn’t agree more. Having brought Stewart into the sport as a young boy and watched him win championships in open-wheel racing from IndyCars to the Triple Crown of midgets, Silver Crown and sprints to being crowned one of NASCAR’s very best three different times.

 

“It’s sentimental, but it’s not sad for me because I want him to be happy,” Nelson Stewart said. “Anybody that has kids, that is the main thing, you want your kids to be happy. And I want to see him happy. He’s had hell for the last three years and I just want to see him happy. So if that’s what he wants to do — I don’t care if he wants to go snow skiing — that’s the way I feel. He has nothing to prove to anybody and he’s done practically everything. I just want him to go and enjoy himself.”

 

In a way, Nelson Stewart says, it couldn’t be more fitting than having Stewart end his career at the venue where he capped one of the most amazing championship runs in the sport’s history.

 

However, Stewart’s final corner pass to win his last race (at Sonoma) will always hold a special place in his father’s heart.

 

“That, to me, was closure for the last three years,” Nelson Stewart said, referring to severe injuries and off-track incidents Stewart has suffered through, forcing him to miss races in three of the past four seasons. “That’s what it was, more than a victory to me. And right where I was standing in the pits, right across on track, is where Tony passed Denny (Hamlin) back for the win. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

 

It is touchingly ironic that for such an accomplished and celebrated champion, Stewart will be remembered as much for his generosity, kindness and sense of humor.

 

Yes, Stewart still bristles about not winning a Daytona 500 or Southern 500 trophy, but that disappointment gives way to a sense of great satisfaction for an incredible career and fortunate standing as one of NASCAR’s best ever.

“In a perfect world, yes, I would have loved to be able to cross those off the list,” Stewart said. “But at the same time, I look at the big picture and it was pretty damn cool to just have the opportunity to go race those races. I still feel like it was winning that first Brickyard 400. I would say that is probably top of the list and I think this race in 2011, I don’t know how you can top that either.

 

“I think there are always points in everybody’s life you wish you had done something a little bit different. I’ve had a lot of those moments for sure that if I could go back and redo it I would love to do it over again. 

 

“I think how everything shook out at the end, I’m pretty proud of that and happy about it.”

 

And truly, how could you ask for anything more?

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Complete results | Chase Grid
SHOP: Champion gear

A 6.6-second, two-tire pit stop for Chase driver Elliott Sadler put him on the front row for the final restart in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 XFINITY finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But when first-place Cole Whitt failed to get going at the drop of the green flag, Daniel Suarez whipped around for the lead, his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota holding on for the win and earning the 2016 XFINITY Series championship.

 

Suarez, 24, led 133 laps en route to his third career XFINITY Series win, becoming the first Latin American driver to win a NASCAR national series title.

 

“It’s very hard to put into words,” Suarez said. “I’m speechless right now. I’m just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have — my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn’t have the support or the racing background. They supported me, and right now we are just living a dream.”

The highest-running non-Chase driver, Richard Childress Racing‘s Ty Dillon, led 17 laps to earn a runner-up result, while Sadler’s two-tire gamble allowed him to finish third. Team Penske‘s Ryan Blaney, vying for an owner championship, came up fourth and RCR’s Austin Dillon rounded out the top five in his No. 2 Chevrolet.

The two other Chase competitors — Justin Allgaier in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Erik Jones in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota — finished sixth and ninth, respectively. The duo put together an impressive battle for the win in the final 20 laps of the race.

 

Suarez was leading fellow Championship 4 contender and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones by less than three car-lengths when Ray Black Jr. spun off Turn 4 to bring out the seventh and final caution on Lap 190.
 
Under the yellow on Lap 193, lead-lap cars came to pit road for tires, but the No. 14 Toyota of Whitt stayed on the track on old tires and inherited the lead, while Sadler’s two-tire stop put the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the inside of the front row.
 
Coming to the green on Lap 198, Whitt stalled out in the top lane, pinning Jones behind him and costing him any shot at the championship. Suarez rocketed past Sadler into Turn 1 and pulled away for the victory and the championship.
 
“I should have made a better block on Daniel,” Sadler said ruefully. “We didn’t know that 14 would stay out and jumble up that restart like that. I wish I’d done a better job on that restart. I guess I’ll be ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ for a while… I knew Daniel had a better car on four tires, but I wish I could have put up a better fight.”

The Sprint Cup Series concludes the tripleheader championship weekend in Miami, as Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano battle for the 2016 Sprint Cup Series title on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 3 results| 10-lap averages

Martin Truex topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 174.289 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.


Carl Edwards was right off his pace, leading the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contingent at 174.031 mph, good for second overall on the leaderboard. 


Edwards’ Chase competitors were a little off the pace in the session, seeing Joey Logano place eighth at 171.832 mph, Jimmie Johnson 10th at 171.587 mph and Edwards’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch 14th at 170.924 mph.


Early in the session, Johnson ran over a bit of debris to bring out the caution. His No. 48 Chevrolet wasn’t severely impacted.

Rounding out the top five were Ryan Newman in the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, AJ Allmendinger in the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet and Chase Elliott in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. 

All that’s left now is the race. Tune in Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App (MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to watch the Ford EcoBoost 400 unfold, and a champion crowned.

PRACTICE 2 | Results

Jimmie Johnson led the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving a fast lap of 174.345 mph in the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson found speed early in the second-to-last session before Sunday’s Championship 4 race, the Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnson will compete against three other drivers to try to win a record-tying seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. Of those drivers, Carl Edwards was the quickest in Saturday’s practice, wheeling his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to third place at 172.949 mph.

Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, the other Championship 4 contestants, were sixth and 28th, respectively, in the 55-minute session on the 1.5-mile track in South Florida. Busch ran 22 laps, which was fewest among the remaining Chase drivers.

Rounding out the top five were Chase Elliott in second in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Trevor Bayne in fourth place in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and Ryan Blaney in fifth place in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.


Posted on by Staff Report

Practice 1

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 4 Kevin Harvick 1 10 168.283
2 13 Casey Mears 1 10 166.757
3 44 Brian Scott # 1 10 166.697
4 18 Kyle Busch (C) 12 21 163.957


Practice 2

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 19 Carl Edwards (C) 1 10 169.062
2 11 Denny Hamlin 1 10 168.589
3 24 Chase Elliott # 1 10 168.260
4 31 Ryan Newman 1 10 168.054
5 88 Alex Bowman(i) 1 10 168.027
6 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 167.422
7 27 Paul Menard 1 10 167.256
8 4 Kevin Harvick 16 25 167.096
9 3 Austin Dillon 1 10 166.922
10 18 Kyle Busch (C) 1 10 166.789
11 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 166.721
12 42 Kyle Larson 11 20 166.276
13 20 Matt Kenseth 11 20 166.014
14 21 * Ryan Blaney # 19 28 166.005
15 23 David Ragan 1 10 165.377
16 59 Michael McDowell 1 10 165.203
17 14 Tony Stewart 23 32 164.652
18 43 Aric Almirola 14 23 164.576
19 49 * Matt DiBenedetto(i) 1 10 164.574
20 44 Brian Scott # 22 31 164.428
21 38 Landon Cassill 1 10 164.289
22 47 AJ Allmendinger 20 29 163.985
23 15 Clint Bowyer 8 17 162.795
24 55 * Reed Sorenson 1 10 161.831
25 13 Casey Mears 14 23 161.127
26 83 Jeffrey Earnhardt # 19 28 159.321



Practice 3

Pos

Car

Driver

From Lap

To Lap

Avg Speed

1

4

Kevin Harvick

1

10

168.286

2

42

Kyle Larson

1

10

167.618

3

21

* Ryan Blaney #

1

10

167.097

4

3

Austin Dillon

3

12

165.807

5

19

Carl Edwards (C)

25

34

165.689

6

49

* Matt DiBenedetto(i)

2

11

165.410

7

2

Brad Keselowski

25

34

165.159

8

1

Jamie McMurray

8

17

165.088

9

48

Jimmie Johnson (C)

22

31

165.085

10

11

Denny Hamlin

22

31

164.997

11

31

Ryan Newman

22

31

164.811

12

78

Martin Truex Jr.

13

22

164.565

13

18

Kyle Busch (C)

27

36

164.504

14

41

Kurt Busch

20

29

164.445

15

27

Paul Menard

26

35

164.364

16

44

Brian Scott #

6

15

164.278

17

88

Alex Bowman(i)

20

29

164.034

18

14

Tony Stewart

30

39

163.693

19

24

Chase Elliott #

9

18

163.531

20

17

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19

28

163.360

21

22

Joey Logano (C)

24

33

163.269

22

10

Danica Patrick

14

23

163.262

23

34

Chris Buescher #

9

18

163.146

24

6

Trevor Bayne

18

27

162.796

25

38

Landon Cassill

3

12

162.791

26

59

Michael McDowell

23

32

162.515

27

15

Clint Bowyer

19

28

162.510

28

47

AJ Allmendinger

12

21

161.538

29

83

Jeffrey Earnhardt #

3

12

161.349

30

23

David Ragan

13

22

161.195

31

32

Dylan Lupton(i)

21

30

156.302

* Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Full race results | Truck Series Chase Grid | Race recap

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Johnny Sauter remembers well the first time he talked to GMS Racing competition director Mike Beam about making a significant career change. While at the hospital for the birth of his third child in September 2015, Sauter scurried away to the parking deck for a 45-minute chat about driving for the upstart organization.


That period in Sauter’s life wound up being the rare lightning-strikes-twice instance of two life-changing events coinciding. The longtime journeyman, in the first year of his partnership with the Maurice Gallagher-owned team, realized his life’s dream Friday night by clinching his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship with a gritty third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.


Though the bonds forged between Sauter and GMS, like his toddler-aged daughter, are barely a year old, the team was front of mind for the veteran driver after crossing under the checkered flag. He offered a rapid succession of thank-yous over the team radio, a champion at last.


“I never thought that would happen,” Sauter radioed in during the cool-down lap. “This is because of you guys.”


Sauter made a self-described “leap of faith” in the offseason after spending seven seasons with perennial powerhouse ThorSport Racing. During his tenure with the Ohio-based organization, Sauter regularly competed for victories and finished among the top five in series points in five of those seven years.


Yet his first discussions with GMS brought newfound energy, a near-instant comfort level and confidence in the group’s dedication to building a title-contending team. Renewing his family’s long-running General Motors allegiances by shifting to a Chevrolet team was also an important motivator.


“People is a big ingredient,” Sauter said. “There’s just a lot of little things. I could sit here all night and talk about it. It’s just the whole package. I just felt very comfortable about meeting the Gallagher family. I’m not sitting up here blowing smoke, I’m telling you the truth. I felt very comfortable that night and knew that this was something I wanted to be a part of.”


For Gallagher, the move to bring Sauter to the fold was nearly two years in the making. Since the operation’s full-fledged launch in 2014, GMS Racing has fielded trucks for a host of several part-time Sprint Cup stars along with relative newcomers to the series, but the 38-year-old Sauter represented an element that was missing.


“Johnny was that kind of constant,” Gallagher said. “He shows up with that kind of experience — and I call him the old salt — and you just can’t put a price on that kind of been there, done that. He was terrific with the younger guys, and I couldn’t ask for a better teammate. It’s an investment. You do it, and you hope to have the outcome we had. You’d like to think that every investment pays off. It’s hard in this business, but this one has paid off in spades.”


The new partnership bore fruit with immediacy after a victory in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The team then peaked in the series’ first-ever Chase postseason, with two wins in the Round of 6 clinching Sauter’s title shot in style.


Friday night’s performance, rallying from a 19th-place starting spot and outdueling former teammate Matt Crafton in a sterling battle down the stretch, represented a coronation for the 15-year veteran with experience in all three NASCAR national series. It also meant the first season-long laurels for Sauter since a championship in the former American Speed Association (ASA) AC-Delco Challenge Series in 2001. And it also signified a long-awaited celebration for a Wisconsin family with a rich devotion to racing.


“It’s all about putting the pieces of the puzzle together,” Sauter said. “Sometimes it works out, and I’ve always said, timing is everything. You know, I feel like the timing is good where I’m at right now.”


Posted on by Jessica Ruffin

MORE: Buy tickets for Homestead-Miami Championship Weekend


Jimmie Johnson.

A worldwide household name, Johnson has reached remarkable feats in the racing world. This weekend could represent a pinnacle in his racing career, as he runs for his seventh championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the opportunity to tie the great Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most all-time Sprint Cup Series championships within reach.

But “Six-Time” wasn’t always that way: Former Hendrick Motorsports teammate and No. 48 car owner Jeff Gordon recalls when Johnson wasn’t a world champion, a race winner or even a Sprint Cup Series driver.

He was just Jimmie.

•   •   •

Gordon remembers a tremendously fast, red, white and blue car that took the track at an XFINITY test at Darlington Raceway back in 2000.

“I was helping Ricky Hendrick — (team owner) Rick (Hendrick’s) son — who was getting in the XFINITY Series and wanted to run a few races and Darlington was one of the races on that schedule,” Gordon told NASCAR.com on Thursday.  “… So, I went down to Darlington for a day of XFINITY testing and I remember going out there on top of a truck … and a car was out there — it was a red, white and blue car. Really had a nice line, carrying a lot of speed, right up next to the wall. You know, Darlington’s a very intimidating track and usually it takes not just a lot of skill but experience to understand the track.”

Gordon complimented the driver’s style, telling Hendrick “that’s pretty much how you need to do it.” Then he asked who the driver was.

“Jimmie Johnson,” Gordon recalls Hendrick answering.

With his seemingly experienced motor skills, Gordon wondered how many times Johnson had raced at “The Track Too Tough to Tame.” Hendrick surprised Gordon by telling him he thought it was his first time.

Gordon wanted to meet him.

“I remember going down to the garage and Jimmie was sitting in his car and I went over there to him and said, ‘Hey, what’s up, how are you?’ and introduced myself,” Gordon said. “I said, ‘So, have you ever been here to Darlington before?’ And he said, ‘Nope, today’s the first time I ever saw the place.’

“That to me in itself kind of floored me — it looked like he had been there for years; tremendous speed,” Gordon admitted. “So, I started watching him from that point forward.

“… To me, (he) was an overachiever for the team and the equipment.”

Jimmie Johnson: A 24-year-old “overachiever” without a future ride, Sprint Cup win or championship to his name.

Sounds about right for someone who would later be christened “Six-Time.”

RELATED: Johnson through the years in photos

•   •   •

The date is August 19, 2000.

The now-XFINITY Series heads to the rolling Irish Hills of Michigan International Speedway. Already a three-time now-Sprint Cup Series champion under the Hendrick Motorsports umbrella, Gordon is making his fourth XFINITY start in the No. 24 Gordon-Evernham Motorsports ride.

After the drivers meeting, Johnson approaches Gordon.

“(He said), ‘Hey, I’ve got some opportunities and some people talking to me and I’d love to pick your brain about it and get your opinion,'” Gordon recalled. “So, I was impressed that he was willing to come up and ask me and I felt honored that he thought to do that.”


The veteran driver was even more impressed during the race.

“I was running, I think third or fourth or something on a late restart,” Gordon said. “… I had a faster car than him all day long, but on that final restart he made a big, bold move and passed me, and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I was like, ‘This guy’s got some real skills here.'”

GALLERY: How Johnson became ‘Six-Time’

 

During that time, Hendrick Motorsports was a three-car team, fielding the Nos. 5, 25 and 24 cars out of three-separate shops on the Concord, North Carolina, campus. But soon, more teams began to adopt the four-car team concept, where each of the cars worked together to share information and were seeing positive on-track results.

“When I left that Michigan race, I remember calling Rick (Hendrick) and I said ‘You know, I was just racing in the XFINITY race — Jimmie Johnson is extremely impressive … I really think that we could build this fourth team and hire him,'” Gordon said.

Hendrick had met Johnson through his son Ricky, as the pair were friends. But he worried about a lack of sponsorship for a no-name rookie out of El Cajon, California.

But Gordon was relentless.

“Maybe a week or two went by and we talked some more about it,” Gordon said. “and Rick said to me … ‘Listen, if you’re that adamant about it, why don’t you be a partner with me on it and we’ll go in together?’

 

“I said, ‘Done.'”

On Sept. 22, 2000, Jimmie Johnson officially signed with Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 48 Chevrolet part-time.

 

He made his first start behind the wheel of the No. 48 ride less than 13 months after that, signed with the team full-time in 2002 and earned his first Sprint Cup Series race 10 races into his rookie year.

Less than five years after that, Johnson was celebrating his first Sprint Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

•   •   •

This weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson has a chance to rewrite history books as he tries for his seventh Sprint Cup title that will put him in the elite seven-championship category with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.

Having fought to make Johnson a part of Hendrick Motorsports, Gordon knew he had the talent, charisma and ability to be great from the beginning.

But he never could have imagined he would be watching him do this.

“I thought that he would do well because I had enough confidence in our equipment and I saw his skills and talent,” Gordon said. “But you pull for a guy like Jimmie when you get to know him because he’s a great guy. He’s an awesome person, he loves racing and he’s good to people. There are certain people out there in the world that when you get to know them, you understand why they’ve been successful and you also can get behind supporting them to have success because you know they’re going to do good things with it. Jimmie’s one of the those guys.

“Certainly, when we were sitting in the sponsor meeting talking to Lowe’s about sponsoring the car, I remember point-blank someone from the CEO asking, ‘Well, Jeff do you think Jimmie can win races and championships?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely! I’m completely confident.’

“I mean, I wanted the sponsor and I believed in Jimmie,” Gordon said with a chuckle. “but I can’t say that I could have ever foreseen him doing what he’s done.”

One of the great names in racing himself, Gordon has raced with the best of the best, going toe-to-toe with Earnhardt on more than one occasion. But Gordon can’t compare the two great drivers — with the exception of raw talent and drive; they’re just too different, he said.

“I cannot tell you exactly how talented Richard Petty was, how talented Cale Yarborough was or Dale Earnhardt because I never drove their race cars,” Gordon said. “I didn’t drive for that team — and the car and the team have a big influence on it.

“But what I can tell you is that I have driven Jimmie Johnson‘s car and I competed against him side-by-side at Hendrick Motorsports with all the same equipment and opportunities and that’s why I can tell you that he’s the best I’ve ever raced against because I got beat fairly regularly by him and by that team,” Gordon said with a laugh.

•   •   •

Much has changed for Jimmie Johnson since he entered the sport as a young driver out of California. Gone is the small-team car fighting to make a name for himself in the big leagues of racing. Gone is the uncertainty of a racing career. Gone is the battle for his first win, as he now owns 79 Sprint Cup Series victories.

 But still there is the fight and drive to be successful, as he strives for #Se7en on Sunday.

 “Things have not been given easy to Jimmie — he’s had to fight for a lot of things,” Gordon said.

 “(It’s) incredible really, when you think about it. I go back and think of his five in a row and I thought that was extraordinary and unheard of, and here we are not that much further down the road and he could do seven. So, he has absolutely set a new standard and raised the bar and has had an extraordinary career, regardless of whether he wins seven.”

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MORE: Why Johnson will win the title

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team’s summer swoon has come and gone once again and the Hendrick Motorsports driver will attempt to win a record-tying seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship here this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

There were no calls to break up Johnson and Chad Knaus, one of the most successful driver/crew chief combinations in NASCAR, as a winless streak began in April and wasn’t broken until Johnson showed back up in Victory Lane in October.

 

But there was concern.

 

“I think it’s the toughest question when you have a relationship,” team owner Rick Hendrick said Friday at Homestead. “It can be in a (car) dealership; it can be in a race team when you have two guys that have been so good and you try to decide ‘Is it time?’

 

“This year we started off really well and then we hit a lull in the summer and it was — we asked ourselves then, is this time, do we need to make a change?”

 

The months of July and August aren’t among the team’s most productive, with only eight of Johnson’s 79 career victories coming during those two months. On the other hand, the last three months of the season have seen the No. 48 team roll up 33 victories.

Jimmie Johnson Wins by Month

Month Wins
February 5
March 9
April 6
May 10
June 8
July 5
August 3
September 10
October 14
November 9

Johnson has had no crew chief other than Knaus, save for a time or two when Knaus has been sidelined for running afoul of NASCAR’s rule.

 

Knaus kicked around briefly elsewhere before convincing former crew chief Ray Evernham to bring him on board.

 

They’ve been inseparable since 2002 and nearly unbeatable for much of that time.

 

Not that there haven’t been potholes along the way. In 2005, before Johnson won the first of his six championships, the team owner came as close as possible to severing the union before sitting the pair down and suggesting they stop bickering and start communicating.

 

It was a lesson that served them well. Johnson, Knaus and the No. 48 team won the next five Sprint Cup championships. They added a sixth in 2013 and here they sit in Homestead, on the doorstep of No. 7.

 

“When you see things that are so close, I think that’s when they work harder, and we really just sit down and work hard together and try to identify weaknesses,” Hendrick said. “I think they have both made a commitment; they want to retire together. They want to finish their careers together.

 

“I think their relationship right now, even I think this summer was the biggest test we’ve had when we just weren’t running after winning a couple races and struggling, but they did not lose focus, and it wasn’t one of those situations where … yeah, we talked it out, but it was not a time when we were going to say let’s just try something different.”