Jimmie Johnson wins third straight NASCAR Championship

brandon27 · Nov 16, 2008

It's over... only the second time in NASCAR history that a driver/team has won 3 championships in a row. Last time was 30 years ago when Cale Yarborough did it... Most people dont like Jimmie, but theres no way you can deny the talent he has, and how incredible it is for a team in NASCAR to win three titles in a row... quite the accomplishment. Congrats to Jimmie!

Nothing could stop Jimmie Johnson’s drive into the NASCAR record books. Not even a final, furious push by Carl Edwards.

Edwards led a race-high 157 laps, ran out of gas as he crossed the finish line, but still won Sunday’s season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His series-high ninth win of the year wasn’t enough to wrest away the Sprint Cup title.

Johnson locked up his third consecutive championship with a solid 15th-place run, beating Edwards by 69 points to join Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to win three straight titles.

“It’s the ultimate reward. We worked so hard to put ourselves in this position,” Johnson said. “It’s just total teamwork and dedication. There were times this year when things were dark, but we buckled down and got to work and that’s what it was really all about.”

Yarborough won his three titles 30 years ago, under a different scoring system and in a very different NASCAR. He accomplished his feat when drivers scraped together the cash they needed to race, and the champion was the guy on top at the end of a long grueling season.

Johnson’s titles have been won in the glitzy new Chase to the championship format, where the best 12 drivers compete over a 10-race sprint to the title.
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Johnson wins record-tying 3rd Cup title - NASCAR - Yahoo! Canada Sports

NJFINSFAN1 · Nov 16, 2008

Hendricks is the team to be on!!!!!!!!!!!!

brandon27 · Nov 16, 2008

For those who may think this is no big deal... this is a pretty nice article that sums up how great of an accomplishment this is...

Until recently, there were three sure things in sports. But with Tiger Woods on the shelf and the competition catching up to Roger Federer, that leaves Jimmie Johnson as the surest athlete on the planet.

That's right, Johnson, who on Sunday became just the second man ever to win back-to-back-to-back NASCAR titles, clinching it with a 15th-place finish in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

When you stop to think about it, it's a remarkable accomplishment, really, considering all the variables a race car driver faces on a weekly basis.

Nothing against golf, but Tiger doesn't have to worry about a fellow competitor barreling into him while he's lining up a birdie putt. If a spike breaks off his shoe, his caddie fixes it. And having your ball land in a divot is nothing compared to having a tire blow out without warning at 200 mph.

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There's a reason only two drivers in NASCAR's 60-year history – Cale Yarborough being the other – have won three straight titles. It's hard. Really hard.

Not only do you have to minimize mistakes, but you have to be good enough the rest of the time to make up for them when they come. And they will come. That's inevitable.

And just in case you're thinking all Johnson does is turn left, consider this:

Last Friday, qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway came smack dab in the middle of sundown, which anyone with a license can attest is the worst time of day to drive. The difficulty is exacerbated when you're going 150 mph and the sun is aligned perfectly with the front stretch.

Every driver had trouble seeing that day, especially as they entered PIR's Turn 1. The problem was drivers couldn't see their marks – landmarks on the track they've designated as the points where they'll brake, turn or accelerate. Even the great Jeff Gordon, who's won more poles than anyone still racing, had trouble. He had a car he thought could sit on the pole, yet did no better than seventh.

How did Johnson deal with it?

"I just kind of went off of memory," he said, explaining that since he couldn’t' see his marks, he had to trust his mind to remember the braking rhythm he'd established in the three hours of practice earlier in the day. "I just didn’t know where I was going to end up.”
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The surest thing in sports - NASCAR - Yahoo! Canada Sports

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