Johnson grabs first Cup; Biffle wins at Homestead

 

By Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press

November 19, 2006

07:25 PM EST (00:25 GMT)

 

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Hard though he tried, Jimmie Johnson just couldn't give another Nextel Cup championship away.

 

Johnson completed his dream season Sunday by cruising over every speed bump in his path, finally winning the NASCAR championship that had taunted him the past two years.

 

The perpetual points leader for the past three regular seasons only to collapse once the Chase began, Johnson finally put an entire year together, wrapping it up with a ninth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

It handed him his first NASCAR title by an 56-point lead over Matt Kenseth.

 

"It's everything I wanted it to be," Johnson said.

 

Greg Biffle won the Ford 400 for the third consecutive season, beating rookies Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin to the finish line. Kasey Kahne was fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five. Kenseth was sixth.

 

Juan Pablo Montoya, making the first Nextel Cup start of his budding NASCAR career, ran as high as 13th, but his race ended in a fiery wreck 15 laps from the finish.

 

The race was delayed nearly eight minutes to clean the track, briefly postponing Johnson's long-awaited celebration. No matter for Johnson, who finished lower than second for the first time in six races.

 

But he didn't need to be flawless to win this one: He started the day with a cushy margin that required him to only stay out of trouble and finish 12th or better to wrap up the title.

 

Unfortunately for Johnson, nothing is ever that easy.

 

His troubles started a mere 15 laps into the race, when flying debris punched a gaping hole in the grill of the No. 48 Chevrolet. When he went in for repairs, his crew couldn't find any tape to patch it.

 

Later, he nearly pulled away from a pit stop with a loose lug nut. Then he had to avoid Robby Gordon's spinning car.

 

"We've been ducking them all day," crew chief Chad Knaus sighed after Johnson scooted by Gordon.

 

But he still had heavy traffic to deal with and, of course, his own nerves. When caution came out with 62 laps to go, Knaus wanted to change all four tires and stretch it to the end. But Johnson wasn't convinced, and demanded his crew copy whatever Kenseth did.

 

With his spotter keeping a close eye on Kenseth, who took only two tires, Knaus quickly adjusted and ordered the same service. It put Johnson in ninth place on the restart with 58 laps to go, but a stack of traffic behind him on four fresh tires.

 

"Drive it like you stole it, homie," Knaus encouraged him.

 

Johnson held his position, then copied Kenseth again on a final round of pit stops. Kenseth was in fifth and Johnson was in sixth on the restart with 16 laps to go, and it would take only a catastrophe at that point to deny Johnson the title.

 

But two late cautions -- Montoya's wreck, followed by good buddy Casey Mears blowing an engine -- again prolonged the celebration.

 

Finally, the race was restarted for a two-lap shootout to the end. When it was over, Johnson, a two-time championship runner-up, had his elusive title.

 

Jeff Gordon, a four-time series champion who befriended Johnson and convinced car owner Rick Hendrick to give his new protege a ride, celebrated by bumping into the side of Johnson's car on the cool-down lap.

 

Knaus then received a celebratory hug from Hendrick, who won his sixth championship as a car owner, and another from Ray Evernham, the championship crew chief turned rival car owner who taught Knaus much of what he knows.

 

"Yeah, it's incredible," said Knaus. "These guys are incredible. This team has really come into its own in the last year."

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Daggonit. :confused

Congrats to him...hate him, but he deserves to finally win one. Counting down the days till the 500