NASCAR fans witnessed history twice over by watching Sunday's Ford 400 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. By winning the 2009 Sprint Cup title Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team made history a couple of different ways. Johnson became the first driver and Chad Knaus became the first crew chief to ever win four straight Cup championships.
Johnson, along with second-place driver Mark Martin and third-place Jeff Gordon, also gave team owner Rick Hendrick a one-two-three finish to mark the first time anyone has ever claimed the top-three positions as season's end.
"It's going to take awhile to sink in," Johnson said of the milestone of winning four-straight. "This is unbelievable."
Johnson tied up his championship season with a fifth-place finish in Sunday's race. Martin, the only driver who came into the Ford 400 weekend with a mathematical shot of knocking teammate Johnson off his throne, finished the race 12th.
Gordon held off Kurt Busch, his competition for the third spot, with a sxith-place race finish. Busch did finish in the top-five, finishing fourth, but it wasn't enought to pass Gordon in points.
Busch ended the season in the same spot he finished the race -- fourth.
"We finished right behind them," Busch said of being the top non-HMS driver in the final standings.
While Hendrick Motorsports celebrated being the dominating force this season, Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team celebrated being the best of the evening after winning Sunday's race.
Hamlin started the race in the 38th position but motored his way to the front to collect his fourth of the season. With the win, he jumped three positions in the final points standings to finish out the season in fifth. Hamlin and the No. 11 team finished ahead of Johnson in half of the 10 races that made up the Chase, but was never a championship contender because of three DNFs in the final 10 events.
"I promise you the next couple of years we're going to win a championship," Hamlin said after the race.
Richard Childress Racing finished what, until the last few weeks, had been a dismal 2009 on a high note, building momentum heading into 2010. Half of RCR's entries finished in the top-five, which Jeff Burton claiming runner-up honors and Kevin Harvick finishing right behind him in third.
"Denny got away from us a little at the end," Burton said.
Sunday's second-place finish was is fourth-straight top-10.
The other two RCR drivers also posted top-20 finishes. Clint Bowyer finished just outside the top-10 in 11th-place, and Casey Mears finished 19th.
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