Jimmie Johnson's
"Chase for the Championship" Diary
New York City

By Jimmie Johnson

  Well we did it.

  That was a pretty cool day wasn't it? I still have a hard time
believing it all. I guess in the next couple of days it will sink in and
I'm sure when it finally does it will be one of the greatest feelings in
the world.

  One of the things I am most proud of is how this Lowe's team never
gave up even when things were looking pretty bleak. We were 256 points
behind the leader and nobody conceded anything. I think we knew in our
hearts we could do this. We just had some bad luck in the beginning. We
knew this team was capable of winning a championship. We just needed
some luck. Some guys had some back luck and that allowed us to get back
into it too.

  Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and a lot of the guys in the Chase taught me
a lot this year. I have a ton of respect for all those guys. Tony
Stewart was a big help to me at Phoenix and Homestead. And my teammates
Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, and Brian Vickers were also a lot
of help.

  What is the secret to our success this season? I don't think it is
overly complicated. I think we all just matured as a race team. I have
to give a lot of credit to Chad Knaus. At the beginning of the season
when he was suspended for those four races; we had a plan in place how
we were going to do things different and that sped things up. He did a
phenomenal job putting this deal together. This has been his baby since
day one.

  I knew we had a good team. I knew we'd be able to do things right. But
you just can't control the outside variables. On Sunday I was around
three or four wrecks and had a piece of debris go through the front of
the race car, which we had to fix on pit road. There was just a lot of
crazy stuff going on and luckily we missed all those problems.

  Now our plan is to celebrate, do some media work this week here in New
York City and enjoy Thanksgiving. We have lots of things to be thankful
at our house this year and I hope yours is the same. After Thanksgiving
we plan to go back to New York City for the entire week at the banquet.
That should be busy and a blast.

  After all the championship work, some vacation time and a few trips it
will be time for testing in Daytona. Then we start work on repeating
this championship. But for now I plan on enjoying every minute of this
title.

Race Recap: Johnson Wins First Career Title; Biffle Wins Third Straight Ford 400

Homestead-Miami, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson brought his championship form to Homestead-Miami Speedway and overcame several setbacks to win the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship before a packed house.

Johnson, yelling over the radio to his very happy crew, managed to keep the Lowe’s Chevrolet in contention all day despite some roadblocks that included a hole in the front valance caused by a piece of debris off Kurt Busch’s wrecked car.

Greg Biffle won the Ford 400 in a Jack Roush Ford, finishing ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

Kasey Kahne was fourth, Kevin Harvick fifth, Matt Kenseth sixth and Scott Riggs seventh.

Carl Edwards was next and Johnson was ninth.

It was the third time in as many years Biffle won the season finale, but the spotlight belonged to Johnson and his team.

Johnson was considered down and out after faltering in the first two of the final 10 races. He roared back into contention and needed only a 13th place finish Sunday to clinch his first title.

Kenseth wound up second in the Chase and Hamlin was next.

Juan Pablo Montoya, running in his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race, did an outstanding job, running as high as 14th on the lead lap before a spectacular crash ended his debut. Montoya spun battling with Ryan Newman and slammed into the safer barrier. The rear portion of his Dodge erupted in flames but Montoya climbed out unscathed.

His accident set the stage for a shootout with only 20 laps remaining but Casey Mears lost an engine with five laps to go.

The race finished with a green, white, checker but before NASCAR could restart the race, J.J. Yeley, who was trying to stretch his fuel mileage, ran out of gas on the front straightaway and had to be pushed off the track.

Fastest qualifier Kahne took the lead on the opening lap and gave an early indication he might be the car to beat. By halfway, he was still running up front with Kyle Busch and Biffle in hot pursuit.

Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Leader Johnson was steadily making his way back into contention after a piece of debris damaged the front bumper of his Chevrolet. His team taped a hole in the bumper and he was shuffled back to 37th for a restart.

There were three cautions in the first half of the race, two of which involved former champion Busch.

He scraped the wall on the seventh lap and collected Bobby Labonte in the aftermath. Busch's team made repairs and he returned to action but hit the wall again on lap 47 when something broke on his car, scattering debris on the track.

It was likely a piece of debris from Busch’s accident that caused the damage to Johnson’s car. Johnson, however, was back in the thick of things after 100 laps were complete.

Kyle Busch continued his streak of bad luck when he slipped in the first turn and hit the wall on lap 115.

Popular Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading on the restart and Johnson was up on the wheel coming towards the front in his bid for the championship. By the halfway point, Johnson was once again in position to finish 13th or better, which is where he needed to finish to leave Homestead-Miami Speedway with the coveted NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.

Credit: NASCAR PR