Racetrack Insider - News and Views of the Motorsports Industry from Insiders Drew Patey and Buddy Judy

Superman - Jimmie Johnson Wins 4th Championship - Denny Hamlin Takes the Victory at Homestead

Jimmie Johnson made NASCAR history on Sunday by winning his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title at Homestead. The Hendrick Motorsports driver came across the finish line in 5th place to be the only driver in the sports history to win the championship 4 times in a row. Cale Yarborough won three in a row in the 80's. Johnson had a strong car all weekend, winning the pole on Friday. At the start of the race, it was all Johnson until Tony Stewart came up to challenge. Johnson, knowing he had to finish 25th or better, settled into a consistent pace and stayed out of trouble for the rest of the afternoon. Mark Martin was the only driver who could deny Johnson the title, but he was never able to mount a charge and had to settle for a 12th-place finish and second in the points. Denny Hamlin was the other story of the day as he was able to take the lead at midway in the event and battle back and forth with Safety-Kleen's Kurt Busch. Jeff Burton continued to show the fans that he and his Safety-Kleen sponsored Richard Childress Racing car is coming back to the top as he was able to race to another second place after also being a runner-up at Phoenix last week. Burton's teammate Kevin Harvick ran up front all afternoon and came home in third after leading early on. Kurt Busch battled for the lead all race, but on the final restart, had to settle for fourth ahead of Johnson. Now off to Vegas for the Awards Banquet on December 4th. Before you know it, we will be back in Daytona for the Daytona 500 in February. All of us at Safety-Kleen want to congratulate the entire Hendrick Motorsports team for a great job and we are proud to support Hendrick Motorsports with our Safety-Kleen products and services.