NASCAR / jimmie johnson

By Zane Miller First round (8) #31 Jeff Burton v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon (7) #5 Kyle Busch v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart (6) #99 Carl Edwards v. (3) #11 Denny Hamlin (5) #17 Matt Kenseth v. (4) #48 Jimmie Johnson At Dover to start the ’07 playoffs, Matt Kenseth proved himself to be the dominant driver early on. However, after leading for nearly 200 laps, his engine gave up the ghost an excruciating 25 laps from the finish. This paved the way for Jimmie Johnson to get the early advantage in the series with a 14th-place finish after starting on the pole. Also having a rough start was sophomore racer Denny Hamlin, who lost many laps after getting involved in a crash just past halfway for a 38th-place finish. On the opposite end of the finishing order, Carl Edwards led 95 laps thanks to Kenseth’s misfortune and took his third race win of the season. Future teammates Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart both finished inside the top-10, but Busch would handily take the early advantage over Stewart with a fifth-place run, while Stewart ended the race a lap down in ninth. As for the battle between Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon, both would finish the race a lap down, but Burton would come out on top in seventh while Gordon finished just outside the top-10 in 11th. Moving on to Kansas Speedway, Kenseth had another strong run going, leading 49 laps early on. Just like the previous week though, this came to an abrupt end in the waning laps of the race. In this case, he was involved in a multi-car wreck 53 laps before the race was ended early due to darkness. Johnson took the checkers with a third-place run to knock out Kenseth, though this would be the only first round series to be completed in a sweep. Burton failed to put away Gordon as he finished 36th after dealing with multiple mechanical issues, while Gordon nabbed the fifth spot. The other four drivers all had poor showings during the topsy-turvy event, as Hamlin ended up a lap down in 29th thanks to a late race crash, but this was still good enough to continue the series as Edwards was out after a separate crash shortly before. Both Stewart and Busch fared even worse, starting with Busch as he was the first driver to crash on lap 29. Almost 150 laps later, though, Stewart wrecked out of the race himself. Busch was able to get back on track after his incident to complete more laps, but his miracle shot at overtaking Stewart was done in by the race ending early. Busch was only 10 laps away from passing Stewart in the finishing order. A nearly full slate of playoff competitors took to the track at Talladega, but the battle of Jeffs would be over before halfway. Burton’s car ignited after an engine failure, putting him in last place and ending his shot at back-to-back titles. Now with no pressure, Gordon went on to win the race after completing a last-lap pass of teammate Johnson for his only lap led of the event. The Stewart-Busch series was also decided before the checkered flag fell, as Busch was swept up in the Big One on lap 144. Stewart finished the race without incident in eighth. Meanwhile, both Hamlin and Edwards were in contention at the final lap, but Hamlin was able to complete the comeback with a fourth-place finish as Edwards could only make it up to 14th after waiting in the back of the pack for much of the race in an effort to avoid the major accidents. Semifinal (4) #48 Jimmie Johnson v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon (3) #11 Denny Hamlin v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart For the second straight year, the semifinals would pit two sets of teammates against each other. At Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Gordon would get the early edge despite the track being named after Johnson’s sponsor, passing Ryan Newman for the eventual race win with six laps to do while Johnson fell to 14th despite leading the most laps in the race. Stewart continued his run of consistency with a seventh-place finish, while Hamlin struggled in 20th as the last car on the lead lap. Martinsville witnessed domination from the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates, with Gordon leading 165 laps and Johnson pacing the field for 147 laps. However, Johnson made the race-winning pass of Gordon with 45 laps to go and didn’t look back, while Gordon saw a guaranteed return to the finals slip away in third. Stewart battled from a 34th-place starting spot to finish 13th, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep out Hamlin as he took the sixth spot. Both championship finals spots were up for grabs at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Stewart would be facing an uphill challenge starting with 150 laps to go. With Hamlin still within the top-five, Stewart lost multiple laps due to a mechanical issue. A glimmer of hope manifested itself for Stewart with just six laps to go, as Hamlin missed a shift from the lead on a restart which caused him to get drilled from behind. However, Hamlin only ended up losing one lap as a result of the incident, which was more than enough to advance to the finals with a 24th-place run as Stewart finished six laps down in 30th. As for Gordon, who had won at Atlanta four times to that point in his career, he put together yet another solid run for a seventh-place finish. However, Johnson captured the race win after scooting through the Hamlin restart accident unscathed, as he looked to avenge his loss to Stewart in the 2005 finals. Final (4) #48 Jimmie Johnson v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart The championship rematch started at Texas, where Johnson once again came through in the clutch. After an intense battle with Kenseth for the race lead, the silver #48 ride eventually completed the pass with two laps to go for the race win. Despite surviving a multi-car crash with minimal issues, Stewart could only muster an 11th-place finish. Stewart had a stronger run at Phoenix, fighting through a midpack starting spot to grab a fourth-place result at the site of his second career win. However, Johnson remained unstoppable, as he led the final 24 laps on the way to his fourth straight race win and, more importantly, his first career Cup Series title after several years of promising regular season runs. Johnson’s stats for 2007 were an astounding 10 victories, 20 top-fives and 24 top-10s, as he scored the real-life championship as well. 2007 Cup Series standings in real life: https://scorum.com/en-us/nascar/@zmiller82/2007-nascar-cup-series-season-recap