HOMESTEAD _ Jimmie Johnson has taken a few moments to reflect lately, as the minutes tick away on his magnificent run of dominance.
It's been good to be king.
He has sat high and mighty for five consecutive years, literally looking down on his NASCAR rivals from the stage during the champions weekend ceremonies in New York, and then Las Vegas. Everyone else has been forced to look up to him for two hours or so, some of them squirming at missed opportunities and their own failures.
This year it will be Johnson's turn. Those perks will now be bestowed on Carl Edwards or Tony Stewart, as the two men tangle in the last race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway to decide a new champion Sunday afternoon.
"I have hung onto that moment more than anything in years past, have carried that into the off season," Johnson said." I would assume that will take place again, we do not have that nice seat upon the stage; we will be sitting down on the floor and wishing we were up there. I am sure we will leave the banquet highly motivated. Motivation comes easy for all of us."
That's the disconcerting flip side for everyone else in the garage going into the following season: Jimmie Johnson will be highly motivated. Ouch.
Johnson reeled off one of the most remarkable feats in sports history by winning those five consecutive titles. It's a hybrid between an individual and team title. Crew chief Chad Knaus deserves a bunch of credit for this, as does the formidable machines in the Hendrick Motorsports garage.
But if this were a comic book script, Knaus would be Robin to Johnson's Batman. Johnson is the one who has rumbled and roared all over the country in his No. 48 Lowes Chevy in those 180 races over a 5-year span, daring everyone else to catch him if they can.
He was slightly off the mark this season, winning only two races with 14 Top 5 finishes. It's been a nice run but not worthy of a champion's crown as Edwards and Stewart have been more consistent.
This is now their moment on Sunday, as Stewart tries to win his third Cup title under a different sponsor group (Winston Cup, Nextel Cup, Sprint Cup). Edwards, who has finished third and second the last two seasons, is trying to hold off Stewart to win his first title.
It's been an engaging sprint to the finish, complete with prickly sound bites from Stewart, who hopes to rattle Edwards just enough to close that 3-point gap. But it's also a time for everybody in the NASCAR Nation to tip their sponsor's cap to Johnson, because it's highly unlikely anyone will live to see this kind of dominance again.
"It's been an honor to watch him do what he's done, but they need to be proud of what they've done the last five years," Stewart said. "It's probably something that will never happen again in the history of our sport. It's very difficult to win a championship, let alone back-to-back and five in a row like that."
Regardless, there are new challenges that await. Johnson is only two championships away from tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt's record of seven NASCAR Cup titles. At 36, Johnson has a lot of mileage left before he wears out.
Who knows, maybe he will retire after winning more than seven. Is eight enough?
"I don't know," Johnson said." I want to believe in it. How long I can race into my career, I think there is a chance, I don't know how realistic that chance is, but I want to believe in it and think that I can."
Expect a motivated Jimmie Johnson last year.
Perhaps it won't be too long before he is back on the main stage, with everybody else looking up in envy.
As Johnson knows better than anyone, it is good to be king.
gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego
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