Hard though he tried, Jimmie Johnson just couldn’t give another Nextel Cup championship away.

Johnson completed his dream season by cruising over every speedbump in his path, overcoming debris in his grill, a missing roll of tape, a loose lug nut, treacherous traffic and his own nerves to finally win the NASCAR championship that had taunted him the past two years.

On Sunday, the little things that used to sink him turned out to be nothing more than mere annoyances.

Johnson, the perpetual points leader for the past three regular seasons who always found a way to collapse in the Chase, finally put it all together, wrapping up his title with a 9th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished with a 56-point lead over Matt Kenseth.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time for this to soak in, just to think what this team has accomplished and the year we’ve had,” Johnson said. “Being a champion, it’s the only thing I ever wanted to be.”

Greg Biffle won the Ford 400 for the third straight season, beating rookies Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin to the finish line. Kasey Kahne was fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five. Kenseth was sixth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, making the first Nextel Cup start of his budding NASCAR career, ran as high as 13th, but his race ended in a fiery wreck 15 laps from the finish.

The race was delayed nearly eight minutes to clean the track, briefly postponing Johnson’s long-awaited celebration. No matter for Johnson, who finished lower than second for the first time in six races.

But he didn’t need to be flawless to win this one: He started the day with a cushy margin that required him to only stay out of trouble and finish 12th or better to wrap up the title.

Unfortunately for Johnson, nothing is ever that easy.

His troubles started a mere 15 laps into the race, when flying debris punched a gaping hole in the grill of the No. 48 Chevrolet. When he went in for repairs, his crew couldn’t find any tape to patch it.

Later, he nearly pulled away from a pit stop with a loose lug nut. Then he had to avoid Robby Gordon’s spinning car.

“We’ve been ducking them all day,” crew chief Chad Knaus sighed after Johnson scooted by Gordon.

But he still had heavy traffic to deal with and, of course, his own nerves. When caution came out with 62 laps to go, Knaus wanted to change all four tires and stretch it to the end. But Johnson wasn’t convinced, and demanded his crew copy whatever Kenseth did.

USA Today

RACE RESULTS:

Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps

1 22 16 Greg Biffle National Guard Ford 185 Running 268

2 20 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 175 Running 268

3 33 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 165 Running 268

4 1 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 170 Running 268

5 7 29 Kevin Harvick GM Goodwrench Chevrolet 155 Running 268

6 19 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford 150 Running 268

7 2 10 Scott Riggs Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge 151 Running 268

8 31 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 142 Running 268

9 15 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 143 Running 268

10 10 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 134 Running 268

11 23 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge 130 Running 268

12 24 33 Scott Wimmer Holiday Inn Chevrolet 127 Running 268

13 13 01 Joe Nemechek U.S. Army Chevrolet 124 Running 268

14 5 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 121 Running 268

15 21 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 118 Running 268

16 11 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 115 Running 268

17 28 15 Paul Menard Menards Chevrolet 117 Running 268

18 26 6 Mark Martin AAA Ford 109 Running 268

19 14 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 111 Running 268

20 40 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 103 Running 268

21 6 25 Brian Vickers GMAC Chevrolet 100 Running 267

22 27 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 97 Running 267

23 16 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge 94 Running 267

24 12 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 91 Running 267

25 43 00 Bill Elliott Burger King Chevrolet 88 Running 267

26 25 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Dodge 85 Running 266

27 34 32 Travis Kvapil Tide/Downy Chevrolet 82 Running 266

28 38 45 Kyle Petty Wells Fargo Dodge 79 Running 266

29 37 21 Ken Schrader Motorcraft Ford 76 Running 266

30 8 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 78 Out 265

31 41 88 Dale Jarrett UPS Ford 70 Running 265

32 39 42 Casey Mears Texaco/Havoline Dodge 67 Engine 261

33 9 38 David Gilliland M&M’s Ford 64 Running 257

34 29 30 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 61 Accident 251

35 42 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford 58 Engine 250

36 4 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 60 Engine 230

37 18 14 Sterling Marlin Ginn Clubs & Resorts Chevrolet 52 Engine 213

38 3 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet 54 Running 206

39 17 49 Mike Bliss whatsOnline.com Dodge 46 Engine 201

40 35 7 Robby Gordon Menards Chevrolet 43 Accident 187

41 30 43 Bobby Labonte Chex Party Mix Dodge 40 Accident 83

42 32 09 Jeremy Mayfield Miccosukee Resort Dodge 37 Mechanical 78

43 36 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 34 Accident 9

Final Nextel Cup Standings: 

Rank Driver Pts Behind Wins Starts T5s T10s Poles

1 Jimmie Johnson 6475 0 5 36 13 24 1

2 Matt Kenseth 6419 56 4 36 15 21 0

3 Denny Hamlin 6407 68 2 36 8 20 3

4 Kevin Harvick 6397 78 5 36 15 20 1

5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6328 147 1 36 10 17 0

6 Jeff Gordon 6256 219 2 36 14 18 2

7 Jeff Burton 6228 247 1 36 7 20 4

8 Kasey Kahne 6183 292 6 36 12 19 6

9 Mark Martin 6168 307 0 36 7 15 0

10 Kyle Busch 6027 448 1 36 10 18 1

11 Tony Stewart 4727 1748 5 36 15 19 0

12 Carl Edwards 4428 2047 0 36 10 20 0

13 Greg Biffle 4075 2400 2 36 8 15 2

14 Casey Mears 3914 2561 0 36 2 8 0

15 Brian Vickers 3906 2569 1 36 5 9 1

16 Kurt Busch 3900 2575 1 36 7 12 6

17 Clint Bowyer 3833 2642 0 36 4 11 0

18 Ryan Newman 3748 2727 0 36 2 7 2

19 Martin Truex Jr. 3673 2802 0 36 2 5 0

20 Scott Riggs 3619 2856 0 35 1 8 2

21 Bobby Labonte 3567 2908 0 36 3 8 0

22 Elliott Sadler 3469 3006 0 36 1 7 1

23 Dale Jarrett 3438 3037 0 36 1 4 0

24 Reed Sorenson 3434 3041 0 36 1 5 0

25 Jamie McMurray 3405 3070 0 36 3 7 0

26 Dave Blaney 3259 3216 0 36 1 2 0

27 Joe Nemechek 3255 3220 0 36 0 2 0

28 Jeff Green 3253 3222 0 36 0 2 0

29 J.J. Yeley 3220 3255 0 36 0 3 0

30 Robby Gordon 3113 3362 0 36 1 3 0

31 Ken Schrader 3049 3426 0 36 0 2 0

32 Kyle Petty 2928 3547 0 36 0 2 0

33 David Stremme 2865 3610 0 34 0 0 0

34 Sterling Marlin 2854 3621 0 36 0 1 0

35 Tony Raines 2609 3866 0 29 0 1 0

36 Travis Kvapil 2451 4024 0 31 0 0 0

37 Michael Waltrip 2350 4125 0 33 0 0 0

38 Scott Wimmer 1812 4663 0 24 0 0 0

39 Jeremy Mayfield 1684 4791 0 22 0 0 0

40 Kevin Lepage 1346 5129 0 22 0 0 0

41 Terry Labonte 1278 5197 0 17 1 1 0

42 David Gilliland 1178 5297 0 15 0 0 1

43 Kenny Wallace 984 5491 0 17 0 0 0

44 Bill Elliott 765 5710 0 10 0 0 0

45 Paul Menard 669 5806 0 7 0 1 0

46 Chad Chaffin 553 5922 0 10 0 0 0

47 Boris Said 415 6060 0 4 1 2 1

48 Mike Bliss 387 6088 0 6 0 0 0

49 Brent Sherman 372 6103 0 6 0 0 0

50 Mike Wallace 355 6120 0 4 0 0 0

51 Stanton Barrett 343 6132 0 7 0 0 0

52 Derrike Cope 317 6158 0 10 0 0 0

53 Ward Burton 252 6223 0 3 0 0 0

54 Hermie Sadler 251 6224 0 7 0 0 0

55 Scott Pruett 223 6252 0 2 0 1 0

56 Todd Kluever 187 6288 0 4 0 0 0

57 Mike Skinner 184 6291 0 4 0 0 0

58 Kirk Shelmerdine 177 6298 0 3 0 0 0

59 Todd Bodine 143 6332 0 2 0 0 0

0 Mike Garvey 138 6337 0 4 0 0 0

61 Jimmy Spencer 122 6353 0 2 0 0 0

62 Ron Fellows 119 6356 0 2 0 0 0

63 Johnny Sauter 91 6384 0 1 0 0 0

64 Brandon Ash 88 6387 0 2 0 0 0

65 David Ragan 88 6387 0 2 0 0 0

66 Chad Blount 74 6401 0 2 0 0 0

67 Morgan Shepherd 71 6404 0 2 0 0 0

68 Eric McClure 70 6405 0 1 0 0 0

69 Bill Lester 67 6408 0 2 0 0 0

70 Juan Pablo Montoya 61 6414 0 1 0 0 0

71 P.J. Jones 55 6420 0 1 0 0 0

72 Carl Long 40 6435 0 1 0 0 0

73 Brian Simo 40 6435 0 1 0 0 0

74 Ted Christopher 40 6435 0 1 0 0 0

75 Tom Hubert 34 6441 0 1 0 0 0

76 Brandon Whitt 34 6441 0 1 0 0 0

77 Mark Goossens 34 6441 0 1 0 0 0

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