Jimmie Johnson wins third straight Nascar title

It’s been a foregone conclusion for awhile now, but Jimmie Johnson officially won his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship on Sunday.  Johnson finished 15th in the season ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and that was good enough to secure the title. Carl Edwards won the race, and finished in the runner up position for the championship honors.

Edwards’ victory left him 69 points behind the leader—the only driver within 200 points of the #48 Lowe’s Chevy team.  Greg Biffle finished third, 217 behind Johnson while Kevin Harvick took fourth place (276 points behind).  Clint Bowyer(303 points behind), Jeff Burton(-349), Jeff Gordon (-368), Denny Hamlin(-470), Tony Stewart (-482) and Kyle Busch (-492) rounded out the top 10. 

Johnson’s “three-peat” tied him with Cale Yarborough, who won his championships in 1976, 1977 and 1978, for most consecutive championships.  The #48 Lowe’s team made it clear that they’re on the hunt for four in a row, with Johnson suggesting that he’d be ready to go next weekend:

"I could go race again next week and start the season and go for four. It's on our minds. It's not that we're chasing a number, we just know what we're capable of. We know we can do better. It's a search to do the best we can."

Crew Chief Chad Knaus wasn’t quite as anxious to start next season as his driver, but he made it clear that they shared a common goal:

"We want four. Why not? That's why we're here. We can definitely bid for four. Give me a reason why not."

Despite coming in second, Carl Edwards’ reflected on his season as a success:

"We won more races than Jimmie [seven], and we ran with him when he won.  I know they'll enjoy this championship, but they knew we were here."

Jimmie Johnson’s desire to start the next season sooner notwithstanding, the 2009 Sprint Cup season will begin in February with the Daytona 500.  It’ll be an interesting season as NASCAR has cancelled all off season track testing in an effort to help teams save money during the current weak economic climate.  In theory, that’ll mean that the teams that did well this year will maintain their advantage which also means that a fourth straight title for the #48 Lowe’s team is well within the realm of possibility.