Johnson secures title as Hamlin wins

The Californian only needed 25th place to clinch the title, but he wanted to wrap up yet another impressive season in style, something that looked on the cards in the early going when he led the race from pole position.

However after he lost the lead to Tony Stewart on lap 33, he was never back in position to contend for victory again. A calculated approach took over from then on, one that allowed him to avoid incidents and drama as he did more than enough to secure the title.

Mark Martin, the only driver who could prevent Johnson's sweep, was never really in a position to spring a surprise and a 12th place finish was all he could manage.

Besides finishing in fifth, Johnson did not put a foot wrong. His lowest position during the race was 24th place when he pitted out of sequence under the fourth caution of the day, but Martin followed him down pitroad.

From there, he cautiously moved up in the order despite some less than perfect pitstops, only letting himself get into a few battles, the last of them with his Hendrick team-mate Jeff Gordon.

The man who introduced Johnson to Rick Hendrick back in 2000 escorted him across the finish line to see him match Gordon's own number of titles and write another page of glory for Hendrick Motorsports with a record-matching ninth Sprint Cup Series title. The team also swept the top three spots in the standings for the first time in the series' history.

Johnson's fifth place was the highest he had finished in a title-deciding race since his maiden title in 2006. The Californian was still in disbelief about his achievement, one he admitted he had never planned for.

"I'm just amazed," said Johnson. "I've been trying to chase this out of my head and what this might mean to me after the disappointment at Texas. So it is going to take a little while for those things to jump start in my mind and get going again.

"Just so proud of the effort. Really think of how much I love this sport, how much I respect this sport. The greats before, how they have carried this sport on their backs and made it what it is and then to do something none of them have done, it is unbelievable.

"I grew up on two wheels in the dirt. I had no clue I was going to end up here racing stock cars and doing something that had never been done before."

Mark Martin was extremely gracious in defeat.

"My equipment is just as good, but I am not as good as Jimmie Johnson," explained Martin.

"We are lacking something here and as a group I think and we will work on it for next year. But it was really a privilege to even have a crack at it."

But while all eyes were on Johnson's achievement, Hamlin was able to round out another good season with his first Homestead victory.

The Joe Gibbs driver got to the lead for the first time under caution on lap 158 when his team performed a perfect four-tyre stop that allowed him to jump Kurt Busch. The lead would swap hands a few times after that, but on the final restart Hamlin passed a vulnerable Busch, who only changed two tyres on his last stop.

The race went without incident for the last 46 laps, allowing Hamlin to open up a healthy lead and take an uncontested fourth win this year, one that helped him jump three places up to fifth in the final standings. Despite his moment of glory, he was full of praise for Johnson and his team on their achievement.

"I promise you the next couple of years we're going to win a championship," said Hamlin. "With three DNF's [during the Chase] - you look at the final point standings and call a DNF 100 points and we were right there.

"But those guys have been the standard. They haven't made mistakes and that's who we ultimately want to beat - the guys that are a dominating force like them. Four in a row for them and I couldn't be happier for him. There's no more deserving champion than them."

Jeff Burton continued to show clear signs of improvement for Richard Childress Racing with another second place after also being runner-up at Phoenix last week, followed this time by team-mate Kevin Harvick. Kurt Busch survived with only two new tyres from his final stop to finish fourth ahead of Johnson.

In the middle of the championship story there was still space for some controversy.

Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya had a couple of exchanges while fighting for position, the first of them when the Colombian got into the back of the two-time champion after Stewart slid up in front of him as he exited the turn, Stewart's slower speed making the contact hard to avoid.

Stewart retaliated soon after by intentionally driving into the side of Montoya's car, causing a puncture that sent Montoya against the Turn 3 wall.

After lengthy repairs in the garage, Montoya rejoined the race several laps down and repaid the favour, pushing Stewart into a spin at the exit of Turn 4. NASCAR ordered for Montoya to be held for two laps in the pits as a penalty. The poor finish dropped him from sixth down to eighth in the final standings.

Marcos Ambrose had a notable run in the early laps, when he grabbed the lead from Johnson before a cut tyre forced him to pit a few laps later. Electrical issues and further incidents quickly turned his day into a nightmare, and he finished down in 35th place.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     267
 2.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  267
 3.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  267
 4.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      267
 5.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  267
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  267
 7.  Carl Edwards        Ford       267
 8.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     267
 9.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  267
10.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford       267
11.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  267
12.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  267
13.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       267
14.  Greg Biffle         Ford       267
15.  David Reutimann     Toyota     267
16.  Bill Elliott        Ford       267
17.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      267
18.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       267
19.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  267
20.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     267
21.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      267
22.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  267
23.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  267
24.  Joey Logano         Toyota     267
25.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      267
26.  Paul Menard         Ford       267
27.  Scott Speed         Toyota     267
28.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  267
29.  David Gilliland     Toyota     267
30.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota     267
31.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet  267
32.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  267
33.  John Andretti       Chevrolet  267
34.  David Ragan         Ford       267
35.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     251
36.  Erik Darnell        Ford       247
37.  Travis Kvapil       Chevrolet  243
38.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Chevrolet  235
39.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     227
40.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      116
41.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      116
42.  Terry Labonte       Toyota     88
43.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     35