Hendrick praises Johnson, team

Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports their seventh Cup title on Sunday after scoring 10 wins, four pole positions, 21 top five placings and 24 top tens. Hendrick says he was mostly impressed by their performance in the Chase, where Johnson took four consecutive wins in the last five races.

"I think this has been the most unbelievable example of team work and dedication," Hendrick said. "Jimmie's just getting better and better, and just phenomenal. He's so intense. He studies what he wants to accomplish or tries to accomplish.

"For the level of competition to do what they've done and to do it in the Chase, it's as our organization and I look at it, I don't think I've seen a more dominant performance since I've been racing."

Hendrick suggested that the Nextel Cup Series could be bound to an era of domination by Johnson and his team. He believes the dedicated and professional approach of his driver and his crew chief Chad Knaus, have stepped up competitiveness to a new level.

"Jimmie's just when you look at being a really smart driver and a really aggressive driver," Hendrick said. "The fact that he goes Monday morning and works out after a race on Sunday, shows he's as determined as anybody I've ever seen sit down in a race car."

"Chad's the same way. Chad is like always thinking. We fly home together at night, and it's 1:00 o'clock in the morning, he's got his computer out, and he's dissecting the race.

"So I just don't see anything that is going to slow Jimmie down. He just gets better every time I see him get in the car."

Johnson's title has also allowed Hendrick Motorsports to score their first one-two in the points since 1996, when Terry Labonte outscored Jeff Gordon in the standings to claim his second and final Cup Series title.