CONCORD, N.C. -- Sunday evening was a night that will go down in history as Jimmie Johnson clinched his seventh career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
There were many lessons to be learned throughout the 2016 campaign and in Sunday's exciting season finale. Read below to see the takeaways from Sunday at Homestead.
CHALLENGING SEASON RESULTS IN CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2016 campaign proved to be a season of adversity for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet SS team. After grabbing two wins early on in the season -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway -- Johnson went through the longest winless streak of his career.
During the 26-race regular season, Johnson claimed seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s, leading a total of 266 laps.
However, once making it into the Round of 16 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the No. 48 team kicked things into gear. Throughout the 10 races of NASCAR's postseason, Johnson logged six top-10s and four top-five finishes and claimed three wins, leading a total of 471 laps.
Johnson's Oct. 9 win at Charlotte Motor Speedway propelled him into the Round of 8 while his Oct. 30 win solidified his berth in the Championship 4 at Homestead. Then finally, Sunday's win at Homestead added a seventh championship trophy to the driver's collection.
“I’m pretty speechless right now," Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus said. "It has been an awesome, awesome journey but it has been a very trying season. We’ve had a lot of good things. We have had some difficulties along the way. But to be able to be where we are at today with Lowe’s -- one team, one driver, one crew chief, one sponsor -- to be able to win all seven championships is just awesome. The guys and gals at Hendrick Motorsports have buckled down and worked so hard to be able to give us the race cars we needed to have to be able to compete. It definitely showed. We got three wins in the second half of the season. It's pretty phenomenal.”
#NEVERQUIT
It was a battle that began before the green flag waved. The No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet SS started at the rear of the field, but he soon made quick work of driving to the front.
He passed 34 cars in the first 41 laps, breaking inside the top five on Lap 48.
Following a couple slower visits to pit road, Johnson and the No. 48 team worked hard to rebound, even after briefly going a lap down on the track.
"Obviously you never give up until that checkered flag waves," Johnson's former teammate Jeff Gordon said. "You know, there were moments throughout the weekend where I thought Jimmie and the No. 48 team were the best ones out there and there were times when it looked like we were going to settle for less than the championship. But those guys never stopped fighting or gave up."
Johnson's hope for #se7en seemed like it might be just out of reach when he restarted fifth with 10 laps remaining, but the No. 48 team never gave up.
That restart is the one that changed the entire race, as a red flag was thrown due to a multi-car incident involving two of Johnson's Championship 4 contenders.
As a result, Johnson assumed the fourth position for the restart before another caution was thrown, placing him on the front row in second for the overtime restart. Johnson jumped out to grab the lead at the green and never looked back.
"The best pit stops came at the right time and the calls that Chad made came at the right time," Gordon said. "Jimmie had the most incredible moves and restarts at the end when it counted most and that is why those guys are seven time champions and proved it again tonight.”
THE CALM BEFORE THE CELEBRATION
Heading into this year's season finale, with a historic seventh championship on the line, Johnson said he felt a calmness he's never quite experienced in his career.
"I had this crazy weird calmness through the last couple of weeks and then even through the race amongst all the chaos we dealt with," Johnson said. "The fact that we ran behind those guys all night long -- fifth, sixth, wherever we ran -- there was just some calmness that was in me."
In what could possibly be the most nerve-wracking race of the season, Johnson felt content with whatever outcome came about. The night before the race, he skipped his planned seven-mile run, ate some pasta, and texted thank-yous to his family members.
"I don't know where that calmness came from," Johnson acknowledged. "I mean, I want to say that the dedication of the #se7en to (Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick's late son) little Ricky, there's something in all of that. But there was just something really interesting and different about my calmness and the relaxed nature that I had in the car. I didn't know what the outcome would be, but I was very content and peaceful with whatever was coming my way, and then it ended up being the greatest thing in the world. So it's just wild."
It wasn't until after the red flag that Johnson realized he had a shot at the championship.
"Honestly, as those final three restarts unfolded, it started coming together in my head, and I'm like, you've got to be kidding me," he explained. "This is where it's going. I didn't see that. I thought I was going to go shake someone else's hand and I was content with that, and then it kept changing, and I'm like, 'No way, this is really going down.'"