D�j� vu from 2008: Edwards wins the race, Johnson the title

 

Carl Edwards celebrates his second win of the season after taking the checkered flag at Sunday’s Ford 400 while Jimmie Johnson has his own reason to celebrate – his place in history with five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – In marked contrast to three drivers who were focused on the Sprint Cup championship, Carl Edwards actually set out to win the Ford 400.

And why not? Edwards, who won the season’s final two races, said of the forever-and-ever-amen champion, Jimmie Johnson, “I feel like I’m better than him. I mean, everybody feels that. That’s why we race. If you get a driver who says, ‘oh, no, Jimmie is better than me,’ you don’t want that guy on your team.’

“Obviously, they have proved they are able to win more races and championships than the rest of us, we just have to figure out how to do that.”

With Johnson wrapping up his fifth straight championship, all that was left for Edwards were the leftover crumbs from another gala Johnson celebration at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Two years earlier, the same outcome occurred.

Supposedly, three drivers – Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick – were destined to battle it out. Neither could allegedly win the championship without winning the race, or so did many of the spin doctors brazenly suggest.

Hah! Johnson finished second, leading a lap (there were 267, 190 of which featured Edwards at the top of the heap). Harvick finished third and didn’t lead any. Hamlin didn’t lead any, either, en route to a fate-scarred 14th.

Once Edwards established himself as the fastest, and Hamlin established himself as the unluckiest, all that was left for Johnson was to keep Harvick in comfortable proximity. He admitted it.

“But eventually, they (Harvick, Hamlin) slipped back, and that’s when I felt a little secure,” said Johnson. “Just get up front and ride behind the ’99’.”

Edwards knew it: “I was fortunate he (Johnson) was racing for the championship. I think he was taking it a little easy at the end.”

Johnson still has never won at Homestead-Miami. That’s because the last time he needed to win the finale was in 2004, when second place wasn’t good enough. This time he finished second because it was good enough.

Hamlin, who actually began the race as the point leader, had a race that would have been more fun than a barrel of monkeys if his goal had been zaniness. He spun around and around down the back straight. He pitted at an inopportune time. Johnson still had the “golden horseshoe” Harvick talked about earlier in the season. Hamlin’s Toyota must have had a broken mirror in it somewhere.

“It’s just circumstances,” said Hamlin, “but, you know, we had a great year.”

Harvick gave the race a little flair, not by making a decent bid at Johnson, of course, but by just wrecking Hamlin’s teammate, Kyle Busch, for kicks. Harvick said Busch had been racing him “like a clown all day.”

Hamlin, sitting next to Harvick in the post-race press conference, said, “Funny, but that’s the way your teammates were racing me all day.”

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