Jimmie Johnson - Biggest Story in NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson has won his fourth straight Sprint Cup Series title, winning this year's title and establishing himself as the only 4 straight title winner in NASCAR history. All four titles were won with Hendrick Motorsports, all in the #48 Lowes Chevrolet, and all with his Crew Chief Chad Knaus.

So now the question being asked by many media outlets is "just how far will he go." Certainly Johnson has the team, owner, and Crew Chief to pull off yet another title as soon as next year. The other question is where in NASCAR history does this place Jimmie Johnson in the ranks of the greats. Well, it doesn't put him in the top 5, but does make the argument of placing him in the top 10 of all time greats in NASCAR. He will definitely be placed this year in the top players of all sports, possibly giving him an ESPY.

Jimmie has 7 wins this year, with 16 top 5 finishes. A minor setback at Texas with a bad accident, placed him in a position to loose the lead, but rallied the following week to win a Phoenix.

So the second story of 2009 would be Tony Stewart and his new Cup team. Stewart Haas Racing started his two car team and entered both cars in the Chase. Tony Stewart is driving the #14 Office Depot/ Old Spice Chevrolet and Ryan Newman is driving the #39 US Army Chevrolet. Tony won 4 races in 2009, no poles, but has 15 top 5 finishes. Ryan Newman has no wins, 2 poles, and 5 top 5 finishes. That's a good record for a new team. Stewart gets his cars from Hendrick Motorsports, leaving Hendrick with five out of six cars in the Chase. Junior finished 25th position.

So 2009 final top 12 looked like this;

Jimmie Johnson - Leader
Mark Martin -141
Jeff Gordon -179
Kurt Busch -206
Denny Hamlin -317
Tony Stewart -343
Greg Biffle -360
Juan Montoya -400
Ryan Newman -477
Kasey Kahne -524
Carl Edwards -534
Brian Vickers -723