Team owner Rick Hendrick is on the brink of a ninth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship if Jimmie Johnson can finish 25th or better in Sunday's Ford 400 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With drivers Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon second and third in the standings, Hendrick is all but assured the title even if disaster strikes Johnson in South Florida.
Hendrick is guaranteed his ninth series owner championship, which ties him with Petty Enterprises for the most all-time. (Note: Petty Enterprises won 10 driver championships, but the 1954 championship was a split driver/owner title. Lee Petty won the driver championship; Herb Thomas took the owner title.)
So has Hendrick prepared an acceptance speech given the impending championship?
"You can't ask me that in front of these guys," he said after Johnson's win in Phoenix last Sunday. "I can tell you what I'm going to do already in Homestead. I'm going to go to the loser first, then I'm going to go to the guy that finishes second, and I'm going to tell them all that next week so they know.
"The worst thing in the world would be if I'm doing high fives in the pits, Jimmie broke, Mark won, these guys are going to say, 'Hey, he wanted Mark to win anyway.' I try to give them a snapshot of I'm going to be on neutral ground. I love 'em all. I want to settle it on the track. But I'm going to go to the third place guy, the second place guy, then the champion."
It will also be Hendrick’s 12th national series title, which puts him alone at the top for most all-time (he had previously been tied with Richard Childress at 11).
This year's accomplishment simply adds to the level of excellence Hendrick has established since becoming a team owner.
And that level has been exemplified even further by Johnson's season.
"I don't know how good these two guys can get," Hendrick said of Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. "I really don't. But they're two of the best I've ever worked with and the best I've ever seen, at a time when this sport is probably more competitive than it has been at any time that I've been racing. But these two guys have the most awesome amount of talent I've ever been around. And they also have the most dedication of anybody I've ever been around."
