In the high-octane world of NASCAR, where fuel meets fervor and speed ignites the spirit, Jimmie Johnson stood at the finicky intersection of despair and destiny in 2016. Picture this: a seasoned driver, once revered for his unyielding grip on victory, grappling with an uphill battle—barely leading a lap all summer and crashing out of nearly half his races.

As the engines roared to life at the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the season finale, it felt like a fairytale had slipped into a nightmare. Yet, little did anyone know, behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet, a storm was brewing, ready to rewrite the script of his career and etch his name alongside the legends of the sport. Then came the moment that would send shockwaves through the NASCAR universe.

Jimmie Johnson’s Seventh: The event, the significance, and his heartfelt desire

Entering the Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2016, six-career title holder Jimmie Johnson might not have known he was set to make another record. The NASCAR driver had a sad summer that year, with just five laps lead from June to August, crashing out of four of the nine races.

But at the finale, Johnson made possible a move from the last position to the first, ushering in his fifth victory of the season and how. It’s important to note here that Johnson has already passed DaleEarnhardt Sr‘s record of 76 wins that same year. This was Johnson’s 80th win.

To win the third edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the then 41-year-old Johnson bested Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards. In the elimination-style race, he took his Fird Ecoboost 400 to lead on the last restart yet finished far ahead of Kyle Larson. Next in tow was Kevin Harvick and then Joey Logano.

This record-tying seventh NASCAR championship win catapulted him into a club that had only two legends – Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. The latter has 200 victories in the sport to his name.

In a recent video shared by High Performance on Instagram, he said, “I’d go back to winning the seventh championship in Homestead in 2016—that evening. Just the emotions that we went through that evening to tie with the greats of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.”

“Of course, that upside is very understandable, but 15 laps before I won the race, I won the championship, and I was in 6th place. I was not going to win the race or the championship. And we had a red flag that then set off a series of restarts,” Johnson added.

To put things in context, this particular championship run at Miami started with adversity for the No. 48 Chevrolet driver. He started at the back owing to car adjustments that were not approved beforehand. But luck was on his side, and the race made history for the most championship wins in the Premier Series.

“I didn’t realize the strengths I had under pressure until I was in those moments. How low I was and how bummed and sad and angry I was, 15 laps before the end, and to where we ended. Like that emotional roller coaster, I wish I could relive that experience again,” Johnson said.

During his acceptance speech in Las Vegas in 2016’s Sprint Cup Series Awards show, Johnson paid tribute to Earnhardt and Petty.

Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus: The winning team at Hendrick Motorsports

A good crew chief-driver team is an A team, but only a lucky few get this combination and make it click. Johnson and Knaus were a success. The majority of wins Johnson has bagged were with Hendrick Motorsports. Even in the race discussed above, the two worked like a charm. Knaus was Johnson’s crew chief for all seven titles.

The pairing has over 80 victories to their name and worked together for about 17 seasons. The potent duo are now a part of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, Class of 2024.

While the two of Hendrick Motorsports’ finest were electric from the start, no one sums up the partnership better than the 2023 Hall of Fame inductee Matt Kenseth. He said, “They were the best at figuring things out before other people, figuring out ways around things to make their car faster until they changed the rules where they couldn’t do it anymore. They were usually the first to do most of those things, and Jimmie could drive the heck out of a race car, make great decisions, and always be there when it counted at the end. So they were just a team that was all but impossible to beat.”

Is it any wonder, then, that the two went into the Hall of Fame together?