Johnson will leave indelible mark

AVONDALE, ARIZ. » Jimmie Johnson was the first one down the stairs in a diving competition at Tony Stewart’s birthday party. He playfully tossed mini hamburgers across a suite Denny Hamlin had rented in Las Vegas and later wrestled Chad Knaus on the floor of the same casino.

The two revealers were capping a raucous night of celebrating yet another title when one of their jumbo championship rings slipped away and rolled across the casino. Another time, Johnson broke his wrist surfing atop a moving golf cart at his foundation’s tournament He had Snoop Dogg play at his seventh championship party.

Those are just a sampling of the tales about Johnson, who is retiring from fulltime NASCAR competition in Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway. He leaves the sport as a seven-time champion ranked sixth on the all-time wins list with 83.

“He’s as close to perfect as you can get,” team owner Rick Hendrick said Friday, hours after Johnson told a story about the late Ricky

Hendrick that his father had never heard before. The story was not suitable for a family audience so Hendrick chose not to share it.

Johnson’s two decades as driver of the No. 48 established him as the best of his generation — he won five consecutive titles during a jaw-dropping run of 35 victories from 2006-2010.

That run made him the only race car driver to win The Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year award.

His seven championships are tied with Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

Kevin Harvick with 58 victories is the closest active driver to Johnson’s win total.

The reign of supremacy from Johnson and Knaus, his longime crew chief, frustrated NASCAR fans, many who argued Johnson was so boring they just couldn’t watch anymore.

“Jimmie did it without a lot of fanfare. He could have been cocky. He could have been challenging other drivers in the media, whatever. But he wasn’t that way,” Hendrick said. “I think the success he had got to be almost so routine that people just didn’t appreciate the talent.”