Careers converge with Jimmie Johnson’s title, Tony Stewart’s retirement,

Gordon reflects on Johnson’s title, Stewart’s career

Jeff Gordon had been through all this just a year ago. But outside the fire suit, watching Tony Stewart’s final Sprint Cup race against the backdrop of Jimmie Johnson winning a record-tying seventh championship at NASCAR’s highest level, it all took on a different perspective.

This was one of those seminal moments in NASCAR history that can’t be contrived. It was the ending of one era and the re-establishment of another, the Jimmie Johnson era. Maybe it was just the re-establishment of order for a driver who has won all of his titles since 2006.

As fireworks ruptured over Homestead-Miami Speedway’s celebration stage and Gordon readied to congratulate his ex-Hendrick Motorsports teammate, the relevance was beginning to set in.

“It’s just extraordinary,” said Gordon, who helped persuade team owner Rick Hendrick to sign Johnson for a Cup career that began in 2002. “I had some emotions with Tony because (of ) what he’s meant to the sport, what he’s contributed to racing in general and (to) see him not be out there, I kind of was getting maybe what people were going through last year with me.

“But then to see somebody go down in history and be a seventime champion, I see what that can do for our sport. I see what that can do for Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie and (crew chief ) Chad (Knaus) and that team. They’re so deserving of it. They prove it all the time, but to me they really proved it.”

There was a moment-in-time feel to it. Partly because crewmen lined pit road before the race to fete Stewart as they had Dale Earnhardt Sr. after his first Daytona 500 win in 1998. It was one of those moments when history just seems to overlap naturally, like in 1992 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, when Gordon made his Cup debut in Richard Petty’s farewell.

Now a Fox Sports analyst and more of an active participant at HMS because of his ownership stake in Johnson’s program, Gordon speaks of Johnson’s team in terms of “we” and sat on the No. 48 Chevrolet pit box through the championship final.

Knaus said having Gordon on the pit box was special but “stressful” because he’s a “nervous ninny man.” Having Stewart come congratulate him after the victory added another layer, he said, given what he had contributed to the sport at large and his to his team, including occasional phone calls to reassure him when Johnson struggled.

Now he’s tied with Petty and Earnhardt for the lead.

“I already ranked him among the all-time greats because I raced with Earnhardt and I raced with Jimmie and I raced in the same equipment as Jimmie and I got beat by it on a regular basis,” Gordon said.

“I think the championships are harder to win today than they ever have ( been). I think that’s sort of up to the public and the media to decide where he ranks, but I’ve never seen anybody better, that’s for sure.”