Johnson Named Petty Driver Of The Year
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has been named the recipient of the 2006 Richard Petty Driver of the Year award by the National Motorsports Press Association. The announcement was made during the NMPA’s annual convention in Concord, N.C.
Johnson, who also won the award in 2004, was named on 28 of the 72 ballots cast to edge fellow Cup driver Kevin Harvick (22 votes). Others receiving votes included Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton.
En route to his first Cup championship, the 31-year-old Johnson ended the season with five wins, 13 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes. Among his victories were wins in the Daytona 500 and Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
“It’s truly amazing,” Johnson said of the award. “The way this last year went, the credentials of each victory and the championship speak for the year, I think. We really won all the big events, we did all you could do in a year in that respect. Honestly, I think our credentials were really high from 2006.”
The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s season got off to a rocky start – crew chief Chad Knaus was suspended for a rule violation before the year’s first points race – but Johnson and his team rebounded with a win at Daytona. With lead engineer Darian Grubb filling in for Knaus through the first four events, Johnson added a win at Las Vegas, and finished in the top 10 at California and Atlanta.
Knaus had returned by the time the series moved to Bristol Motor Speedway in late March, with Johnson holding a 50-point lead in the standings. He remained atop the points for much of the remainder of the “regular season,” and headed into the series’ Chase For The Nextel Cup in second place.
Another setback – he finished 39th in the first Chase race to fall to ninth in the standings – may have slowed Johnson’s title run, but didn’t extinguish it. In the final six Chase races, the El Cajon, Calif., native posted six top-10 finishes, including a string of five races that saw him finish second or better. His ninth-place finish in the series season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was enough to give him a 56-point cushion over runner-up Matt Kenseth.
“We felt better [entering 2006] because we had another year of experience under our belts, another intense year where we felt, going into Homestead … that we had a shot at the title,” he said. “The experience that comes with that is so helpful. We made some changes in the offseason as far as how we were going to approach [2006] as a team; we stuck to that plan, lived it through and it really paid off for us. I think that was the touch that the 48 team needed.”
Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, captured the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series championship by a record margin after winning nine races. In Cup competition, he won five times en route to a fourth-place finish in the point standings.
Hamlin, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year winner, scored two victories and finished the year third in the point standings.
Kahne was the Cup series’ leading winner in 2006 with six victories. The 26-year-old tied for the most poles won (6) and was eighth in points.
2006 NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year results: 1, Jimmie Johnson (28); 2, Kevin Harvick (22); 3, Denny Hamlin (11); 4, Kasey Kahne (8); 5, Tony Stewart (1), Mark Martin (1), Jeff Burton (1).
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has been named the recipient of the 2006 Richard Petty Driver of the Year award by the National Motorsports Press Association. The announcement was made during the NMPA’s annual convention in Concord, N.C.
Johnson, who also won the award in 2004, was named on 28 of the 72 ballots cast to edge fellow Cup driver Kevin Harvick (22 votes). Others receiving votes included Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton.
En route to his first Cup championship, the 31-year-old Johnson ended the season with five wins, 13 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes. Among his victories were wins in the Daytona 500 and Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
“It’s truly amazing,” Johnson said of the award. “The way this last year went, the credentials of each victory and the championship speak for the year, I think. We really won all the big events, we did all you could do in a year in that respect. Honestly, I think our credentials were really high from 2006.”
The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s season got off to a rocky start – crew chief Chad Knaus was suspended for a rule violation before the year’s first points race – but Johnson and his team rebounded with a win at Daytona. With lead engineer Darian Grubb filling in for Knaus through the first four events, Johnson added a win at Las Vegas, and finished in the top 10 at California and Atlanta.
Knaus had returned by the time the series moved to Bristol Motor Speedway in late March, with Johnson holding a 50-point lead in the standings. He remained atop the points for much of the remainder of the “regular season,” and headed into the series’ Chase For The Nextel Cup in second place.
Another setback – he finished 39th in the first Chase race to fall to ninth in the standings – may have slowed Johnson’s title run, but didn’t extinguish it. In the final six Chase races, the El Cajon, Calif., native posted six top-10 finishes, including a string of five races that saw him finish second or better. His ninth-place finish in the series season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was enough to give him a 56-point cushion over runner-up Matt Kenseth.
“We felt better [entering 2006] because we had another year of experience under our belts, another intense year where we felt, going into Homestead … that we had a shot at the title,” he said. “The experience that comes with that is so helpful. We made some changes in the offseason as far as how we were going to approach [2006] as a team; we stuck to that plan, lived it through and it really paid off for us. I think that was the touch that the 48 team needed.”
Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, captured the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series championship by a record margin after winning nine races. In Cup competition, he won five times en route to a fourth-place finish in the point standings.
Hamlin, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year winner, scored two victories and finished the year third in the point standings.
Kahne was the Cup series’ leading winner in 2006 with six victories. The 26-year-old tied for the most poles won (6) and was eighth in points.
2006 NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year results: 1, Jimmie Johnson (28); 2, Kevin Harvick (22); 3, Denny Hamlin (11); 4, Kasey Kahne (8); 5, Tony Stewart (1), Mark Martin (1), Jeff Burton (1).
