As Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday -- for the eighth time in his career -- he was full of emotion and adrenaline. It is his well-earned Fast Pass ticket into the next round of the championship, which amazingly will be the farthest he's advanced under NASCAR's newest title Chase format.
The victory also ended the longest winless streak in the six-time Sprint Cup champion's career -- a 25-race span. It has been six whole months since the most accomplished driver of his era hoisted a trophy in Victory Lane. The seasons are practically ready to change. Massive worry has been averted.
Please.
"Nobody ever gave up, we know what a champion Jimmie is," said team owner and 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rick Hendrick, adding with a smile, "I've never taken the champagne bath in 30-something years, so it was like our first race (victory) again."
This win for Johnson wasn't just another trophy, another confetti moment in his surefire Hall of Fame career. This was a concerted effort to make good on this team's own high standards.
It was the product of hard work from behind the scenes at the No. 48 Lowe's team and all of Hendrick Motorsports. And the result was verification that the sport's most celebrated champion of the time is not done yet.
"There wasn't any fist pounding per se, but what we did do was try to get together with all the heads of state, let's say," Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus explained. "... what we were trying to do was identify where our weaknesses were, and once we started to hone in on where we thought we needed to get some gains, we started to allocate the resources to where we needed it.
"We've put responsibility in some different areas that maybe we hadn't in the past and I think that all of Hendrick Motorsports is definitely going to feel a lot of responsibility for this victory, which is great for all of us."
And a long time coming.
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Johnson -- who qualified for the Chase with wins at Atlanta (in February) and California (in March) -- has led the most laps (363) of any competitor in the first four races of the Chase. Only two-time Chase winner Martin Truex Jr. is near that total (360 laps). The best of the rest hasn't even resulted in 200 laps out front.
Still pit road miscues -- speeding penalties, crew mistakes -- ultimately derailed Johnson's trophy moments no matter how many laps he has led in the Chase. His finishes of 12th, eighth and seventh, have not been indicative of how competitive he was in the opening Chase Round of 16.
He has been competitive but too often gutted with the result.
This win Sunday wasn't just the breathe-a-little-easier ticket to the Round of 8. It was a rebirth, a reminder of what this organization is capable of.
In the last two years, Johnson has famously and painfully been eliminated from the Chase in by the second round.
And now, he is six races away from a chance to tie NASCAR's all-time greatest drivers -- Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt -- with seven Sprint Cup titles.
Some -- probably Johnson and Knaus -- would say it's much too early to start thinking in those terms. But part of the allure and amazement in earning so many championships is the work it takes to even be in position for them.
With so many changes in NASCAR's title structure throughout Johnson's career -- more so than what Petty and Earnhardt faced even -- it has been an accomplishment to even realistically contend for the big trophy. And there is no time to leave anything on the table.
"There's no way I could have dreamed about this," Johnson allowed Sunday. "To have one sponsor (Lowe's), one manufacturer (Chevrolet), one crew chief (Knaus), being at one team (Hendrick), this is fairy-tale stuff. It's been really special."
But Johnson is the first to insist those are deep thoughts reserved for November.
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Right now, he's got some races to win, messages to send, trophies to hoist, and history to make.
"You know, I've always raced for the experience I've had in the car," Johnson said Sunday in Charlotte. "It hasn't been about stats or the previous trophies that I've won or what's really ahead of me. There's an experience that I have in the car that I chase and I love.
"The community that's created on a race team, the bond and friendship that you have with the crew chief and teammates, that's the stuff that keeps me going."
"And," he added. "we're doing what we need to and that brings a lot of optimism to the team. You get this machine of Hendrick Motorsports rolling and some momentum on our side, we can accomplish a lot and I think all four cars are showing that.
"We've got a lot more to show the rest of the year."
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