(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson won his seventh NASCAR championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, besting Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards in the third edition of the elimination-style Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson came into the race with six career titles and was going for his record-tying seventh to put him in an exclusive club that for years contained only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Johnson won for the first time at Homestead, one of only four current Sprint Cup Series tracks where Johnson had never tasted victory. For all the twists and turns of the Chase, the championship round comes down to something simple: Whomever finishes first among Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano wins the Cup title. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, Accident, 262. That’s a ridiculous thing to do.”

There were a few celebrities taking in Sunday’s championship race including the Band Perry (which performed before cars hit the track), grand marshal Justin Hartley (from NBC’s This Is Us ) and starter Wilmer Valderrama (from and ). The team he drives for, Richard Childress Racing, also hasn’t won a race since 2013, the last year Harvick drove for it. The final race of Tony Stewart’s storied NASCAR Cup career wasn’t very memorable although he got a pretty cool souvenir. “That,” he said, “was the highlight of the day.”

Once on the track, Stewart moved to the front of the field for a celebratory parade lap. #TheChasehttps://t.co/8MYNnz1hiJ — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 20, 2016

“That was the race of my life up to that point," Edwards said. I’m just so honored to be here to be honest, I can’t really put it into words.”

Not only did Johnson win the championship, but he also won took home the checkered flag in the race.
In motorsport, Jimmie Johnson wins the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship with a victory in the final race of the season. It is his 7th Cup championship, which ties the all-time record set by Richard Petty in 1979 and Dale Earnhardt in 1994.