If we had won a championship in the first four years the team would not have felt as large of a part of it as what they do this career and I'm happy for that because those guys have worked hard for it and they have done a good job. They all bought into it and there's blood, sweat and tears by every party, not just as an individual, Jimmie and myself.
Q:
Rick, talk about how this one feels.
Rick Hendrick:
You know, they all are really special, and I think this one feels especially good because how close Chad and Jimmie have been the last couple of years and to be able to get this one to Jimmie and then our sixth overall is great, a great feeling here to night.
:
Congratulations go out to Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie, how does it feel?
Jimmie Johnson:
It's unbelievable. I've been working my whole life to get in this position to be a champion, it's what I've always wanted to be, and to now be a champion means the world to me. I've got to thank Chad, Rick, Lowe's, everybody for their support, and really growing this team.
Chad and I have been through this, this is our fifth season together and Chad really has steered this team and developed the crew guys and developed what we have as a core race team and I can't think him enough for being not only a great leader but a great friend. I thank Mr. Hendrick, I guess it goes back to Ricky Hendrick, and Ricky talking to Rick about he has a potential driver many years back and I just can't thank Rick and Jeff enough for giving me this opportunity and I'm so happy to be here.
Q:
Rick, six titles now ties you with Richard Childress. He did it with one driver and you have yours with three - talk about that accomplishment?
RH:
It feels good. All of them are special and I've been very fortunate to have great talent in the cars and I think it's a credit to the organization for trying to put good cars together. But the way that the organisation has worked together, all of the teams working together I think has proved this year with everybody winning the race, everybody winning a pole, and Jimmie has driven at track meetings with the drivers, crew chiefs, and even made the whole deal stronger. So it's really etch exciting to be able to do that with three different guys, and hopefully we're going to have a lot more to come.
Q:
Matt Kenseth said after the race that, based on the way you have run the last four years, you guys are deserving of winning this title and that's a sentiment echoed by many of your peers, how does it feel having that burden removed of being the best team not to have won the championship?
JJ:
I don't see it as a burden and I don't think anyone on our race team does. It's our fifth season together. We look at it as a compliment to hear that response. People thought and expected a lot out of us as a race team from the beginning. We never felt a burden. Don't get me wrong, we didn't want to miss an opportunity when we were in the position to become a champion. We've just been happy to win races and have the season we had. We're very proud of what we did, and I'm not saying we wouldn't have been happy if we didn't win the championship but after a couple days went by we would be able to look back and be proud of what we've done. Now that we've won that, title can't linger around any longer.
Q:
In November 1996, Rick, you were diagnosed with leukaemia and you beat it. You got through the plane crash. In your quiet moments over the next few weeks, how is this title going to be put into perspective?
![Jimmie Johnson's 2006 championship winning team. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/281326.jpg)
