Johnson Celebrated at NASCAR Awards Banquet

By ESPN

Jimmie Johnson didn't need to see highlights of his seventh Sprint Cup championship celebration at Homestead-Miami Speedway to tug at his heart during the 2016 awards banquet Friday night.

He has a pretty good idea of all that happened.

"In a certain way I guess I kind of lived it, so I have the fond memories," Johnson said. "But I will go back and look at that stuff at some point. I really haven't had any time to."

For Johnson, it was more about what was said than what he saw during the ceremony at the Wynn Las Vegas that celebrated his record-tying seventh Cup title and a season where he notched his 80th career win. With his name now alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as far as number of championships, Johnson is a pro at giving the speeches and hearing people talk about him.

But it seems that each year, the inflection in the voices of other drivers more and more show their deep respect.

"The respect that was paid to me through competitors -- they've got to be tired to see my ass up on the stage," Johnson said after the ceremony. "To have them say nice things and to know it was really coming from the heart and not just lip service was really cool."

Driver after driver talked about Johnson's greatness. The lauding came from even others, including 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

"This isn't just another night for our seven-time champion," Phelps said. "He set records and now stands alongside two legends. But for him, it's more than that. It's a personal glory and the reward for a lifetime of hard work. And for the rest of us, it's the knowledge that we just watched the greatest driver that ever lived."

Johnson didn't know Phelps -- a Gatorade endorser along with Johnson -- would come. Just 11 days earlier, Johnson had presented Phelps with an award at USA Swimming's annual event.

"That was a complete and total shock," Johnson said.

If anyone should be used to pleasurable shocks, it's Johnson. He got one nearly two weeks earlier at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In some ways, his victory in the season finale at Homestead was a shock as Johnson didn't have the strongest car but took advantage of a Carl Edwards-Joey Logano wreck and then a great restart in the waning laps.

Before the banquet, Johnson had said he had not seen many highlights because he was just so busy. Through social media, he did have an idea of how it all went down.

"Obviously, I watched the first half of the crash [from behind]," Johnson said. "I saw a clip on Twitter where the 78 [of Martin Truex Jr.] was just raging on fire, which I didn't think was possible in today's world with our cars but that's really about all I saw."