HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The celebration was a bit messy. That tends to happen when history is made.?As Jimmie Johnsons Chevy blew burnout smoke along the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch and his crew hugged it out behind him, the ticket buyers bum-rushed the gates. Race fans funneled through an opening in the catch fence that lines the grandstand and poured over the shoulder-high wall that separates pit road from the racing surface. By the time track workers had set up the stairs to aid their climb, it was too late. They were on the track by the hundreds. And only a few of them wore Jimmie Johnson gear. That did not matter.?I thought people were supposed to not like Jimmie, right? observed Johnsons employer, Rick Hendrick. I said on Friday that I felt like a guy like him wouldnt be appreciated until his career was done.The just-crowned 12-time champion car owner looked over the still-growing crowd being showered in confetti.But it looks like they are doing a pretty good job of appreciating him right now, doesnt it? Hendrick said.? ?Johnson, the 41-year-old Californian, outran the field on a wild final restart, holding off two of his four fellow championship competitors, as well as Kyle Larson, the noncontender who had dominated the 400-mile event. With the win, Johnson became only the seventh driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to reach 80 wins. That was merely his second-most impressive record of the night -- a distant second.?Johnsons seventh Cup title places him alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt to share the most coveted line of the stock car racing record book. His march to that accomplishment has not been easy.He grew up on the low end of the income scale in Southern California, where he became a desert rat, an off-road truck racer. His personality and work ethic endeared him to the builder of those trucks, Chevrolet, and it pushed him into stock cars.He moved east and slept on other racers couches while working to find his NASCAR footing. When Jeff Gordon was wowed by Johnsons fearless style while driving second-tier Busch Series (think Triple-A baseball) equipment, he impossibly tabbed the kid to drive for the team he was cofounding with Hendrick.No one -- especially not Johnson -- foresaw the near-immediate success that followed.?Yet, somewhere along the way, Johnsons story became twisted, from the blue-collar truth into a silver spoon myth. Some of that was rooted in his ride. Hendrick Motorsports is the New York Yankees of NASCAR. More money, more resources ... so, no way the driver could actually be great, right??Petty heard the same complaints in the 1960s and 1970s as he blew past the records set by NASCARs pioneers, including his father, three-time champion Lee Petty. But by the time he won his seventh Cup in 1979, he was the sports most beloved figure.?Earnhardt dealt with even more vicious criticism, directed at his steel-toed driving style and a perception that he was handed multiple advantages by Chevy and even NASCAR. It is conveniently forgotten to history now, but when The Intimidator clinched his seventh Cup at Rockingham, North Carolina, in 1994, the crowd reacted with as many boos as cheers.How dare that scofflaw tie The King!But eventually, even the naysayers embraced Earnhardts greatness.?I think you end up getting what you deserve, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained, having just left a stage celebration that included his teammates, Gordon and Johnson, as well as a conga line of visits from Tony Stewart, who had just finished his final Cup race, and Kyle Busch, a former Hendrick teammate and one of the fellow title contenders Johnson had to hold off at the end.I think people are coming around, Earnhardt said. Hes always had a great understanding with his people, his fans. Now others are realizing how great he is.?I can tell you this, Earnhardt continued. I have no doubt that you can take Jimmie, my dad and Richard Petty and they would have won championships races whenever and wherever they raced. If Jimmie had raced against Dad, Dad wouldnt have won seven championships; and if Dad had raced against Jimmie, he wouldnt have won seven championships.Again, I think people are coming around. I hope so.?? ?????? ?Thats why Hendrick said what he did on Friday -- that Johnson would be appreciated only through the rearview mirror of time. But the crowd that climbed and shoved its way into his celebration on Sunday night never uttered as much as one boo. Instead, there was thunderous applause, from the grandstand in front of him to the skyboxes behind him.?There was no shortage of questions about how this title was earned. The caution flag that set up the madness -- a pair of late restarts and a red flag -- created plenty of online outrage.Austin Petty, grandson of Richard, tweeted that NASCAR was doing all it could to help Johnson win. (Petty later took the tweet down.) On any other night during Johnsons career, that would have been the prevailing sentiment. Come Monday morning, when sports talk call-in shows crank up, it might be again.?But thats not what the Homestead crowd was running with on Sunday evening. They were running with their smartphone camera apps open, eager to capture the moment.Before the race, when they put the four of us [Cup contenders] in the truck to do a lap around the track, usually I get flipped off, like a lot, Johnson recalled of traditional parade laps. I mean, I get flipped everywhere, every state, no matter where we are. So today, I looked up and they had their hands up, and I realized they werent holding up one finger. They were holding up seven -- so maybe, with what we were trying to do, no matter what hat they were wearing, we had their support today.?Earlier in the day, around the team transporter of Richard Pettys famous No. 43 team, there was a lot of talk about history and what it might mean should Johnson match their boss famous mark.The crew chief for all of Pettys titles, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman, embraced the idea. (Its likely easier for him to take because he actually has eight titles, winning another with Terry Labonte.) Standing alongside Inman was his nephew, racer-turned-NBC analyst Kyle Petty.The Kings son got visual with his explanation of it all, using a Sharpie to sketch out various peaks to show the eras of his father, Earnhardt and Johnson, with connectors of the others -- the one-, two-, three- and four-time champs.Its like looking at a mountain range, Kyle Petty said. Theres plenty to look at, but the tallest peaks are pretty obvious arent they? It makes it impossible not to notice those guys.??? ?On Sunday night, amid the crushing throng on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch, they were certainly noticing and perhaps -- finally -- appreciating Jimmie Johnsons ascension to one of those all-time pinnacles.?Honestly, Im a Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan, and Ive always hated Jimmie Johnsons ass, said Bill Lindon of Ocala, Florida, one of those fans who had pushed his way to the edge of the temporary stage NASCAR rolled out atop the start-finish line. But this is a chance to see something thats only happened twice before.I can still think hes great even if I still hate his ass, right? http://www.authenticshopbroncos.com/broncos-kayvon-webster-navy-blue-jersey/ . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. http://www.authenticshopbroncos.com/broncos-mark-sanchez-navy-blue-jersey/ . Aduriz headed home Markel Susaetas cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at San Mames Stadium. He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat. http://www.authenticshopbroncos.com/broncos-michael-schofield-navy-blue-jersey/ . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . http://www.authenticshopbroncos.com/broncos-brendan-langley-navy-blue-jersey/ . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. http://www.authenticshopbroncos.com/broncos-max-garcia-navy-blue-jersey/ . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. MIAMI -- A lawyer who assisted the NCAA in its investigation of University of Miami athletics is facing a 91-day suspension from practicing law, according to new court documents.The documents show thats what the Florida Bar recommended to the Florida Supreme Court in the case of attorney Maria Elena Perez. A Bar referee found she violated numerous legal ethics by sharing information with the NCAA she got from witnesses she interviewed while representing former Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro in a bankruptcy case.Shapiro is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for operating a $930 million Ponzi scheme. It was Shapiros improper actions with recruits, athletes and staffers that prompted the NCAA to strip Miami of nine football scholarships and put its athletics department on three years probation that ends Oct. 21.The NCAA has acknowledged it was wrong to align with Perez and pay her more than $18,000 to get information from the witnesses she was interviewing on Shapiros behalf. The bankruptcy case was aimed at finding money to return to wronged investors in Shapiros fraud scam, and Shapiro sought to cooperate in hopes of getting a lighter prison sentence in his criminal case.The Bar investigation of Perez found that ultimately $35 million was returned to investors through the bankruptcy case.The Florida Bar filing concluded that Perez, 44, is gguilty of violating eight ethical rules including lack of candor, failure to disclose key facts and making false statements.dddddddddddd In addition to the suspension from practicing law, the Bar filing recommends that Perez pay more than $4,000 in costs of the investigation.Among other things, the Bars initial complaint said that Perez failed to inform witnesses in depositions about her relationship with the NCAA and that she even contacted producers at HBO about taping depositions of former Miami equipment-room staffer Sean Allen and sports agent Michael Huyghue.In a letter responding to the Bar complaint, Perez contended that her agreement was that the NCAA would be a third-party payor and that she never worked directly for the NCAA as one of its attorneys or legal representatives.The NCAA was going to pay the undersigned counsel for work related to representing Mr. Shapiro in matters overlapping the enforcement staffs investigation of Miami, Perez wrote in the letter.She declined to comment on the filing in an email Monday other than to note that some of the original allegations were dropped.The Supreme Court could accept or reject the Bars disciplinary recommendation, and could increase or reduce the proposed penalty. 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