HAMPTON, Ga. - Jimmie Johnson drove into Victory Lane after winning yesterday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. He leaned his head back, removed his sunglasses and wiped tears from his eyes before being handed a cell phone.
"Hey, Boss," he said, as he listened to congratulations from his car owner. Rick Hendrick told him: "Put your hat on backward for Little Ricky," Hendrick's 24-year-old son who was among those killed in last Sunday's small-plane crash near Martinsville, Va.
"That made me laugh," said Johnson. "For a man who was always yelling at his son for turning his hat around, saying, `It's not professional. What are you doing?' For him to tell me to turn mine around for Ricky made me smile."
Smiles have been few this week as Hendrick Motorsports and the close-knit NASCAR community have coped with the loss of 10 family members, friends and business associates.
But yesterday, amid tears of emotional release, smiles began to emerge.
The first appeared during the pre-race chapel service when the young children of drivers and crewmen fidgeted and sang songs about God's love.
Later, Johnson smiled as he talked about seeing race fans putting aside their individual driver loyalties to hang on fences to show their sympathy for the Hendrick teams.
"I definitely could feel their emotion," Johnson said more than an hour later, smiling while still wiping away tears. "There was definitely groups of colors cheering, a lot of red [Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans] that usually doesn't cheer for blue. ... But today, they were all cheering. To see the people ... cheering for this victory was pretty special."
Friday, Hendrick drivers Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers had promised to do all they could to win this race in memory of those lost.
Some in the grandstands at Atlanta Motor Speedway - where the crowd of 104,000 was among the track's biggest - and even in the garage area and along pit road wondered how the Hendrick teams could recover enough emotionally to even be competitive, let alone win.
After the race, Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, said the team's biggest victory was just getting to the track, as the Hendrick organization had to band together to get the everyday chores done.
"I don't know how we did it," Johnson said of the victory. "The good Lord helped us win in Martinsville, on a day we needed to win, and then to come back here and do it again - something bigger is going on that none of us understands. I'm just happy to be part of it. These last two races are the two biggest victories of my life."
The team lost its president, its general manager, engine program director and heir apparent in one blinding moment. At Hendrick, someone else had to direct the operation, find people to make travel arrangements and assemble engines and parts, while also making plans for memorial services and funerals.
On Friday, Johnson, noting how everyone at Hendrick was rallying in the most heartbreaking of times, said: "In extraordinary circumstances, extraordinary people do extraordinary things."
He was speaking about the strength of Rick Hendrick and his family, but yesterday, as Johnson's teammates suffered troubles and dropped by the wayside, Johnson and his team did the extraordinary on the track, getting stronger and stronger.
Finally, on Lap 310 of the 325-lap race, a caution ended and Johnson set off after Mark Martin. He passed Joe Nemechek in Turn 1 and then squeezed past Kasey Kahne in Turn 2. By Turn 3, he was making the pass on Martin for the lead.
"I just flat-footed it in Turn 1 and 2," he said. "I didn't know if I'd make it through, but I did and then fought for the lead into Turn 3. With the tragedy that took place, the determination I had ... I just forgot everything and went for it."
Johnson, who won for the third straight week and for the seventh time this season, moved into second in The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, 59 points behind leader Kurt Busch.
Busch's No. 97 Ford blew an engine on the 52nd lap, relegating him to a 42nd-place finish and opening the door for five other drivers to close within 145 points. But Busch retained the points lead when various problems struck seven other Chase drivers, including Gordon and Earnhardt, who were his closest challengers going into yesterday's race.
Gordon finished 34th and Earnhardt 33rd.
"I'm not really worried about it," said Earnhardt, who clipped another car and spun into the wall. "We could have gained a lot of points by winning. I had a car good enough to win ... but it [stinks] to lose all those points."
Among the 10 Chase drivers - the only ones eligible for the Nextel Cup title - just Tony Stewart, who finished ninth, Martin and Johnson had error-free days.
Martin led for 227 laps and dominated the afternoon until the caution flag on Lap 301 put him in the most difficult position - out front with used tires.
