Unless you're a big NASCAR fan, you may not realize that one of the greatest streaks in sports history ended last Sunday. Tony Stewart just won his third Sprint Cup Championship, which means Johnson's 5-year reign as the Sprint Cup Champion is officially over. 

     I think a lot of times people tend to forget about past sports figures and think everyone or every moment they see if the best of all time.  Well in that spirit, I will go ahead and say Jimmie Johnson is the best driver in NASCAR history.  The obvious other top drivers would have to be Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon.  Each of them had a reason why they were great, and I think Johnson has one reason why he separates himself from those three.

     Petty won 200 races and 7 championships, but when he won his races there was far less competition and they ran more races.  Earnhardt also won 7 championships, and much of that was because he revolutionized the sport by driving as aggressively as he did.  Many of the NASCAR drivers now try to drive like he did, but few have the respect from other drivers to make it as successful as he did.  Gordon was/is a great driver, but had the benefit of his race team revolutionizing the pit crew.  Gordon's "rainbow warriors" was the first pit crew made up of athletes from other sports.  That team was a huge advantage for Gordon which amplified his great driving.

     The reason I think Johnson stands alone as the best NASCAR driver of all time is how much the sport changed over his 5-year reign.  There was the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff format, and then they changed how many people got in the Chase, and then they changed the qualifications to get in the Chase, and they changed the points system, and how many points a driver who wins gets, and most notably, they changed the cars.  The cars Johnson started in and continued his reign in were completely different.  What made Johnson so great is his adaptability.

     We may never see another team or individual with an absolute dominance in a sport like Jimmie Johnson, so while many NASCAR experts talk about how Tony Stewart is the current face of NASCAR, don't forget that we are lucky enough to witness the greatest driver in NASCAR history.