Auto Racing Capsules: Yanks' Damon helps Johnson celebrate Cup crown

NEW YORK — Johnny Damon knows how difficult it can be to win a championship. After all, it took him four years to finally win the World Series with the Yankees.

That’s why even he marvels at Jimmie Johnson, who wrapped up an unprecedented fourth consecutive Cup championship on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We haven’t seen that in baseball in a very long time," Damon said Tuesday, during a ceremony honoring Johnson at the Empire State Building. "I believe in NASCAR it could be tougher, because every week these guys are going for you. It’s kind of like putting on the pinstripes."

Johnson was at Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the World Series, then watched from afar as the Yankees clinched their record 27th world championship by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6. Johnson would have liked to see a couple more games, but he was too busy chasing his own record.

He finally returned to New York this week for another whirlwind celebration filled with interviews, morning show appearances, photographers and other commitments.

In the grand entrance to the Empire State Building, Johnson flipped the switch — as if changing gears in his car — that lit the top of the skyscraper in the familiar blue, yellow and white colors of his Hendrick Motorsports team. He also received a proclamation from the mayor’s office designating "Jimmie Johnson Day" in a city where many people don’t even own cars.

"I’m not sure what authority comes with my position," Johnson said, "but I think everyone should have the day off and go have margaritas."

Indeed, Johnson is living a charmed life.

The most dominant driver of the decade finished fifth in the season’s final race when 25th would have sufficed. He’s been in NASCAR’s top division for eight years and already his title total trails only the seven won by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

The 34-year-old Californian also gave team owner Rick Hendrick his record 12th overall championship.

"Rick’s personality is he doesn’t want to feel like the big dog," Johnson said. "He has the mindset he wants to pull for the underdog, because he wants to keep thinking he’s the underdog. And he’s not."

Sound familiar?

"When we step on the field, we know everybody is giving us their best shot," Damon said, referring to the Yankees. "It’s the same way with them."

Damon grew up in Orlando and became a NASCAR fan while watching thousands of fans make pilgrimages to Daytona. As the sport exploded over the past few years and fresh faces like Johnson came onto the scene, Damon became even more enamored of the sport.

He said the Yankees have a fantasy racing league that he tried to join when he arrived in 2006, but Damon learned it was only for coaches and staff. Longtime trainer Gene Monahan, manager Joe Girardi and even former manager Joe Torre have been part of it.

"I like to pop in the office and give them a couple hints," Damon said, smiling widely. "Maybe one day they’ll let me in."

One thing is perfectly clear: Johnson doesn’t need hints from anybody.

He’s been called the NASCAR version of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong. Damon instead compared him to Michael Jordan and John Wooden, who took entire teams and made them into champions.

Along with crew chief Chad Knaus, the No. 48 team may only be getting better.

Johnson signed a five-year deal to drive for Hendrick through 2015, and Knaus has confidently predicted the same rate of success for the next several years. The team won seven races in 2009, including four during the 10-race Chase, and has won 18 of 60 Chase races since the format began.

All of which resulted in a very familiar post-race party Sunday, where Johnson found himself standing on a sofa at 2 a.m. belting out the chorus to Queen.

"They played ‘We are the Champions,"’ Johnson said, "and you know what? That song doesn’t really mean much until you’re a champion."

Hendrick turns attention to Earnhardt

Getting Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team back on track is Rick Hendrick’s top priority now that Jimmie Johnson has his record fourth consecutive NASCAR championship.

"We’re all over it, and we’ve been all over it," Hendrick said Tuesday in a conference call. "It’s my primary focus here, starting Monday."

Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports its NASCAR record 12th championship in Sunday’s season finale, and Hendrick drivers swept the top three spots in the standings. Mark Martin finished second and won five races this season, while Jeff Gordon finished third and had one victory.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, went winless and was a distant 25th in the final standings in his second season driving for Hendrick.

Hendrick changed Earnhardt’s crew chief midway through the season, and assigned additional engineering support to the No. 88 team. Although his performance began to improve toward the end of the season, bad luck and mechanical problems left Earnhardt with very little to show for his efforts. Earnhardt had just five top-10 finishes all year, and admittedly struggled with his confidence.

"I’ve seen this happen with Jeff Gordon ... you just go through these (slumps)," Hendrick said. "We know we can make the team better and it’s frustrating. The driver begins to think that no matter what he does, something is going to happen.

"We’ve had failures, we’ve had wrecks. If it could happen, it happened to that team. It’s just been really frustrating."

Hendrick, meanwhile, said his 29-year-old niece is doing well after undergoing an emergency liver transplant Sunday in North Carolina.

He missed the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway after flying home Friday night to be with niece Alesha Gainey, who was healthy and headed to a Carolina Panthers game on Thursday night when she suddenly fell ill.

Hendrick said doctors aren’t sure what caused Gainey’s organs to fail, and although the liver transplant was successful, she’s in critical condition because her kidneys aren’t yet functioning.

Gainey is the daughter of Rick Hendrick’s brother, John, who was one of the 10 people killed in a 2004 plane crash. Also killed in the accident was Gainey’s younger twin sisters.

"It was never a doubt in my mind where I needed to be, and where I wanted to be," Hendrick said of missing the race. "I would have loved to have celebrated with them, but I wasn’t in the frame of mind to celebrate. The good news is, the liver is working, she’s stable and we’re going to have a very good Thanksgiving."

-- Jenna Fryer

NASCAR wants France info kept from Mayfield

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR has asked a federal court to stop lawyers for suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield from collecting information from the ex-wife of chairman Brian France.

Mayfield’s attorneys subpoenaed Megan France last week requesting documents about a lawsuit filed against her by Brian France. The attorneys also asked for joint tax returns and mail addressed to Brian France.

NASCAR filed a motion in U.S. District Court on Monday asking that Megan France be barred from producing the documents.

The Frances were divorced in April 2008, and Brian France sued his ex-wife in North Carolina Superior Court in September of that year. All documents relating to that case were sealed in December.

"They are attempting to improperly bring private, irrelevant information concerning Mr. France’s domestic relations into this litigation as a means of retaliation," NASCAR claimed in its filing.

Mayfield was suspended May 9 for failing a random drug test. NASCAR said the test was positive for methamphetamine, but Mayfield has denied using the illegal drug.

He’s now suing NASCAR over the suspension, which he claims has ruined his career.

Mayfield in October hired high-profile attorney Mark Geragos to help him with his suit against NASCAR, and Geragos told the court he wants to hold a deposition of Megan France on Dec. 4 — the same day as NASCAR’s awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

NASCAR asked the court to order that Megan France’s deposition not be held before Dec. 14 because the date Geragos selected is "on a day when neither NASCAR’s corporate representatives nor Mr. France can attend."

Asked last weekend about Geragos’ attempt to involve his ex-wife in the Mayfield case, France answered: "Nothing surprises me with trial lawyers in the 21st century. They are an amazing group of people."

His comments came the same day Mayfield was auctioning off his belongings back in North Carolina. Mayfield said the auction was part hobby, but also a means to pay his mounting legal bills.

Mayfield’s former representation claims Mayfield owes the firm a significant amount of money, but Mayfield said Charlotte-based Bill Diehl has been paid.

Formula One

Briatore asks court to overturn suspension

PARIS — Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore asked a French court on Tuesday to overturn his lifetime suspension from Formula One and force the sport’s governing body to pay him $1.5 million in damages.

Briatore didn’t attend the hearing, but his lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat, said the Italian denied having a role in ordering Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

FIA, the circuit’s governing body, ruled in September that Briatore was behind the scheme.

Former Renault chief engineer Pat Symonds also asked the court to overturn his five-year suspension from the sport issued by FIA’s World Motor Sport Council. He asked for $750,000 in damages.

The court’s decisions on both men is expected Jan. 5.

"Briatore wants to recover his freedom and be able to do what he wants," Ouakrat said. "When he decided to leave Renault, he took moral responsibility for the mistake, but he doesn’t want to be penalized for something he is not responsible for."

FIA lawyer Jean-Francois Prat responded that it was the FIA’s responsibility to guarantee the security of its events.

"Honestly, we hadn’t seen something as unethical in a sports competition before," Prat said. "To me, it was almost a crime. Many people’s lives were endangered."

In a deposition given to FIA investigators in exchange for his immunity, Piquet Jr. said Briatore and Symonds ordered him to crash into the wall at turn 14, where it would take the most time to clear the damaged car and result in the longest possible delay.

Renault, which received a suspended ban, expects to announce before the end of the year whether it will remain in Formula One.

-- Samuel Petrequin