Dale Earnhardt Jr. jokes his dad would have congratulated Jimmie Johnson with a headlock

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows exactly how his late father would’ve welcomed Jimmie Johnson into the exclusive club of drivers that have won seven NASCAR premier division championships.

“He wouldn’t have congratulated him in a conventional way, he would’ve gone up (on the stage) and put ‘em in a headlock probably,” Earnhardt said after Johnson had won his seventh title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Johnson joined Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty as seven-time titlists with a victory in the championship finale Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Unlike Petty and Earnhardt, whose respective championships came under a system where the driver who accrued the most points for the duration of the season, all of Johnson’s seven titles occurred in the Chase era (2004-present) where NASCAR essentially divides its schedule into a regular season and a postseason.

Johnson is only the driver to win five successive series titles, having done so from 2006-2010. He added a sixth in 2013.

Some contend that because Johnson earned his championships differently than Petty and Earnhardt, where a driver didn’t necessarily have to be great from the beginning of the season to the end, Johnson isn’t as deserving to be among mentioned in the discussion as one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. Earnhardt Jr. strongly disagrees, saying the Chase format and the depth of competition Johnson faces actually makes it harder to win.

“I’m impressed (Johnson) won seven championships under the competition that he’s faced,” Earnhardt said. “He faced more competition than my dad did, more than Richard did.

“It’s pretty impressive. I’m just glad I was able to see it. I don’t know if we’ll ever see anybody win seven because it just gets harder. The competition is so tough and fate is such a big role-player in the way the format is, but Jimmie did it. The circumstances are so challenging for him compared to Richard and my father. There were challenges for those guys as well, but this environment today is most competitive.”

Because Petty, Earnhardt, and Johnson all raced in vastly different eras, Earnhardt Jr. said you can’t definitively say one was better. And he believes that had they all competed in their primes against one another, none of the three would’ve won seven championships.

“I think if you put all three of them in any era, they all counter each other,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “If dad races with Jimmie, Jimmie doesn’t win seven. If Jimmie races with dad, dad doesn’t win seven championships.

“Talent-wise, it’s impossible to measure one against the other.”

Earnhardt and Johnson both drive for Hendrick Motorsports, and Earnhardt has long supported his desire for his teammate to win a record-tying seventh championship. Although he’s not raced competitively since early July due to a concussion, Earnhardt was at Homestead on Sunday and joined Johnson post-race in the winner’s celebration to congratulate him (though without putting Johnson in a headlock).

“I don’t know if we’ll ever see anyone else win seven,” Earnhardt said. “It’s harder. It’s just so tough. But Jimmie did it.”