Jimmie Johnson claimed his second straight Nascar Nextel Cup yesterday by finishing seventh in Miami, close enough to teammate Jeff Gordon to win the season championship by 77 points.

Johnson, 32, entered the last event of the stock-car racing season 86 points ahead of Gordon and with four consecutive wins. Gordon finished fourth in yesterday's race, which was won by Matt Kenseth at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Johnson's championship is the seventh for car owner Rick Hendrick, who trails all-time leader Petty Enterprises by two.

``I am so proud of this moment,'' Johnson, of El Cajon, California, said at a news conference. ``We've had an amazing run. It's very, very special for me.''

Johnson, who won 10 times this season, earned $6.7 million in prize money in his second championship year, up from $6.2 million in 2006. His No. 48 Chevrolet and the No. 24 car of Gordon are built in the same shop in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the two teams share all data about their cars.

``You dream about winning one of these and doing it back- to-back, it's really special,'' Hendrick said. ``To have the two cars run like this all year, it's great. The most gratifying thing to me was the 24 team during the race and after the race, the way they handled it.''

New Driver

Hendrick will add Dale Earnhardt Jr., voted Nascar's most- popular driver by fans for the past four seasons, to his team next year. Earnhardt will replace Kyle Busch.

Clint Bowyer ended the season in third place, followed by Kenseth and Busch.

Johnson is the final winner of the Nextel Cup, which next year is being renamed the Sprint Cup by sponsor Sprint Nextel Corp. He won the 2006 title by 56 points over Kenseth.

The only driver to win three consecutive championships in stock-car racing's top circuit was Cale Yarborough from 1976-78.

The repeat championships may boost the ability of Johnson's team to raise money. Top sponsorships from Nascar were estimated at about $20 million to $25 million this season.

``It gives them a promotional platform that they can use to promote their affiliation with that particular driver,'' said William Chipps, editor of IEG Sponsorship Report, which tracks sports income. ``The winning company will get the incremental media exposure through all the media attention that's focused on the champion going into the 2008 season.''

Television Exposure

Nascar's five top car sponsors reaped combined television exposure of more than $500 million in 2007, said Eric Wright, vice president of Joyce Julius Associates. The Michigan-based consultant measures the amount of time sponsors' logos are aired in a race and the number of mentions they get, then applies advertising rates to the exposures.

Anheuser Busch Cos. Budweiser brand beer had the most exposure with its sponsorship of Earnhardt's car, reaping $174 million through the third-last race of the year in Texas. Johnson's sponsor Lowe's Cos., the second-largest U.S. home improvement chain after Home Depot Inc., was second with $147 million.