HOMESTEAD, Fla. Brent Urban Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson walked across the stage after driver introductions to find his car inexplicably missing from pit road.In a dramatic start to his race for a record-tying seventh championship, Johnson learned NASCARs inspectors had yanked his Chevrolet off the pre-race grid and sent it back through tech. The Hendrick Motorsports team had been accused of manipulating a body panel, and Johnson had to start last in the field.In less than 30 laps, he was sniffing the top-10.He come from last doing that? Joey Logano asked him team, Wow.The best was yet to come.For most of the day, Johnson was the worst of the championship contenders in a winner-take-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He needed only to beat three other drivers to tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven titles, but he was clearly not in the same league as the other finalists Sunday night.Johnson, who seemed to have sensed the last 10 weeks that he was finally going to grab that special seventh title, never panicked.I felt like something was going to happen, and I was going to be OK with it, Johnson said. For a while I came to grips with the reality of (finishing) third, fourth, somewhere in there and shaking somebody elses hand and being happy for them.Then it changed so quick at the end.Johnson was practically gifted his seventh title when Carl Edwards aggressive attempt to win the championship ended in a wreck. Johnson got the restart of his life in overtime, took the lead on the very last lap of the race, won for the first time in his career at Homestead and grabbed the final Sprint Cup trophy.The win was the 15th for Hendrick Motorsports and seventh for crew chief Chad Knaus, who now only trails Dale Inmans record eight.When I was coming to the checkered flag, I had to really look closely at it going by to make sure it was, like, `Is this really happening? Johnson said.Johnson received kind words from Petty, while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. represented his late father in victory lane.I told Jimmie I wish Dad was here to shake his hand, Earnhardt said. Dad would think hes such a bad-ass. Hes such a great race car driver. How he won this thing tonight, I dont think a lot of people know, he can will himself to get (his all) out of a car when it matters. Theres a lot of circumstance that played into it, but he put himself in that position.Edwards seemed headed for the title until a caution with 10 laps remaining set up a wild sequence. Edwards tried to block Logano on the restart, wound up wrecked, and it was Johnson who drove through the carnage to take the championship lead.Johnson withstood two more restarts and dedicated the final two attempts at the win to the late Ricky Hendrick, who was one of 10 friends and family members killed in a 2004 plane crash.They were nowhere all day, and just kind of ran around, I dont know, probably, Id guess sixth, said 2015 champion Kyle Busch. Never really showed their hand at all and didnt really show any speed, never really led in the laps until the last one, and thats the only one that really matters.Perhaps its because Johnson had no plan. This was one of those rare days in racing when someone elses bad breaks benefited a driver who was prepared to pounce. Edwards accident gave him a chance Johnson didnt have a mere five laps earlier.It wasnt looking good, Knaus admitted. I still dont think that we necessarily had the speed that we need. The one thing that we have in our corner is we have Jimmie Johnson. He is the one that makes things happen when we dont necessarily have the race cars.When we do have the race cars that we need, he does phenomenal things.Also doubting the situation was team owner Rick Hendrick, standing atop the pit box and lamenting with 10 laps to go that it was over for Johnson. His wife told him Johnson was still going to win the race. Hendrick didnt take her seriously.When we had that last caution and he came out and took the lead, I couldnt believe it, Hendrick said. I was actually stunned because we had so many ups and downs in that race.Indeed, from last to first and the top of the record books.---More AP auto racing: www.racing.ap.org Roger LeClerc Jersey . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. Khalil Mack Jersey . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. http://www.custombearsjersey.com/custom-...arge-1556t.html . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Kristaps Porzingis has become a matchup problem in just his second season with the New York Knicks.The 7-3 Porzingis is listed as a power forward, but with his ability to hit mid to long-range jumpers, score on tip-ins and dunks and run the floor like a gazelle, he has created headaches for opposing coaches and their players.The Atlanta Hawks (9-3) will attempt to slow down Porzingis and the Knicks (5-7) Sunday at Madison Square Garden.Porzingis is averaging 20.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Hes shooting 49 percent from the field, including 40 percent from 3-point range. In a 105-102 win over Detroit on Wednesday, Porzingis scored a career-high 35 points.Porzingis, who finished second to Karl-Anthony Towns for Rookie of the Year last season, is earning praise from coaches around the league.Hes (Porzingis) definitely going to be one of the best players in the league very soon, Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks told the New York Post. He can score (from) so many spots on the floor. For a guy whos 7-3, puts it on the floor, left, right, mid-range game, step back 3s, gets lobs, offensive rebounds.Hes a great player now. Hes definitely on his way to being an All-Star. Its pretty remarkable to improve so quickly, he said. Hes got point-guard moves. Hes even got a crossover (dribble).On Friday, Porzingis announced he will donate $500 for each of his blocked shots for the rest of the season to the RENS, a New York-area, not-for-profit youth basketball program. Hes averaging 1.2 blocks.The Hawks are one of the early season surprises. Led by power forward Paul Millsap (17.3 ppg, 8 rpg), Atlanta is second in the Eastern Conference annd leads the league in turnovers forced (17. William Perry Jersey. 6 per game) and ranks second in field-goal percentage (48.0), assists (26.2) and steals (10.2).Dwight Howard has resurrected his career in Atlanta after several pedestrian seasons with the Houston Rockets and one year with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 31-year-old center is fourth in the league in field-goal percentage (.606) and third in rebounding (12.9).The Hawks could be without guard Thabo Sefolosha, who has missed the last two games with a knee sprain. The pesky Sefolosha is third in the league in steals (2.60). Former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. should get most of those minutes if Sefolosha is a no-go.Center Tiago Splitters return from a Grade 2 hamstring strain that has forced him to miss the start of the season is uncertain.Atlanta is coming off a 100-96 loss to Charlotte on Friday in which they squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Charlotte took control of the game after Howard was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul with 5:38 remaining and the Hawks leading 89-86. He landed a hard elbow to the jaw of Cody Zeller as the two were battling for rebound position. From there, the Hornets scored nine straight points.That was a momentum shift right there, Millsap said. It just completely turned the game around. They took that and fueled it to the fire, the crowd gets into it and theyre at home. What can you say?Howard insisted the foul was not intentional. Thats basketball, he said.Atlanta plays six of its next seven games on the road. ' ' '