Parity in NASCAR? Jimmie Johnson wins a lot, but so do others

— -- When Jimmie Johnson won his seventh Sprint Cup title, it might have been his most improbable championship considering how he ran fourth among the title contenders for much of the season finale in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But he still won it. And the record books show that he has won seven of the last 11 Cup titles.

That prompted ESPN sports business writer Darren Rovell to tweet:

"Jimmie Johnson has won his 7th Sprint Cup title in 11 years. NASCAR is in dire need of more parity."

The NASCAR fan base (and NASCAR media relations folks) quickly fired back. Has he not been watching?

The stats show that while Johnson has won seven of the past 11, he has won two of the past six. Entering this season, there were five different champions -- Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch -- in the past five years. Keselowski, Harvick and Busch were first-time titlists.

So which is it? Is there parity or not in NASCAR's top series, considering one driver has won titles more often than the rest over the last decade.

"Man, you can make a stat tell whatever story you want it to tell," Keselowski said. "That's the thing about stats -- they don't lie but they can be interpreted however you want to interpret them.

"That's my answer to that. I wouldn't write off what he's saying and I wouldn't dive into it with 100 percent certainty. The truth is always somewhere in the middle."

The truth also could be looked at a different way instead of just titles. It can be looked at with wins.

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There were 13 winners in 2016 -- one more than in 2015, same as 2014 but less than 2013 (17 winners) and 2012 (15 winners). The winners were spread across seven organizations. Since 2013, 12 organizations have won races.

But take even a closer look: For the first time in four years, no driver won at least six races. In 2016, eight drivers won at least three races -- more than in any of year since Johnson's five-title streak. And in the last six years, 10 drivers have won at least 10 races -- Johnson 27, Harvick 21, Keselowski and Matt Kenseth 20, Kyle Busch 19, Joey Logano 16, Denny Hamlin 13, Jeff Gordon 11, and Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards 10.

"The parity is really good," Harvick said. "As you look at how many people won about the same amount of races, I'd say whoever wrote that is not very well-versed in watching the races.

"As you look at, there was four of us [this year] who won four races and Jimmie won five, [and] Jimmie didn't have the best car at Homestead."

Busch quipped that maybe Rovell "should stick to business" and looks at the fact that there have been three recent first-time champions as a sign of parity.

"It only came about because a guy came on and won five in a row," Busch said "I would have agreed entirely if he said that whenever Johnson's last one was. ... it's hard to beat the best and that's what we all want to do and that's what we strive to do and we were able to do that the last couple of years in being able to beat the 48 team [of Johnson].

"It didn't look like it was going to be their chance at all through much of the event but you can never count them out."

That is what many will view as the argument for parity. Johnson won the title after the two best championship contenders -- Edwards and Logano -- wrecked on a restart late in the 2016 championship race.

The chances of having a driver win as many championships as Johnson likely is less in the new format since four drivers now enter the season finale tied in points under a system that started in 2014.

"It's still sinking in," Johnson said in early December about his championship. "This is mind-blowing. ... This is so insane."

But Johnson also feels there's a reason for his dominance. He has been with the same team (Hendrick Motorsports) for 15 years. He has had the same crew chief in Chad Knaus. The same manufacturer in Chevrolet. And even his car chief (Ron Malec) has been on the team for the entire ride.

"There's only a few situations or few teams that really had that [consistency and chemistry] for long stretches," Johnson said. "People can hit that sweet spot for short periods of time and it's like a drug.

"There's nothing better when a team is working that closely together and getting stuff done."