king their season total to 21 in nine games. They had 19 last season, fewest in the NFL.LYNCH HONORED: Retired S John Lynch became the ninth member of the Bucs Ring of Honor during a halftim

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson has sported a helmet this year that includes the images of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. Painted between the Hall of Famers, a florescent green 7 shines from the back.Johnson didnt tell crew chief Chad Knaus about the helmet. He probably knew better. Knaus doesnt exactly endorse the looking-beyond-the-immediate-race strategy.But Johnson needed something to focus on as he attempted to go from a six-time Sprint Cup champion to a record-tying seven-time titlist. Only Petty and Earnhardt have accomplished such a feat.So after two seasons in which he failed to advance in the Chase for the Sprint Cup to the championship round, Johnson started racing with a helmet as a reminder of what he could accomplish.The fact I have the 7 and Dale and Richards faces on my helmet is, one, respect to them and, two, just to put a target on something, Johnson said. Thats the goal. Thats what I want to do. ... Its not that Im trying to get to something so I can stop, that Im getting to the peak of whatever it is and Im good.Its more of a target that I just want to have something to focus on, obsess on.That obsession, which started three years ago after Johnson won his sixth title, has turned into an opportunity Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. If Johnson can finish better than Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano in the Ford 400, Johnson will earn that seventh Sprint Cup title.He wants that [seventh] so badly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on one of his podcasts. Weve had a few conversations about that, and I know how much that would mean to him. ... I believe he does deserve it.After everything he has put into the sport, I think it would be good for him to go ahead and win that championship.When Earnhardts father won his seventh title, the fans at Rockingham Speedway either cheered for their hero or against the driver who would tie their hero. Johnson could expect the same 22 years later.He has legions of fans, and the Earnhardt endorsement certainly wont hurt him. But many NASCAR fans wouldnt want him to tie a record set when the championship was awarded by points throughout the entire season instead of a reset with 10 races remaining.Its one of those deals where I did my thing in my time, Earnhardt done his thing in his time, Petty said. Jimmie is doing his thing in his time. So we never competed with each other.We won ours against who we was playing against. Earnhardt won his and Jimmie is winning against the people that hes running against, so theres no way to compare it. Its just a number.Johnson has the incredible respect of Petty because he won five consecutive Cup titles in a system in which a driver had to run great over that 10-race stretch. He once had to average a fifth-place finish just to capture the crown over four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon.Thats the most underrated record in all of sports, what Jimmie did there, said Richards son, Kyle. But you know what? [My dad] looked at it and said Jimmie may be just pausing at seven. He may go to eight.Heres a guy that has that potential to go on. Were talking seven, but heres a guy thats done it so fast that he can go to eight.The 41-year-old Johnson never dreamed of getting to one. A former motorcycle and off-road racer, Johnson first came to NASCAR just hoping to win a Cup race.Winning seven? It would be insane, Johnson said. I dreamed of winning a race and then to have 79 [wins] and the championships, Ive had to move the bar up over the years because weve just had great fortune and great success.Im not a stat guy and chase that. Im aware of it. Im aware of what it would mean. And, damn, I want to do it.Johnson didnt realize the strain, the pressure of his consecutive championship streak until it got snapped in 2011 and he felt so much more relaxed going into Homestead. He failed to advance to the championship round in the first two years of the elimination format after his 2013 title.That has led his crew, in rah-rah moments, to say that NASCAR tried to Jimmie-proof the Chase with this format, where four drivers get eliminated every three races and its a best-finish-take-all day at Homestead -- a track where Johnson averages a 14th-place finish. Now the crew wants Johnson to prove he can win in any format.Im trying to distinguish if its championship pressure or if its really about seven, Johnson said. The last couple of years when the doors closed for whatever reason, theres a ton of pain and agony that goes with it.I dont think its necessarily about seven. Its about missing the chance of winning one. Especially the last one. I felt like I could have been a player [last year].This year, Johnson didnt look anything like a player over the summer. But his Hendrick Motorsports team has rebounded since August, and he has won two races in the Chase. His win at Martinsville gave him three weeks to focus on Homestead.It also allowed him to relax. He can go on 7-mile runs and think about the Homestead race. He also held an event for his foundation, in which he awarded grants to schools and the kids made toy race cars.Johnson has an obvious tie to wanting to help public schools -- his mother drove a school bus for a living. His father operated a backhoe. Ironically, the driver whose grass roots most closely resemble Dale Earnhardt Sr.s has fought a perception of a slick Californian who had money to get his ride. While Earnhardt used an intimidating persona to earn his stripes, Johnson opted for a professional, squeaky-clean image to make sure that sponsors wanted to support a driver with limited stock-car experience.I fought that my whole career. ... People just thought I had the silver spoon lifestyle, Johnson said. That would have made things a heck of a lot easier if that was the case.But it wasnt. People thought Junior Johnson was my father [for] the longest time.Laugh all you want, but the funny thing is that among the four finalists, Johnson might be the easiest to go have a drink with or celebrate a title. His championship celebration stories are ones that would make any college kid proud and he once proclaimed his liver hated him during one of his championship media tours.While he might not have the due respect of fans across the board, he does have it in the garage -- every garage he has competed in throughout his career. Not only does team owner Rick Hendrick bid at items during the Jimmie Johnson Foundation annual dinner and golf tournament, his former Xfinity Series owner, Stan Herzog, does too. As do his former racing buddies Jeremy McGrath, jet ski racer Victor Sheldon and off-road Hall of Famer Walker Evans.Hes a class guy, rival team owner Roger Penske said. He represents the industry, the garage area, the driver area in such a great way. To me, if he gets it, he sure deserves it.If he gets it, he can retire the helmet. And then torment his crew chief a little by having a helmet designed for a run at the eighth title.I saw it, and I was like, Oh boy, Knaus said about his first spotting the helmet on top of the car. Look, everybody gets motivated differently. Everybody has different things in their mind that gets them going in the morning or continues to motivate them throughout the course of the day.Jimmie, I think its not only a motivation for him to have that stuff on his helmet. I also think its a show of respect to the people that he is chasing. I think its a pretty cool thing.In addition to the tributes to the seven-time champions, what makes the helmet cool is the 7, painted in a way in tribute to the memory of Ricky Hendrick, Ricks son who was among 10 killed in a Hendrick Motorpsorts plane crash in 2004. Ricky used to write his 7 in that style.Johnson didnt design the helmet. He told artist Jason Beam what he wanted -- images of Petty and Earnhardt as well as some way to pay tribute to Ricky -- and Beam did the rest. He found some old-school photos of Earnhardt and Petty both in cowboy hats that he felt gave it a sweet old-school feel and would work best on the helmet. He added Chasing to the 7 after getting a text from Johnson talking about chasing the seventh title.Beam designs helmets for several drivers -- including two of the four finalists, with Busch and Johnson. He did one for Brendan Gaughan that had the family logo and a championship trophy prior to the 2003 truck championship race, which Gaughan ended up not winning.Im really superstitious, Beam said. I was like, [Gaughan] youre jinxing yourself. ... Ive watched this past couple of weeks this whole helmet hype, this whole seven hype and Im thinking I hope its not going to jinx him out of winning.For Beam, he had no problem trying to make an iconic helmet for Johnson.Ive done Jimmies helmets for 16 years, Beam said. Im really comfortable with what I do. Jimmie has always been very supportive. Jimmie doesnt have a lot of input.He has really trusted my judgment. I nailed what his style is years ago.Maybe thats why Johnson has had such a successful run. He doesnt wig out about the small details, putting his faith in the people with talent. All that Knaus asks is that the helmet remains lightweight.Beam has more Johnson helmets to paint. While winning a seventh would be cool, Johnson has no thoughts of winning the title Sunday and then calling it a career. He would go for eight. Or nine. Or possibly even more, although many dont see him racing much past 45.Youll still have to deal with me -- theres no mic drop, Johnson said. My wife might like that, but Im not there yet. She doesnt want to deal with me -- I still have too much racing in my system to get out.Even Petty would think of it as cool if Johnson ties his record. But Petty has been around racing long enough to know that racing is unpredictable at best.So hell watch the race Sunday and see if he welcomes another driver into the seven-title club.Being that I dont have a dog in the hunt, I dont care [if he does it], Petty said. And if he does, Im going to say, Congratulations.If he dont, Try again next year. Cheap Custom Celtics Jersey . 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TAMPA, Fla. -- Theres no letup in Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons.The NFC South leaders tightened their grip on first place in the division with a 43-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Ryan throwing for 344 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions on Thursday night.The victory avenged a 7-point home loss to Tampa Bay in the season opener. It also reiterated how much the Falcons (6-3) have progressed as a team since the earlier meeting.First game of the year, they played a little better than we did that day, Ryan said after tossing scoring passes to four different targets. I felt like we have continued to improve from that time of year. For me, thats like the best thing from a confidence standpoint -- that we continue to get better week in and week out.Julio Jones had another big game , with eight receptions for 111 yards. In 10 career meetings against Tampa Bay, hes averaged 110.6 yards per game with eight touchdowns.It was the receivers fifth 100-yard game of the season, 33rd of his career.The amount of guys that get involved in the game is a big topic for us, Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said.Levine Toilolo, Patrick DiMarco and Austin Hooper also caught TD passes from Ryan, who leads the NFL with 2,980 yards and 23 touchdowns vs. four interceptions.Receiver Taylor Gabriel scored on a 9-yard run.Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns for the Bucs (3-5), including scoring passes of 3 and 24 yards to Mike Evans, who had 11 receptions for 150 yards.Both of Tampa Bays young stars finished the game on the sideline, with Evans being evaluated for a possible concussion and Winston limping off after being shaken up when he was tackled trying to score on a two-point conversion play with just under seven minutes remaining.Winston was tackled around the ankle by Atlantas Brooks Reed and also hit by cornerback Jalen Collins. He said he was fine and didnt leave the game because he was injured.Coach took me out, Winston said.Mike Glennon finished up for the Bucs, taking his first regular season snaps since 2014. He threw a late TD pass to Cameron Brate to cut into a 23-point deficit.ddddddddddddSome things to know about the Falcons and Buccaneers:MOVING FORWARD: The Falcons are positioned well in the division, but dont want to get ahead of themselves. One of the things I do like about our team is were able to stay on the present moment and focus on the team that is at hand. ... Our focus this week was on us and how well we could attack, so were going to stay right in that window. Tampa Bay has lost two straight on the heels of a two-game winning streak that got them back in the division race. Were 3-5 at the halfway point, and thats what we earned. Theres half a season left. Ive got to figure out a way to help this team play up to its potential because right now theyre not, Bucs coach Dirk Kotter said. And thats on me.DEPENDABLE JONES: Jones started slowly, before the Falcons finally got him involved. The All-Pro receiver had half his production coming during a two-minute stretch of the second quarter. Early in the second half with the Falcons only leading 20-14, Jones caught passes from Matt Ryan on four consecutive plays, all for first downs, during an 86-yard touchdown drive. His play kind of got us going, Ryan said.THE BUCS STOP HERE: Falcons DT Grady Jarrett stopped a promising Tampa Bay drive with sacks on successive plays late in the first half. The Falcons finished with three sacks, hiking their season total to 21 in nine games. They had 19 last season, fewest in the NFL.LYNCH HONORED: Retired S John Lynch became the ninth member of the Bucs Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony. Lynch earned nine Pro Bowl selections during a 15-year career with Tampa Bay and the Denver Broncos. He was a captain on the Bucs only Super Bowl championship team (2002) and ranks fifth in team history with 164 games played. Lynch was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Honor earlier this month.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '