Jimmie Johnson races to No. 1

Updated: November 29, 2010, 11:18 PM ET

ESPN

When you think of sports dynasties, you probably think of the Boston Celtics teams that dominated the NBA hardwood for eight consecutive years or the seemingly unstoppable Yankees, who collected five World Series titles from 1949 to '53. But thanks to Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team, there's no need to look back in history for a glimpse at a legendary championship run.

For the fifth consecutive year, the No. 48 car took home the Sprint Cup title. And for the first time, a driver in the Chase era won the title after trailing in the standings with one race to go.

The rest of the rankings were not so clear-cut. MLB awards are a big deal, but are they bigger than rushing your way into the record books or tossing the game-winning touchdown pass? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Our all-star ESPN panel: John Buccigross, Josh Elliott, Robert Flores, DJ Gallo, Jemele Hill, Dana Jacobson, Brian Kenny, Jeff MacGregor, Bram Weinstein and Trey Wingo.

Week: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

2010-11 Power Rankings: Week 31

Rank (LW)	Player	Comment
1 (NR)	Jimmie Johnson NASCAR	When you're Jimmie Johnson, championships are a yearly ritual and champagne is shampoo. With his second-place finish at Homestead, JJ & Co. join Michael Schumacher, John Wooden's UCLA teams, the Celtics, Canadiens and Yankees as five-peat champions. Wow.
2 (NR)	Roy Halladay Phillies	This one can be filed under the "no duh" category. Halladay won the National League Cy Young Award with a unanimous vote that no one can refute. (Especially when you look at his numbers: 21-10, 2.44 ERA and 219 strikeouts. Yeesh!)
3 (NR)	Mark Sanchez Jets	Another close game for The Sanchize, another win for the Jets. And with stats of 315 yards and three touchdowns, you can't say it was in spite of him.
4 (5)	Tom Brady Patriots	Tom Terrific was just that for the second week in a row, outdueling Peyton Manning in a 31-28 New England win. The Pats QB has thrown only four picks this season, just one more than Manning threw Sunday alone. Consider the salt rubbed in.
5 (NR)	Lionel Messi Barcelona	Opponents look messy when they try to stop this offensive force. Messi has 10 goals in his past five La Liga matches, posting a hat trick in Barcelona's 8-0 trouncing of Almeria this past weekend.
6 (NR)	Mikel Leshoure Illinois	If we learned one thing Saturday, it's that Leshoure can run. He muscled his way into the record book, breaking Illionis' single-game rushing mark with 330 yards on 33 carries, and scored two touchdowns.
7 (NR)	Felix Hernandez Mariners	Hey, look, the Mariners actually won something! Despite only posting a 13-12 record, King Felix nabbed the AL Cy Young and helped prove that baseball minds could overcome tradition to reward outstanding statistics: a league-leading 2.27 ERA and 30 quality starts.
8 (NR)	Blake Griffin Clippers	Get in Griffin's way and he'll dunk on your face (or post 44 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists). Case in point: his no-mercy jam on Knicks center Timofey Mozgov. Sir, you've been posterized.
9 (NR)	Joey Votto Reds	Votto was on this list so many times that we started running out of great things to say about him. Now, we'll let the newly crowned NL MVP's stats do the talking: .324 average, 37 HRs, 113 RBIs, and a .600 slugging percentage.
10 (NR)	Steven Stamkos Lightning	Stamkos had six points in three games -- all Lightning wins -- this past week, including a hat trick and an assist in an 8-7 win over the Flyers. He leads the NHL in goals, power-play goals and points, and he's third in the league in game-winning goals. Not bad, eh?