At some point during a festive celebration Sunday, look for those on stage after the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to turn their caps backward and point to the heavens.

That is predictable no matter whether the No. 48 of driver Jimmie Johnson or the No. 5 with iconic veteran Mark Martin at the wheel are posing with the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship trophy amid flying confetti.

In the middle of either jubilee, because he owns both teams, will be the son of a Virginia tobacco farmer who long ago traded the bucolic setting of his boyhood for a frenetic world of speed, tumult and kaleidoscopic vision.

The spectacular success of an automotive empire Rick Hendrick began with one remote South Carolina dealership has transferred to a stock car racing kingdom that encompasses all he surveys and seems only to grow more formidable.

``This probably is as good as it gets,'' Hendrick said Thursday, ``to have the three cars in the points [Jeff Gordon ranks third in the Chase for the Cup] where they are, having the championship as owner already secured. This has got to be as good as any season we've ever had.''

The championship Hendrick celebrates Sunday will be his ninth in the premier Cup series, a record 13th in the three primary NASCAR series and a poignant reason to pay tribute to those who helped make it possible but are no longer here to bask in the glow.

The October 2004 plane crash that took the lives of Hendrick's son, Ricky, his brother, John, two nieces and six valued members of Hendrick Motorsports operation devastated the organization but did not destroy it.

PAYING TRIBUTE

Maybe, in a sense, tragedy even fortified it. In so many ways, every victory and every championship since has served to pay tribute not only to Ricky Hendrick but also everyone else who perished.

``Absolutely,'' Hendrick said Thursday when asked if fans will see that symbolic and poignant gesture Sunday. ``Every time.''

Rick Hendrick used to chide his son for a propensity for turning his cap backward. But when Brian Vickers won the 2003 Busch (now Nationwide) series championship for Ricky's team, the father proudly consented to the son's insistence he reverse his cap.

The tradition that grew from that has been unmistakeable because Johnson has reeled off three consecutive championships and could claim an unprecedented fourth in a row by finishing 25th or better in the Ford 400.

He and Martin have accounted for 12 victories this year and Gordon a 13th, adding to a mind-blowing total of eight seasons in the past 15 in which Hendrick's drivers have accounted for double-digit victories, with a peak of 18 in 2007.

A Johnson title also would tie him with Hendrick teammate Gordon, who hasn't added to his collection of four since 2001 but continues to make his presence felt.

Hendrick frequently tells the story of how he watched a young Gordon smoking the tires of his Busch car in a race at Atlanta, told a friend to watch for the kid to bust his tail and then marveled at a Gordon victory.

``I saw Jeff and said, `I'm going to bet my future on that kid,' '' Hendrick said.

LAUNCHING PAD

It wasn't as if Hendrick Motorsports began with Gordon. Drivers such as Geoff Bodine (Hendrick's first in 1984), the late Tim Richmond and Darrell Waltrip had reached Victory Lane in Hendrick hardware, most notably Waltrip in the 1989 Daytona 500.