Johnson wins at Phoenix, closes in on another title

AVONDALE, Ariz.

When a fluke accident cost Jimmie Johnson a huge chunk of his points lead, he knew that there was no more room for error in his bid to win a NASCAR record fourth consecutive championship.

But when it came time to plot a strategy for Phoenix International Raceway, playing it safe was never an option.

Johnson cruised to a dominating victory yesterday that moved him to the edge of history, winning the fourth race of this Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in what his rivals considered a "statement" showing.

"I guess in the end it could be looked at like that," Johnson acknowledged. "It was, ‘Hey, guys, you know, we need to step up and get it done ... we need to show what we're made of, we need to get this done.'

"I guess in the end, it could have been a statement that we're sending. I'm very proud of the fact we looked each other in the eyes, knew what we had to do, and delivered."

Johnson was wrecked on the third lap of last week's race at Texas, and sat inside his disabled race car as his crew did a total rebuild of the Chevrolet. He limped to a 38th-place finish that sliced his lead in the standings to 73 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin.

His win at Phoenix -- Johnson's fourth in the last five races here, and seventh victory of the season -- stretched his lead to 108 points over Martin heading into the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnson needs to finish 25th or better next week to grab a spot in NASCAR's record books.

"We gave it everything we had," said Martin, who finished fourth.

Martin has gained 108 points on Johnson nine times in 265 races, including last weekend at Texas. He did it once at Homestead, in 2005.

He's not counting on catching Johnson this year, and Martin will likely finish second in the final standings for a fifth time.

He's the only driver still in mathematical contention to catch Johnson. Fellow Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon will be eliminated as soon as Johnson starts next week, and Johnson's win at Phoenix knocked everyone else out of contention.

Despite the harsh reality of his position, Martin is refusing to concede to Johnson and said he won't let up next week in Homestead as he tries to at least stave off Gordon for second in the final standings. But should Johnson coast to the win, Martin will be fine.

"We've still got to go to Homestead and run like this again, because we still have heat behind us, Jeff Gordon, especially," Martin said. "I definitely have been beat by the best -- Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt. It wouldn't embarrass me if it was Jimmie Johnson as well."

Jeff Burton finished second and was followed by Denny Hamlin, Martin and pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. Kurt Busch, the winner last week at Texas, finished sixth. Clint Bowyer was seventh, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Gordon, and David Reutimann.

Nobody was surprised to see Johnson in Victory Lane. Johnson, though, was reluctant to start any celebration after his win. Although his Hendrick team initially reacted as if the title had been locked up, the No. 48 crew quickly settled down in Victory Lane.

"Texas was such a good lesson," Johnson said. "And I hope that the points we lost in Texas isn't what keeps us from winning this championship."

Not likely.

Results

1. 3 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 312 149.6 195 $267,001

2. 36 Jeff Burton Chevy 312 101.7 170 $204,006

3. 5 Denny Hamlin Toyota 312 118.2 165 $144,825

4. 10 Mark Martin Chevy 312 117.1 160 $123,500

5. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevy 312 111.4 155 $159,040

6. 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 312 122.2 155 $112,250

7. 13 Clint Bowyer Chevy 312 104.0 146 $107,450

8. 17 J.P. Montoya Chevy 312 98.8 142 $119,148

9. 14 Jeff Gordon Chevy 312 103.1 138 $120,326

10. 15 David Reutimann Toyota 312 88.8 134 $109,248

11. 21 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 312 85.7 130 $96,948

12. 7 Kyle Busch Toyota 312 96.8 127 $121,798

13. 16 AJ Allmendinger Ford 312 88.3 124 $77,600

14. 6 Greg Biffle Ford 312 87.6 121 $92,150

15. 4 Kasey Kahne Dodge 312 89.7 118 $113,923

16. 25 Carl Edwards Ford 312 71.0 115 $119,206

17. 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 311 78.2 112 $92,510

18. 28 Matt Kenseth Ford 311 65.9 114 $115,765

19. 30 Jamie McMurray Ford 311 61.4 106 $81,025

20. 24 Ryan Newman Chevy 311 77.2 108 $107,329

21. 27 Joey Logano Toyota 310 58.4 100 $117,551

22. 22 Robby Gordon Toyota 310 56.5 97 $90,810

23. 33 David Ragan Ford 310 55.6 94 $80,775

24. 31 Kevin Harvick Chevy 310 55.2 91 $108,928

25. 8 Tony Stewart Chevy 310 65.6 88 $86,423

26. 40 Reed Sorenson Dodge 310 51.9 85 $108,476

27. 9 Casey Mears Chevy 308 58.5 82 $85,900

28. 35 Elliott Sadler Dodge 308 36.9 79 $78,750

29. 41 Paul Menard Ford 308 41.7 76 $101,031

30. 29 David Gilliland Chevy 308 43.0 73 $71,500

31. 39 Erik Darnell Ford 306 40.0 70 $95,004

32. 23 Max Papis Toyota 304 35.1 67 $67,200

33. 37 Scott Speed Toyota 303 39.4 64 $79,148

34. 42 John Andretti Chevy 268 36.5 61 $75,900

35. 18 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 256 59.0 58 $84,825

36. 11 Michael Waltrip Toyota 251 53.3 55 $74,675

37. 26 Brad Keselowski Dodge 239 56.7 52 $99,040

38. 19 Brian Vickers* Toyota 170 58.0 49 $94,748

39. 20 Bobby Labonte* Chevy 169 60.5 46 $66,300

Fin. St. Driver Car Laps Rat. Pts. Money

40. 34 Joe Nemechek Toyota 47 32.3 43 $66,150

41. 38 Michael McDowell* Toyota 36 31.8 40 $66,000

42. 32 Dave Blaney* Toyota 9 28.9 37 $65,875

43. 43 Tony Raines* Chevy 6 27.1 34 $66,247

Race statistics

Average speed of winner: 110.486 mph. Time of race: 2 hours, 49 minutes, 26 seconds. Margin of victory: 1.33 seconds. Caution flags: Four for 23 laps. Lead changes: Nine among four drivers. Lap leaders: Ku.Busch 1-52; J.Johnson 53; Ku.Busch 54-55; J.Johnson 56-73; R.Newman 74; Ku.Busch 75-89; J.Johnson 90-243; M.Kenseth 244-247; J.Johnson 248-312. Leaders summary (Driver, times led, laps led): J.Johnson, 4 times for 238 laps; Ku.Busch, 3 times for 69 laps; M.Kenseth, 1 time for 4 laps; R.Newman, 1 time for 1 lap

* Did not finish

Brian Vickers (accident); Bobby Labonte (accident); Joe Nemechek (power steering); Michael McDowell (brakes); Dave Blaney (overheating); Tony Raines (electrical)

Chase leaders

1. J.Johnson 6,492; 2. M.Martin 6,384; 3. J.Gordon 6,323; 4. Ku.Busch 6,281; 5. T.Stewart 6,207; 6. J.Montoya 6,203; 7. G.Biffle 6,171; 8. D.Hamlin 6,140; 9. R.Newman 6,081; 10. K.Kahne 6,016; 11. C.Edwards 5,972; 12. B.Vickers 5,826

Driver rating

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race. The formula combines the following: wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps, lead-lap finish.