Johnson wins again; Gordon on Chase: 'It's over'

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- You can't lose the Chase if you don't lose a race.

Jimmie Johnson all but wrapped up his second consecutive NASCAR Nextel Cup title with his fourth consecutive victory Sunday, winning the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Johnson took the checkered flag .870 seconds ahead of Greg Biffle to expand his lead in the Chase for the Nextel Cup to 86 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.

"It's over," said Gordon, who finished 10th in a car that never handled to his liking. "Even if we win it, it's because they had a problem, and that's not the way we want to win it. ... Those guys (Johnson's team) have flat out killed everybody else."

All Johnson has to do to win the championship is finish 18th or better in the season finale next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Because Johnson and Gordon are the only two of the 12 Chase qualifiers with a chance to win the title, team owner Rick Hendrick is guaranteed his seventh Cup championship.

"With the lead that we have, it's a nice and comfortable position to be in," said Johnson, who won his series-best 10th race of the year and the 33rd of his career, tying him for 18th on the all-time win list with Fireball Roberts. "But we've got to go down there and run 400 miles. That's the bottom line.

"If we don't run the full distance of the race, we're in trouble. (The 86-point lead) keeps some of the pressure off -- it certainly does -- but we're going to go down there and try to keep it simple, like we've done to this point, just go out there and run our race, do our thing.

"I don't want to act like it's our championship yet. We have a nice margin in the points right now -- but 400 miles. That's my goal. We've got to run 400 more miles, and then we'll get nuts after that."

Johnson is the first driver to win four straight Cup events since Gordon accomplished the feat during his 1998 championship season.

Fifth on a restart on Lap 275, after the 10th caution of the race, Johnson moved quickly to the front, passing Matt Kenseth for second position on Lap 283 and powering past Martin Truex Jr. for the lead on Lap 288 of the 312-lap race.

From that point on, Johnson pulled away. In a scramble for position behind him, Biffle finished second, with Kenseth third, followed by Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.

Gordon struggled with the handling of his No. 24 Chevrolet throughout the race, though he ran as high as second after the leaders got off-sequence on pit stops. Gordon restarted fourth and Johnson 10th after a caution for Kasey Kahne's wreck on Lap 148, but Johnson ran down Gordon for the second position 25 laps later, as the No. 48 began to assert its dominance.

The eighth caution of the race, for Dave Blaney's spin on Lap 233, put all the frontrunners back on the same pit sequence. With a two-tire call, Newman won the race off pit road and led the field to a restart on Lap 240, with Kenseth second, Stewart third, Clint Bowyer fourth, Truex fifth and Johnson sixth.

NASCAR Nextel Cup-Checker Auto Parts 500

Sunday's Results

At Phoenix International Raceway

Avondale, Ariz.

1. (6) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 312 laps, 102.989 mph, $245,011.

2. (7) Greg Biffle, Ford, 312, $175,075.

3. (18) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 312, $172,291.

4. (21) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 312, $156,211.

5. (13) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 312, $141,125.

6. (34) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 312, $136,386.

7. (2) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 312, $122,895.

8. (38) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 312, $99,475.

9. (12) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 312, $114,966.

10. (3) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 312, $124,911.

11. (20) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 312, $84,975.

12. (9) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 312, $109,333.

13. (11) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 312, $87,925.

14. (4) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 312, $100,183.

15. (5) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 312, $72,850.

16. (15) Denny Hamlin, Chevrolet, 312, $84,925.

17. (14) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 312, $106,700.

18. (32) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 312, $107,036.

19. (25) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 312, $95,258.

20. (37) David Stremme, Dodge, 312, $71,725.

21. (22) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 312, $68,625.

22. (19) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 312, $68,400.

23. (23) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 312, $77,475.

24. (39) Robby Gordon, Ford, 312, $67,925.

25. (29) Sterling Marlin, Chevrolet, 311, $65,000.

26. (28) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 311, $75,575.

27. (16) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 311, $85,695.

28. (42) David Gilliland, Ford, 311, $94,314.

29. (36) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 311, $83,133.

Point Standings

1. J.Johnson, 6,572. 2. J.Gordon, 6,486. 3. C.Bowyer, 6,331. 4. Ky.Busch, 6,185. 5. T.Stewart, 6,169. 6. M.Kenseth, 6,103. 7. K.Harvick, 6,093. 8. J.Burton, 6,089. 9. C.Edwards, 6,067. 10. Ku.Busch, 6,056. 11. M.Truex Jr., 6,009. 12. D.Hamlin, 5,973.