Jimmie Johnson dominates Phoenix!

He only has to finish 25th or better at next weekend’s finale to clinch the championship.

Photo Credit: Christian Peterson/Getty Images

“Great performance.  I just can’t thank the team enough for staying focused,” Johnson said also adding he was “bummed all week ” about his 38th place finish last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.  “We showed up, good in qualifying trim, qualified well.  Then once we had that second set of tires on the car today, the car took off.  We just made some small adjustments from there, just kept making the car better and better. Very proud of the team, how we can bounce back, stay focused on the right things, and get the job done.  I’m very excited.  A great position to be in.  But Texas was last week, as we all know, and anything can happen.  That was proof of it, so (I’m) looking forward to Homestead.  Yes, I am excited.  We need to go down there, qualify up front, run up front all night long, stay out of trouble.”

Johnson led 238 of the 312 laps. He extended his lead to 108 points over 2nd place Mark Martin. Johnson only needs to finish 25th or better regardless of what any other driver does to win his 4th consecutive and history making championship. No driver has ever won 4 consecutive championships. Only the top-3 drivers in the standings still mathematically have a chance to win, however Jeff Gordon, in 3rd, will be eliminated as soon as Johnson starts the race next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“We gave it everything we had,” Mark Martin said after his 4th place run. Martin was called the “sentimental favorite” to win the championship all season. He has finished 2nd in the standings four times.

“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.”

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

After Johnson was told what Martin had said about him, he replied, “Anytime Mark passes out a compliment, it’s not often, and you’ve really got to take a lot of pride in the fact he’s passing you a compliment.  I really appreciate it and respect it. You know, what means the most to me is in the garage area, I know I’m respected by everybody.  If it’s a slow phase from the fans, maybe in a position of not being respected for what I’ve accomplished, it will show up in due time.  Everything runs its course.  With winning races, the fact we’ve won three championships, you know, that stuff is just proving what I’m made of, what the team’s made of, who we are, what we’re about.  In time, we’ll have our day in the sun. Nothing has come easy for me my entire life.  I don’t expect the fan appeal, some of this perception stuff to come easy.  I’ve always had to earn it.  Here I am another year grinding it out and trying to earn it. I’m fine with it.  I’m good with it.  In the last year I’ve seen my fan base, the perception change so, so much.  If we are able to win a fourth, I think it would help it even more. I also think, you know, when I was a kid growing up, Earnhardt was winning a lot of races and championships, but nobody liked him.  When I first started driving for Hendrick, Jeff won his fourth championship, won a lot of races, nobody really liked him.  So I’m not the only one going through this.  It’s happened in our sport to other drivers.  I wasn’t around to see what happened, to see the days of Richard Petty, to see what that was like.  Earnhardt and Gordon have gone through the same stuff I’ve gone through.”

For the 4th time during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson scored 195 points, the maximum amount of points a driver can gain in one race. It’s career win #47 for Johnson which breaks his tie with Buck Baker for 13th on the all-time wins list. It’s his 7th win this season and 23rd top-10 finish. It’s also the 4th time Johnson has won at Phoenix International Raceway in his 13 cup races at the track.

Jeff Burton was closing in on Johnson over the closing laps. He scored a runner-up finish. “Obviously we’re real happy with the way we ran,” Burton said. “We had a long way to come.  I did not a very good job on Friday qualifying, got us behind.  Made a lot of spots up early.  We made a lot of spots up in the pits, too.  We had one pit stop early that wasn’t good, but the rest of them were really good.  I picked up a lot of spots. We had the car to win the race, we just didn’t have the track position to win the race.  That goes back to what we did on Friday.  I got to get better at that.  I’m 42, still learning.  I will get better at it. We’re building on something.  We’re working hard on our equipment, working hard on our communication, working hard on paying attention to how I drive.  Everybody’s looking at themselves in the mirror, and the results are showing.”

Denny Hamlin was third. “We threw a lot of different things at the car this morning, figuring that we were going to be a fifth  to 10 place car by the practice sheets,” Hamlin said. “We have a new car here, ran a setup that we never really ran before.  We finished where we usually do at this racetrack.  I think this is our fourth straight third place finish.  No matter what you throw in the car, I’m the best of the worst or the worst of the best, one of the two.”

After starting from the pole, Martin Truex Jr. was unable to lead as the green flag waved. He finished 5th without leading any laps in Sunday’s race. It’s his first top-5 this season in his next-to-last race for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing.

Last week’s race winner, Kurt Busch led early for 69 laps. He finished 6th. Burton’s teammate, Clint Bowyer finished 7th followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann to round out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 4 cautions for 23 laps and 9 lead changes among 4 drivers:  0; Kurt Busch 1-52; J. Johnson 53; Kurt Busch 54-55; J. Johnson 56-73; R. Newman 74; Kurt Busch 75-89; J. Johnson 90-243; M. Kenseth 244-247; J. Johnson 248-312

The race ran caution free until lap 116 when a debris caution was called. Cautions breed cautions. On lap 121, a 9 car wreck was triggered shortly after a restart seemed to slow down and bunch up the field. David Ragan, Robby Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, John Andretti, Michael Waltrip, Erik Darnell and David Gilliland were involved.

On lap 172, another 9 car accident was triggered when Dale Earnhardt Jr. went spinning after exiting Turn 4.

Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Bobby Labonte, Sam Hornish Jr., Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers and his Red Bull teammate, Scott Speed were also involved with the #88.

Sunday, November 22nd
Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
TV coverage begins at 2:30 pm ET on ABC