NASCAR Cup Series

The Hot Pass: Johnson reasserts Chase dominance

Published Nov. 16, 2009 6:17 p.m. ET

foxsports

Jimmie Johnson just seems unstoppable.

Mark Martin came out fighting. Jeff Gordon gave it his all. But even in equal Hendrick Motorsports equipment, neither teammate could hold off Johnson at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday in his quest for a fourth Sprint Cup title.

Trackside with Lee Spencer

Stop stalling: Is Danica coming to NASCAR? She wasn't at Phoenix and some wonder if a deal will happen.

Meet and Greet: A day after his feud with Denny Hamlin reignited, Brad Keselowski got to meet with NASCAR's brass.

Who's that? Formula One star Jarno Trulli was spotted in the garage this weekend, and he was doing more than just watching.

More from Lee Spencer

There was a glimmer of hope last weekend after Johnson finished 38th at Texas Motor Speedway. Certainly, Martin and Gordon had a mathematical possibility entering this weekend's race at Phoenix — particularly the No. 5 Chevrolet with 73 points separating his team from Johnson's squad.

But despite Martin's fourth-place finish, Johnson led the most laps (238), won the race, and his advantage jumped again.

"One-O-something (108) is better than 73," Johnson said following the race. "We knew we had to come out and win today. We did it. We knew what we had to do and we delivered."

The resilience of the No. 48 team surprises no one. After all, Johnson & Co. have collected 17 of 59 possible wins in the postseason since the Chase for the Sprint Cup's inception. And a remarkable 28.8 percent of Johnson's 47 career wins have come in the final 10 races of the year.

Denny Hamlin, who finished third on Sunday, knew before the Chase began that the only thing that would slow Johnson down was bad luck.

"Anytime that Jimmie is down is not usually because of performance, it's usually because of an incident like you had last week," Hamlin said. "There was no doubt in my mind they were going to come this week and make a statement.

"Obviously, leading all the laps pretty much and winning the race sends a statement out there that he is the best. That they're not going to be denied this year."

So when Johnson called for champagne on his celebratory lap, no one was surprised. The bottles were waiting for the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet when he arrived in Victory Lane.

The party has begun — at least for the 48 team — and we're not even to Homestead yet. Subsequently, reality has hit everyone else.

"I'm very pleased with our effort," said Martin, who posted five wins this season. "We were competitive. We've had a couple good days this year. I'm not worried about winning a championship."

Martin isn't conceding. He just understands the competition. Martin has competed against Johnson for the last eight seasons, but this is the first time he's been under the same roof. And he doesn't expect Johnson's success to end any time soon.

"Things are quite different right now but no one in my experience — from 1981 until now — no one, until now, has been able to sustain the kind of performance," Martin said. "Many achieved that kind of performance, but they were never able to sustain it.

"It's very, very difficult to do. It might come apart and come unraveled at any time, but I don't see that. I see that continuing for a long time."

Brighter days for Childress

Before Richard Childress made further changes to his organization last month, he vowed to come back stronger than ever.

For some, talk is cheap. But Childress' decision to move crew chief Todd Berrier to the No. 31 Chevrolet team with driver Jeff Burton has paid off with three consecutive finishes of ninth or better. Burton's second-place result on Sunday was his best run of the season.

Burton had just two top fives and six top-10 finishes prior to Berrier's arrival.

"We both have a lot of respect for each other," Burton said. "We came into this thing expecting to perform well. I have a lot of faith in Todd. I think Todd has a lot of faith in me. We're very blunt, very upfront, very honest. We just go to work.

"He's real good about reminding me about things I need to be reminded of. He's everything I thought he was and more. I'm real proud to be working with him. There's a lot of things that go into this. Todd is pushing a lot of buttons, making a lot of stuff happen."

Burton offered kudos to his former crew chief Scott Miller, who assumed the role of competition director following Martinsville. The move has enabled Miller to reorganize the shop and begin working on next year's program.

Help wanted

Ryan Newman is in need of support from his troops — now.

Newman qualified the No. 39 Army Chevrolet 24th. He flirted with the top 10 midway through the race. However, he was never able to gain ground in the pits.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaked fluid on the track, Newman was behind him and was caught in the nine-car melee on Lap 172. He dropped to 17th and the race was downhill from there.

"Had a bad pit stop, got in the back," said Newman who finished 20th, "Junior lost control of his car and got sideways and then I got hit and drove into him and it kind of ruined our day from that point on. We went a lap down because of the damage we had. Had a bad points day, had a bad day and a terrible pit road day.

"The focus next week is to try to have a good run but we've got to do something on pit road. We come in we're guaranteed to lose three spots and these cars are so similar that driver, the crew chief and everything else that you have really can't make up for that in my opinion."

The good, the bad, the ugly

As solid as Jimmie Johnson was — again — his Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. missed the end game on Sunday.

Gordon, who battled with Kyle Busch — and then retaliated on Lap 129 — ran as high as third, but never made it to the point. He finished ninth and remained third in the standings.

"I thought we were going to be a lot better than that," Gordon said. "We started off the day great, and I don't know, we just faded. We just didn't have it."

Gordon has noticed a reoccurring issue of starting strong but not being able to finish.

Earnhardt Jr., who triggered a multicar accident on Lap 172 when his engine began leaking fluid, desires just to put an entire race together. Throughout the race Earnhardt complained of not being able to drive the car.

Following the wreck, he accepted responsibility.

"I hate it for everyone who got caught up in that," Earnhardt said. "That was a pretty big mess, I was trying to spin the car down the track, just driving it wide open into the inside wall and I couldn't get out of everybody's way."

Earnhardt was scored 35th, his ninth finish of 30th or worse this season.

Numbers game

SAY WHAT?

Denny Hamlin on competing against Jimmie Johnson at Phoenix:

"I was just happy to see him at the end of the race, that's all I could hope for."