Jimmie Johnson took his No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS to victory lane in the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) to score his seventh win of the 2009 season. The victory inched Johnson ever-closer to his unprecedented fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) championship with one race remaining in the season. He holds a 108-point lead after 35 races.
A 25th-place or better finish next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway will notch a spot in NASCAR history for Johnson as the first driver to win four consecutive NSCS championships.
The win is the 47th of his NSCS career and fourth at PIR.
Jeff Burton brought the No. 31 CAT Financial Impala SS to the checkered flag in the second finishing position.
Mark Martin, No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Impala SS and pole sitter Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Rain-X Impala SS finished fourth and fifth respectively to give Team Chevy four of the top-five finishers in today’s 312-lap/312-mile/500-mile race.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota) completed the top-five finishers.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 2 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 4 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 5 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 6 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 7 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 8 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 9 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 10 0 David Reutimann Toyota 11 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 12 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 13 44 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 14 16 Greg Biffle Ford 15 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 16 99 Carl Edwards Ford 17 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 18 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 19 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 20 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 21 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 22 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 23 6 David Ragan Ford 24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 25 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 26 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 27 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 28 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 29 98 Paul Menard Ford 30 9 David Gilliland Chevrolet 31 96 Erik Darnell Ford 32 113 Max Papis * Toyota 33 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 34 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 35 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 36 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 37 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 38 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 39 171 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 40 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 41 36 Michael McDowell Toyota 42 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 43 37 Tony Raines Chevrolet
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