Jimmie Johnson bounced back from a poor finish in Texas last week to win the NASCAR race in Arizona on Sunday and move within sight of his third successive title.
Johnson only needs to finish 36th or better in the final race of the season next week in Miami to clinch the title and join Carl Yarborough (1976-78) as the only drivers to win three successive championships.
Though it took a green-white-checkered-flag finish to decide the race, the outcome was hardly in doubt, as Johnson dominated, leading 217 of 313 laps. Kurt Busch finished second, .295 seconds behind the two-time defending Cup champion.
With the victory, his seventh of the season, his third in a row at Phoenix and the 40th of his career, Johnson widened his lead in the Chase to 141 points over fourth-place finisher Carl Edwards.
“Those guys [the crew] were working for every little thing they could find to make this car better, and they made it the dominant car,” said Johnson, whose win also clinched Chevrolet’s 32nd manufacturer’s championship.
Of the 12 drivers who started the Chase, only Edwards has an outside chance to catch Johnson.
“I’m excited,” Johnson said. “I wish we could have left here and all we have to do is start [at Homestead], but Carl put up a great fight. They’ve been a strong, championship-caliber team all year. But as long as something doesn’t go crazy for us down in Homestead, we’re going to tie Cale—and I can’t wait to start celebrating.”
Jamie McMurray was third, followed by Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin.
“We had a great run but Jimmie is just doing a great job,” Edwards said. “We just have to keep our heads up. It’s possible to catch him, but it’s not probable.
“But you never know what can happen.”
Busch had four restarts over the final 25 laps to catch and pass Johnson, but could not overtake him.
“We had plenty of opportunities to go for Jimmie,” Busch said. “We put up a fight and I’m proud to finish second, but Jimmie is just putting a whuppin’ on everybody right now.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and David Ragan rounded out the top-10.
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