Jimmie Johnson Opens Huge Chase Lead With 2008 Martinsville Win

The 2008 Tums QuikPak 500 was dominated by Chase leader Jimmie Johnson. He lead the most laps and rolled home to an easy victory. While this battle was waged at Martinsville Speedway the bigger story this weekend is the 2008 Chase for the Cup war. Has Jimmie Johnson clinched?

Qualifying

Qualifying was rained out once again. The starting lineup was set based on car owner points. This put the Chase contenders all together at the front of the field. So the green flag saw Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer start in the top five spots.

Drop Of The Green

The inside lane moved ahead at the start so Jimmie Johnson claimed five bonus points and extended his point lead. Johnson continued to lead but his teammate Jeff Gordon was on the move.

After an early caution Jeff Gordon passed Johnson for the lead on lap 36 and those two dominated the rest of the early going.

Storylines

The story of this race was Jimmie Johnson. His dominating performance has given him a commanding point lead. Now the question is whether or not this Championship battle is over.

Johnson is the two-time defending Champion and is now well on his way to claiming his third in a row. Has Johnson all-but clinched the 2008 Cup?

Chasing The Checkers

A late green flag flew with 33 laps to go. Matt Kenseth stayed out to lead the race. It didn't take long for Jimmie Johnson to get his nose under Kenseth and claim the lead.

Johnson dominated from there to the end including two green flag restarts with less than ten laps to go.

Top Ten

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3. Carl Edwards
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Casey Mears
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Clint Bowyer

The Points

With another win Jimmie Johnson extended his point lead. Only four races remain in the 2008 Chase and right now it is very hard to imagine anyone passing Johnson for the Championship.

With only four races remaining Jimmie Johnson now has a lead of more than one full race. This means that Johnson could skip qualifying and finish 43rd nxt week in Atlanta and still leave with the point lead.

Jimmie Johnson will win his third Sprint Cup Championship in a row.

1. Jimmie Johnson -0
2. Greg Biffle -149
3. Jeff Burton -152
4. Carl Edwards -198
5. Clint Bowyer -246
6. Kevin Harvick -256
7. Jeff Gordon -275
8. Tony Stewart -338
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -379
10. Matt Kenseth -408
11. Denny Hamlin -420
12. Kyle Busch -445