Jimmie Johnson Shows Championship Form with Dominant Phoenix Performance

Phoenix International Raceway has been dominated by Jimmie Johnson in recent years. Today was no different and Johnson was able to dominate the race and resume his commanding lead in the 2009 Chase. When the checkered flag fell Johnson had claimed his fourth Phoenix race in his last five tries and increased his Chase lead to 108 points over Mark Martin.

This was a Championship performance.

Qualifying

Martin Truex Jr. put his Chevrolet on the pole and was the only non-Chaser to qualify in the top five in Phoenix. Kurt Busch was the best of the Chasers and started second in his Penske Dodge.

Point leader Jimmie Johnson was third quick in his Hendrick Chevy with Dodge driver Kasey Kahne along side him on the outside of row two. Denny Hamlin's Toyota rounded out the top five.

Drop Of The Green

Kurt Busch got a run on the outside and lead the first laps with Truex and Johnson in line behind him..

The early portion of this race was very quiet. There was little movement at the front as Johnson seemed content to ride in third while Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon were steadily moving up behind him.

Storylines

As expected the top of the leaderboard looked a lot like the top of the Chase standings for most of the race. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon ran up front all race long.

Jimmie Johnson simply dominated. This was true Championship form from a team that will likely win their fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship next week in Homestead.

Chasing The Checkers

Yawn.

Jimmie Johnson had them covered today. He lead more than 200 laps and had a solid lead as the laps were winding down. Jeff Burton was running second and seemed to be closing the gap slightly, but it was hard to tell how hard Johnson was pushing.

Burton closed the gap to a second and a half but Johnson kept him comfortably at bay and closed out the easy victory.

Top Ten

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Burton
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Mark Martin
5. Martin Truex Jr.
6. Kurt Busch
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Juan Montoya
9. Jeff Gordon
10. David Reutimann

The Points

Jimmie Johnson's dominant Phoenix performance was not what Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon were hoping to see. After Johnson granted them a glimmer of hope last week in Texas he again damped their Chase dreams this weekend in Phoenix.

Johnson just needs to finish 25th or better next week in Homestead to clinch his record-setting fourth consecutive Championship.

The top twelve are now:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Mark Martin -108
3. Jeff Gordon -169
4. Kurt Busch -211
5. Tony Stewart -285
6. Juan Montoya -289
7. Greg Biffle -321
8. Denny Hamlin -352
9. Ryan Newman -411
10. Kasey Kahne -476
11. Carl Edwards -520
12. Brian Vickers -666