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The Hot Pass: Johnson scores flawless win in Phoenix
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Johnson just needs to finish 36th or better in next weekend's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway — even if Edwards were to win and lead the most laps — to lock down his third consecutive title and tie Cale Yarborough's record.
"Damn, I only wanted to have to start (at Homestead)," Johnson said. "But the No. 99 put up a great fight today and has shown true championship character throughout the whole year.
"Those guys really make us work hard for it and I know as long as something doesn't go crazy for us down in Homestead, we're going to be able to join Cale. I can't wait to start celebrating."
Only the early afternoon rainstorm, which stopped the race just under 24 minutes, and an eight-car pile-up on Lap 273 after Johnson had extended his lead to nearly four seconds slowed his ascent to Victory Lane.
How bad was the spanking Johnson gave the field? With 35 laps remaining, and after the race had been delayed by seven cautions, including two red-flag periods that stopped the action for 41 minutes and 29 seconds, ABC decided its audience would find America's Funniest Videos more compelling. At 7:28 ET, the action moved to ESPN2 in both the Eastern and Central time zones.
"To go to America's Funniest Videos," Johnson said. "That one hurts."
A debris caution and two additional accidents, including a two-lap dash to the finish only stalled the inevitable — another dominating performance by Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet. Despite one final restart, second-place Kurt Busch never got close to Johnson's rear bumper.
Busch, the first champion under the Chase format, can appreciate the feat that Johnson and his team have accomplished.
"It was unbelievable to watch that type of display," Busch said. "It's something pretty special. To be able to race against him right now, that team, (crew chief) Chad Knaus, Mr. Hendrick and Jimmie Johnson — that combination is potent. It's just tough to beat."
McMurray, Edwards and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Edwards attempted to mask his disappointed but inevitably, he remained a realist.
"We could've won the thing, that would've been better, but Jimmie's doing a great job," Edwards said. "If he would have some real terrible luck in Homestead, we still have a chance. But, they did their jobs tonight, we did the best we could — it's just too big of a spread right now.
"It's possible, not probable, but possible. My guys did a good job and we'll see what happens."
Johnson made Sunday's romp appear like child's play despite suffering from a bout of butterflies on race day. Johnson's disappointment from giving up 77 points at Texas made him even more determined to close the deal at Phoenix. Knaus' decision to adjust the car dramatically after Happy Hour on Saturday only added to Johnson's unrest.
"We didn't have the best car yesterday," Johnson said. "Chad worked on it last night and made some great decisions on the car. It was awesome all day.
"This sport always challenges you. I can't tell you how tough of a week this has been. It is just emotional regardless of where you are. If you have a big points lead or not. It is what I have worked for all my life."
Gordon remains 0-35
It seems incomprehensible that four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon could go 0-for-2008
But that's the scenario going into the season finale next weekend.
For Gordon to end his 40-race losing streak, he'd have to be victorious at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where his best career finish in nine starts is third. Homestead and Texas Motor Speedway are the only tracks on the tour where Gordon has not won.
The driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet qualified seventh at Phoenix and was running third when his engine hiccupped on Lap 163. He was able to limp along until lap 269, at which point he had smoke trailing from his ride and had to call it a day.
"I felt it early on start to lose some power and I didn't pay too much attention to it because we were still getting plenty of RPM," Gordon said. "Then all of a sudden it really started going down and I lost a cylinder. It was probably a valve or something. I'm not really sure.
"That's the kind of year we've had with this team. We've had a lot of stuff happen to us and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
Gordon's sixth DNF of the season knocked him from fifth to seventh in the point standings.
Mac's magical weekend
If getting engaged to Christy Futrell wasn't enough to spur excitement in Jamie McMurray's trip to the desert, scoring his second consecutive third-place finish in Sprint Cup certainly was.
McMurray has gained three positions in the postseason despite having his pit crew disrupted before the Chase began. The transition has been "very frustrating" for the driver, but he has remained a team player throughout the process.
Ordinal out of range
"I told (general manager) Robbie Reiser that whenever they called (about the change), not to ask, but to tell me what was going on," said McMurray, who led 28 laps on Sunday. "It's easy to talk to Robbie because he was a crew chief at one time. I just asked him, 'If you were the crew chief of this team, what would you say (about the changes)?' And he was like, 'I wouldn't want that.'
"It's tough because that has certainly hurt our pit stops, and at Dover, I don't know if it cost you the win, but it cost us another really good run because we got back in traffic, and the way he explained that to me is that if next season, if I'm in the Chase, and somebody's not at Roush, that if I needed somebody off that team, they'd would give it to me, if it was just based on the guys in the Chase and the guys that aren't."
McMurray is finishing his third season with Roush Fenway Racing. In 107 races, he's scored one win, nine top fives and 26 top 10s. All three of McMurray's top-fives this season have been scored in the last five races.
Despite McMurray's recent success, the plans for the No. 26 team next season include a change in the crew chief's position. Larry Carter, who has led the squad for the last two years, is expected to move to Yates Racing with Paul Menard next season and McMurray will be reunited with his former Chip Ganassi Racing chief Donnie Wingo.
"I'm doing everything I can, along with everybody on the team, with Crown Royal and with Irwin. It seems odd that you would take away from them to help someone else," McMurray said. "I guess it's because I got the short straw, too. And they've told me that, you know, part of this process was trying guys out for next year, to get them ready.
"It's really tough for the two tire changers that they've brought over — they've never worked with any of these guys. And some of these pit crews have been together for years. I know the 48 team has been together for a long time. You can expect somebody to just jump in and do better than those teams have been together for a long time.
"So, hopefully, we'll be able to get that worked out. We had bad pit stops at the beginning, but the last two were really good — I beat cars out of the pits. So, the guys are certainly more than capable of doing it. It's just maybe being a little more consistent. But, they did a good job at the end."
With Jack Roush expected to pare down his organization to four teams by the 2010 season, it's likely that the Nos. 16, 17 and 99 are set in stone — So does Mac feel any pressure to audition against youngster David Ragan for the fourth and final spot?
"I don't know that there's a fight there," McMurray said. "It was never acknowledged to me that, 'This is what the game plan is,' or if it's the lowest car in points. No one's ever said that. And I've never asked.
"You guys should ask Jack, he'll probably have an answer."
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