The Chase Point Standings: Race #9 of 10
1 Jimmie Johnson 6,492
2 Mark Martin -108
3 Jeff Gordon -169
4 Kurt Busch -211
5 Tony Stewart -285
6 Juan Pablo 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

With somewhat tenuous 73-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson started Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at the 1.0 mile Phoenix International Speedway. The penultimate race of the 36-race season, Johnson was hoping for big things in Phoenix, looking to clinch his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup next Sunday in Miami.

And just as he has wished, things did go Johnson’s way in Arizona as he led 238 laps to win his seventh victory of the season, and fourth in the 10-race the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

But of even more significance for Johnson and the # 48 Chevrolet was that the win allowed him to extend his lead in the title chase to 108 points over Mark Martin. Next Sunday, Johnson needs to finish 25th or better next week to grab a spot in NASCAR's record books.

"I can't put my guard down," Johnson said, "anything and everything can go wrong."

Just like it did seven days ago in Texas, where Johnson was wrecked just three laps into the race. After a long thrash in the garage, Chevrolet, Johnson returned to the track and placed a lowly 38th-place finish.

"We could have easily been beat down, and certainly there were some dark moments over the past week thinking about the points lost," Johnson said. "We didn't, though. But we saw in Texas that anything can happen, so we don't need to get too excited about this."

Martin finished fourth in Phoenix, failing to gain ground on Johnson after his Phoenix nightmare.

"We gave it everything we had," Martin said.

Jeff Burton finished second and was followed by Denny Hamlin, Martin and pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr.