For the third time in three years, Jimmie Johnson got the win in the fall NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at The Jewel of the Desert, Phoenix International Raceway.

The victory comes just one week after he wrecked only three laps into the race at Texas Motor Speedway and lost over half of his points lead over second place Mark Martin.

Coming into this weekend, Johnson was only 73 points ahead of Martin.

“Dominating this race says a lot,” Johnson said in victory lane. “I just had to get all I could and lead as many laps as possible, win the race and do anything I could and I did.”

His crew chief, Chad Knaus, was just as elated with the performance as the driver.

“That’s really what we needed to do and obviously momentum is something you always want to have on your side,” Knaus said. “We worked awfully hard to get to this point in the season and we can just take it one day at a time.”

Hendrick Motorsports fields all three of the top drivers in the point standings as well as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88. Team owner Rick Hendrick was present at the track to celebrate with Johnson.

“We’re just thankful that we’re this competitive,” Hendrick said. “We are real proud of them. We’ve just got one more to go now.”

Jeff Burton held off Denny Hamlin for 2nd which was the best finish of the year for him while Hamlin ended up 3rd. Martin finished 4th in front of Martin Truex Jr. who earned his first top-5 finish since the August race at Watkins Glen over a year ago. This 5th place finish was also the first top-5 for a Ganassi driver at Phoenix.

Kurt Busch finished 6th, followed by Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann.

Johnson now holds a 108 point lead over Martin in the standings heading into the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend.

“One-oh something is better than 73,” Johnson stated in Victory Lane.

All he has to do is finish 25th or better next weekend to earn his history making 4th consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

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