Johnson, Team Lowe’s, Earn 47th-Career Win in Phoenix
Jimmie Johnson earned his 47th-career victory on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, extending his lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship to 108 points over second-place Mark Martin.
Johnson dominated the 312-lap race Sunday, leading 238 laps to win for the fourth time in the last five races at Phoenix. It was his seventh victory of the season, and fourth since this year’s start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
“First of all I have to thank this race team for having the strength and mental attitude and everything that they do to bounce back last week, to show up and put a butt-kickin’ on everybody today,” said Johnson. “Very proud of Chad and the guys. Great stops, great car. At the start of the race we were a little loose but still running second and third.
“When we put new tires on, the car came to life and then we had a couple of small adjustments that really, really helped it. I could get out to a nice comfortable lead and ride and protect what I had and work my way through traffic. Not with ease, but better than the other guys. We had a great finish.”
Johnson now needs to finish 25th or better next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab a spot in NASCAR’s record books, becoming the first driver to ever win four consecutive championships.
“That’s a great position to be in,” said Johnson. “We finished 38th last week so I can’t put my guard down. Anything and everything that could go wrong last week did. Going into this next week we just need to show up and race smart and do our thing.”
Martin is the only driver still in mathematical contention to catch Johnson. Once Johnson starts the race at Homestead, Jeff Gordon will no longer be able to catch him.
“Obviously one more race to go,” explained Johnson. “We saw in Texas anything can happen so we don’t need to get too excited about things. One-o-something is better than 73. I’m very excited about it and I hope all the employee owners at Lowe’s are excited. We’ll see what we can do.”
Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, and Martin Truex Jr. followed the Lowe’s Chevy to the finish line.
Johnson now leads Martin (-108), Jeff Gordon (-169), Busch (-211) and Tony Stewart (-285) in the Championship standings with one race remaining.
The Sprint Cup Series will visit its last stop on the circuit next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The event will be broadcast live Nov. 22 on ABC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.
