* Jimmie Johnson won the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He posted his 40th career series victory in his 254th career race. Johnson posted his seventh victory in 2008, second behind Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who each have eight wins in 2008. Johnson’s last victory came at Martinsville in October, three races ago. He posted his third straight win at Phoenix. Johnson posted his ninth top-10 finish in 11 races at Phoenix. Johnson won the race from the first-place starting position. This marked just the second time in 25 series races at Phoenix that the race was won from the pole. Johnson posted his 14th win in 49 Chase races. He posted his 30th career superspeedway victory in 170 superspeedway races. Johnson led three times for 217 laps, including the final 95. * Chevrolet has clinched its sixth straight Manufacturers’ championship, and its 32nd overall. * Hendrick Motorsports posted its eighth victory in 2008: Johnson has seven, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. won once. Hendrick Motorsports posted its sixth Phoenix series victory. Four of those wins came in the past four Phoenix races: Jeff Gordon in April 2007, Johnson in November 2007 and in both races in 2008. * Race winner and points leader Jimmie Johnson has scored top-15 finishes in the past 11 races, extending a streak that began at California in August. Johnson is the only driver to score top-15 finishes in the nine Chase races. Johnson has a 4.67 average finish in the nine Chase races. * Kevin Harvick (finished 7th), Greg Biffle (11th) and Clint Bowyer (12th) have each scored eight top-15 finishes in the nine Chase races. * Johnson and Biffle are the only Chase drivers to lead in eight of the nine Chase races. They were the only Chase drivers to lead at Phoenix. * Johnson has led in 28 of the 35 races this season, more than any other driver. He led 217 laps at Phoenix. Johnson has led 955 laps in the nine Chase races. Carl Edwards is second in Chase laps led at 489 laps. * With a 141-point lead (unofficial), Johnson will win the championship if he finishes 36th or better at Homestead no matter what second-place Carl Edwards does. Mathematically, only Johnson and Edwards can win the championship. The driver with one race to go in each of the four Chases has gone on to win the championship. This is the largest points lead ever with one race to go in the Chase. * The championship leader with one race to go has gone on to win the championship all but twice since 1975 (when the present points system was implemented). Alan Kulwicki was second, 30 points behind leader Davey Allison in 1992, and Richard Petty trailed Darrell Waltrip by two points in 1979 — the closest points margin with one to go. * Johnson is in position to win three straight championships, a feat only accomplished once before: Cale Yarborough in 1976, 1977 and 1978. Johnson could become only the eighth driver to win three or more championships in NASCAR’s 60-year history. * Going into the final race there are only two drivers that can win the championship, just like in 2007. In 2004 and 2006 there were six drivers alive, and four drivers were alive in 2005. * No driver has ever won both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup championships in the same year. Carl Edwards is alive to do both but remains second in both series. * Gordon has gone 40 races without a victory, his longest streak between victories. He posted his sixth DNF in 2008 and ended a streak of four straight top-10 finishes. * Jamie McMurray (third) has scored four top-10 finishes in the past five races. * Kevin Harvick has been running at the finish in the past 79 races, the longest current streak by any driver. * This was the 11th win for Chevrolet in 2008. Ford and Toyota each have 10 and Dodge has four. * The top-10 consisted of four Chevrolets, three Fords, two Toyotas and one Dodge. * Seven of the top 10 finishers were Chasers. * Greg Biffle won the first two Chase races, Tony Stewart won at Talladega, Jeff Burton won at Lowe’s, Jimmie Johnson won at Kansas, Martinsville and Phoenix and Carl Edwards won at Atlanta and Texas. * Just two of the 12 Chase drivers earned lap-leader bonus points at Phoenix by leading at least one lap: Johnson and Biffle. * Six of the 12 Chase drivers changed positions after Atlanta. * Regan Smith (23rd) was the highest-finishing rookie-of-the-year contender.(ESPN)(11-10-2008)
