JIMMIE JOHNSON, Driver
CHAD KNAUS, Crew Chief
No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS
JAKE HARRIS: We’re now joined by race winner, Jimmie Johnson. This is Jimmie’s 33rd victory in 200 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races, and his tenth victory in 2007. Jimmie, why don’t you tell us about your run out there today?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think we had a third [...]

Jimmie Johnson and his Chad Knaus-led No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS team continue their march toward defending their NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) championship with their fourth consecutive trip to victory lane in the Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil.
Today’s victory at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) was Johnson’s first at the track and his [...]

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 alltel Dodge Avenger)
“The Alltel Dodge was pretty good. We knew that we were good enough to get track position with the disadvantage. With two tires or with fuel only and that was okay. I wasn’t mad about that, but I wish we just had that extra little speed so we could [...]

CARL EDWARDS — No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion (Finished 42nd)
“That’s a great race car. That thing is awesome. It was something important in the engine. I don’t know what it is, but we don’t have many engine failures. It’s too bad to have one on this day, I would have welcomed one at Texas [...]

Toyota Camry drivers have earned 11 top-10 finishes this season. In addition to Vickers’ fifth-place finish at Charlotte, he has a pair of eighth-place finishes at Michigan (Aug.) and California (Sept.), as well as a pair of 10th-place finishes at California (Feb.) and Atlanta (Oct.). Waltrip has two 10th-place finishes at Michigan (June) and Charlotte [...]

RANK, +/-, DRIVER, POINTS, BEHIND, STARTS, POLES, WINS, TOP 5, TOP 10
1 – Jimmie Johnson 6572 Leader 35 3 10 20 23
2 – Jeff Gordon 6486 -86 35 7 6 20 29
3 – Clint Bowyer 6331 -241 35 2 1 5 17
4 – Kyle Busch 6185 -387 35 0 1 11 20
5 +1 Tony Stewart 6169 -403 35 0 3 11 23
6 +4 Matt Kenseth 6103 -469 35 0 1 12 21
7 +1 Kevin Harvick 6093 -479 35 0 1 4 15
8 -1 Jeff Burton 6089 -483 35 0 1 9 17
9 -4 Carl Edwards 6067 -505 35 1 3 10 14
10 -1 Kurt Busch 6056 -516 35 1 2 5 13
11 +1 Martin Truex Jr. 6009 -563 35 1 1 7 13
12 -1 Denny Hamlin 5973 -599 35 1 1 11 17

Jimmie Johnson took command of the Nextel Cup championship Sunday, winning at Phoenix International Raceway to open a daunting lead over teammate Jeff Gordon in the race to the title.
Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, heads to next week’s season finale in Homestead, Fla., with a comfortable 86-point lead over Gordon. He needs to finish [...]

POS, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, SPEED, TIME, BEHIND
1 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 132.773 27.114 Leader
2 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 132.758 27.117 -0.003
3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 132.699 27.129 -0.015
4 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 132.236 27.224 -0.110
5 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet FleetPride / Yellow 132.144 27.243 -0.129

A broken left front spring caused the No. 17 Roush Racing Ford driven by Matt Kenseth to be too high in the right rear during postrace inspection following the Arizona.Travel 200 Busch Series race Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kenseth finished second in the race. His team faces possible points and monetary penalties from being outside [...]

Juan Montoya warned fellow open wheel drivers that qualifying was easy, and the race will be much harder today at Phoenix. “It’s a tough race. You can get a lap down here so fast. Once you get a lap down, it’s downhill from there.”