HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The hard-core conspirators will think NASCAR scripted it. The reality is Jimmie Johnson was the fastest driver of the day.
Johnson will start his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet from the pole position in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway -- the ultimate beginning to the last chapter in his quest to become the first driver to win four consecutive championships.
Of all things Johnson knocked his Hendrick Motorsports teammate -- and only title challenger left -- Mark Martin off the top spot on the qualifying speed chart. Johnson leads Martin by 108 points and needs only to finish 25th or better to clinch his historic championship.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Two days before he attempts to wrap up a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson has announced a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports that will keep the champ driving the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet through the 2015 season.
"It's the only car I've ever driven,'' Johnson said with a smile Friday morning. "I'm very proud of that.''
MIAMI -- NASCAR's Championship Weekend officially kicked off Thursday during a contenders press conference that couldn't have been less like boxing's version of a pre-bout showdown. This was more meet-and-greet than stare-and-glare.
The players here -- three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin -- like each other, so much so it was difficult to remember that they are actually competing against one another.
Johnson gushed about what a great driver Martin is. And Martin humbly insisted he was just happy to be in position to challenge Johnson. And their team owner Rick Hendrick maintained, "I'm just living the dream."
Is there another sport that turns on its winners so?
And cheering against the New York Yankees doesn't count.
Another superb run in NASCAR's Chase for the Championship has put Jimmie Johnson in position for a historic fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title. He's on the verge of accomplishing something Richard Petty, the late Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon never did.
And for all his hard work and performance under pressure here's the thanks he gets: people are accusing him of stinking up the show.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Denny Hamlin didn't need to do anything funny to exact his revenge from Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville Speedway. He just drove right by him.
And then he drove away with ease on three restarts over the final 52 laps, ending the three-time defending series champion's remarkable run of five trips to Victory Lane in the previous six races at the shortest circuit in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series.
Hamlin used an out-of-sequence pit stops after about 160 laps to move to the front, then held on up there until the entire leaderboard headed for pit road about 20 laps later.
"Once we got that track position, our car just kind of took off," he said.
NASCAR has warned the teams of championship leaders Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson that their Chevrolets were dangerously close to failing post-race inspection last week at Dover, Del., where the three-time defending series champion Johnson won the race and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Martin finished runner-up.
Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus cautioned that there was no wrong-doing, no intent to do wrong and that the attention this is receiving is mostly media sensationalism.
"The cars were legal, that's the thing everybody has to understand,'' Knaus said Friday from this week's Sprint Cup Series venue, Kansas Speedway. "It's turned into a bigger issue than what it really should."
Two hour-long practice sessions Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway eased the minds of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams concerned with tire wear for Sunday's AllState 400 at the Brickyard.
"It is done, they have created a great tire,'' said four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon, who, following a June tire test, promised fans that Goodyear had fixed the problems that wreaked havoc on last year's race when tire wear forced drivers to pit every 10-15 laps.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The celebratory Fourth of July pyrotechnics going off along the backstretch following Saturday night's NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway were nothing compared to the last-lap fireworks show minutes earlier on the frontstretch.
Two-time NASCAR champ Tony Stewart muscled his way by Kyle Busch about 100 yards before the finish line -- holding his line as Busch tried to block him. Ultimately, Stewart was able to get his nose in position for the pass. When Busch tried to stop Stewart's final push, the two cars collided and Busch's car spun out, hitting the wall and paving the way for Stewart to capture the victory.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself.
The 50-year-old NASCAR star has run well but has had to deal with considerable bad luck this season. It looked like more of the same Sunday when the battery in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began to fail before the halfway mark in the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race.
Martin turned off everything in the car that he could, nursing it as best he could. Then he realized the race was going to be a fuel economy run.
Where:Lowe's Motor Speedway Time: Saturday 7:00 p.m./EDT TV/Radio: SPEED, MRN Radio Twitter: Updates at FanHouseRacing Forecast: 63 degrees, 80% chance of rain Distance: 4 segments, 100 laps (150 miles) Pole Winner:Jimmie Johnson 2008 Winner:Kasey Kahne
The Storylines
The last time rain affected the All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon walled his primary No. 24 in a 2001 first-turn crash thanks to rain on the track and later won the event in his backup. While that's a legendary story, the rain isn't -- and it might take center stage tonight.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The hard-core conspirators will think NASCAR scripted it. The reality is Jimmie Johnson was the fastest driver of the day.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Two days before he attempts to wrap up a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, 
MIAMI -- NASCAR's Championship Weekend officially kicked off Thursday during a contenders press conference that couldn't have been less like boxing's version of a pre-bout showdown. This was more meet-and-greet than stare-and-glare.
Is there another sport that turns on its winners so?
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Denny Hamlin didn't need to do anything funny to exact his revenge from Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville Speedway. He just drove right by him.
NASCAR has warned the teams of championship leaders 
INDIANAPOLIS -- So far, so good.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The celebratory Fourth of July pyrotechnics going off along the backstretch following Saturday night's NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway were nothing compared to the last-lap fireworks show minutes earlier on the frontstretch.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find 
Race: 
