AVONDALE, Ariz. — It's (almost) over. With his fourth victory at Phoenix International Raceway in the past five races and fourth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson has all but clinched his spot in NASCAR history.

Johnson's win in Sunday's Checker 500 left him with a nearly insurmountable points lead of 108 over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin entering next weekend's season finale at Homestead, Fla.

It will be Johnson's fourth consecutive championship a NASCAR record. He will have won titles in half of the eight fulltime seasons he's run in the series.

Sunday's win is Johnson's seventh of the 2009 season and 47th in 290 starts (a 16.2 percent winning average).

Kurt Busch got an early jump on the field and led the first 52 laps.

Johnson took the lead briefly on Lap 53, lost it for two laps back to Busch, then regained it on Lap 56 and held on for 18 more laps.

With no cautions, the field began a round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 70. When they were completed on Lap 75, Kurt Busch returned to the lead.

The first caution of the race came out on Lap 116 for debris in the first and second turns. Lead-lap cars pitted, with Johnson coming off pit road first, followed by Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch.

The race restarted on Lap 120, but an eight-car accident erupted in the back of the field on the frontstretch. Michael Waltrip's car suffered the most extensive damage.

On the restart on Lap 128, Johnson remained the leader, followed by Martin, Gordon, Hamlin and Kurt Busch.

The third caution of the day came on Lap 163 for debris. All of the lead-lap cars pitted, with Johnson returning to the lead on the restart on Lap 169, followed by Clint Bowyer, Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Martin.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun on Lap 170, which started a multicar wreck that collected Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Bobby Labonte, Brian Vickers and Brad Keselowski, among others.

"It all got jammed in front of me," Vickers said. "I saw (Earnhardt) get sideways. I don't know if he lost it on his own or somebody got into him."

On the restart on Lap 179, Johnson continued to lead, followed by Kurt Busch and Hamlin.

Several teams began another round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 242 and when they were completed on Lap 248, Johnson continued to hold a sizable advantage.

After 250 laps, Johnson remained the leader, followed by Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Martin and Bowyer.

With 25 laps remaining, Johnson maintained about a second lead over Hamlin, followed by Burton, Martin and Bowyer.

Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Results

1. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 312 laps, 149.6 rating, 195 points, $267,001.

2. (36) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 312, 101.7, 170, $204,006.

3. (5) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 312, 118.2, 165, $144,825.

4. (10) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 312, 117.1, 160, $123,500.

5. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 312, 111.4, 155, $159,040.

6. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 312, 122.2, 155, $112,250.

7. (13) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 312, 104, 146, $107,450.

8. (17) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 312, 98.8, 142, $119,148.

9. (14) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 312, 103.1, 138, $120,326.

10. (15) David Reutimann, Toyota, 312, 88.8, 134, $109,248.

11. (21) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 312, 85.7, 130, $96,948.

12. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 312, 96.8, 127, $121,798.

13. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Ford, 312, 88.3, 124, $77,600.

14. (6) Greg Biffle, Ford, 312, 87.6, 121, $92,150.

15. (4) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 312, 89.7, 118, $113,923.

16. (25) Carl Edwards, Ford, 312, 71, 115, $119,206.

17. (12) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 311, 78.2, 112, $92,510.

18. (28) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 311, 65.9, 114, $115,765.

19. (30) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 311, 61.4, 106, $81,025.

20. (24) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 311, 77.2, 108, $107,329.

21. (27) Joey Logano, Toyota, 310, 58.4, 100, $117,551.

22. (22) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 310, 56.5, 97, $90,810.

23. (33) David Ragan, Ford, 310, 55.6, 94, $80,775.

24. (31) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 310, 55.2, 91, $108,928.

25. (8) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 310, 65.6, 88, $86,423.

26. (40) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 310, 51.9, 85, $108,476.

27. (9) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 308, 58.5, 82, $85,900.

28. (35) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 308, 36.9, 79, $78,750.

29. (41) Paul Menard, Ford, 308, 41.7, 76, $101,031.

30. (29) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 308, 43, 73, $71,500.

31. (39) Erik Darnell, Ford, 306, 40, 70, $95,004.

32. (23) Max Papis, Toyota, 304, 35.1, 67, $67,200.

33. (37) Scott Speed, Toyota, 303, 39.4, 64, $79,148.

34. (42) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 268, 36.5, 61, $75,900.

35. (18) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 256, 59, 58, $84,825.

36. (11) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 251, 53.3, 55, $74,675.

37. (26) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 239, 56.7, 52, $99,040.

38. (19) Brian Vickers, Toyota, accident, 170, 58, 49, $94,748.

39. (20) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, accident, 169, 60.5, 46, $66,300.

40. (34) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, power steering, 47, 32.3, 43, $66,150.

41. (38) Michael McDowell, Toyota, brakes, 36, 31.8, 40, $66,000.

42. (32) Dave Blaney, Toyota, overheating, 9, 28.9, 37, $65,875.

43. (43) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, electrical, 6, 27.1, 34, $66,247.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 110.486 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 49 minutes, 26 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.33 seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 9 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: Ku.Busch 1-52; J.Johnson 53; Ku.Busch 54-55; J.Johnson 56-73; R.Newman 74; Ku.Busch 75-89; J.Johnson 90-243; M.Kenseth 244-247; J.Johnson 248-312.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Johnson, 4 times for 238 laps; Ku.Busch, 3 times for 69 laps; M.Kenseth, 1 time for 4 laps; R.Newman, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 12 in Points: 1. J.Johnson, 6,492; 2. M.Martin, 6,384; 3. J.Gordon, 6,323; 4. Ku.Busch, 6,281; 5. T.Stewart, 6,207; 6. J.Montoya, 6,203; 7. G.Biffle, 6,171; 8. D.Hamlin, 6,140; 9. R.Newman, 6,081; 10. K.Kahne, 6,016; 11. C.Edwards, 5,972; 12. B.Vickers, 5,826.

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