By By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
CONCORD — Jimmie Johnson completed the perfect weekend with a win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway to take control of the championship standings.
The three-time defending series champion raced to his third victory in the Chase for the Sprint Cup on Saturday night, extending his lead to 90 points over teammate Mark Martin.
Seeking a NASCAR-record fourth consecutive Cup championship, Johnson led every practice session and won the pole to complete yet another dominating run at Lowe’s. He has been the driver to beat at the suburban Charlotte track since early in his career, and the victory was the Lowe’s-sponsored driver’s sixth on the 1.5-mile oval.
‘‘Man, we pulled off a perfect weekend and we’ve always wanted to do that,’’ Johnson said in his first Victory Lane visit at the track since 2005.
Matt Kenseth was second, followed by Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.
Martin, who started the race 12 points behind his teammate in the standings, finished 17th in part because of front-end damage received when he ran into the back of Juan Pablo Montoya on an early restart.
It was that kind of night for several title contenders, as eight of the 12 finished outside the top 10 in a rare off night for the Chase drivers.
Montoya, who was third in the standings and just 58 points out of the lead at the start of the race, dropped to sixth and is now 195 points out. He damaged the front and back ends of his car on the restart problem with Martin and Clint Bowyer, and fell two laps down trying to get pit road for repairs.
Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards both blew motors, Greg Biffle was in a late spin and Tony Stewart never contended.
That left it up to Kahne and Gordon to chase down Johnson, and despite some thrilling late restarts, neither came close.
Gordon finished fourth, but lost ground to Johnson in the standings and is now 135 points out as only Martin is within shouting distance of the champion. Johnson will take the cushion into Martinsville, where he’s won five of the last six races.
Johnson has six victories this year and 46 overall — 17 in Chase races.
NASCAR Sprint Cup-NASCAR Banking 500 Results
The Associated Press
1. (1) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 334 laps, 139.1 rating, 195 points.
2. (4) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 334, 122.3, 175.
3. (3) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 334, 125.6, 170.
4. (9) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 334, 115.1, 165.
5. (12) Joey Logano, Toyota, 334, 96, 155.
6. (11) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 334, 106.2, 150.
7. (42) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 334, 88.2, 146.
8. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 334, 101.5, 142.
9. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 334, 95.6, 138.
10. (15) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 334, 97.6, 139.
11. (6) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 334, 93.1, 130.
12. (8) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 334, 80.3, 127.
13. (5) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 334, 85.3, 124.
14. (34) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 334, 80.1, 121.
15. (21) David Reutimann, Toyota, 334, 84.6, 118.
16. (23) Greg Biffle, Ford, 334, 77.4, 115.
17. (2) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 334, 86.3, 117.
18. (32) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 334, 74.2, 109.
19. (27) David Stremme, Dodge, 334, 64.8, 106.
20. (29) David Ragan, Ford, 334, 67.7, 103.
21. (37) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 334, 57.1, 100.
22. (13) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 333, 64.6, 97.
23. (26) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 333, 61.5, 94.
24. (7) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 333, 63.5, 91.
25. (14) David Gilliland, Toyota, 333, 56.1, 88.
26. (38) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 332, 51.4, 85.
27. (31) Paul Menard, Ford, 332, 43.4, 82.
28. (16) Scott Speed, Toyota, 332, 50.5, 79.
29. (36) Bill Elliott, Ford, 332, 42.4, 76.
30. (19) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 332, 53.1, 73.
31. (24) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 331, 45, 70.
32. (33) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 331, 40.1, 72.
33. (20) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 331, 46.4, 64.
34. (30) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 330, 58.2, 61.
35. (18) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 330, 66.2, 58.
36. (41) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 330, 29, 55.
37. (43) Terry Labonte, Toyota, 329, 31.9, 57.
38. (39) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 304, 44.3, 49.
39. (28) Carl Edwards, Ford, engine, 299, 35.6, 46.
40. (22) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 298, 27.1, 43.
41. (40) Max Papis, Toyota, engine, 286, 27.8, 40.
42. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, engine, 192, 100.5, 42.
43. (35) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, rear end, 26, 27, 34.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 137.658 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 38 minutes, 22 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 2.303 seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 42 laps.
Lead Changes: 22 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M.Martin 1-6; J.Johnson 7-36; M.Waltrip 37-39; T.Labonte 40; M.Kenseth 41-42; J.Johnson 43-44; M.Kenseth 45-51; J.Johnson 52-70; D.Hamlin 71-94; M.Kenseth 95-98; D.Hamlin 99-121; J.Gordon 122-164; D.Hamlin 165-170; J.Gordon 171-189; D.Hamlin 190; M.Kenseth 191-222; K.Kahne 223-245; Ku.Busch 246-247; K.Kahne 248-291; J.Johnson 292-318; J.Gordon 319-320; J.Johnson 321-334.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Johnson, 5 times for 92 laps; K.Kahne, 2 times for 67 laps; J.Gordon, 3 times for 64 laps; D.Hamlin, 4 times for 54 laps; M.Kenseth, 4 times for 45 laps; M.Martin, 1 time for 6 laps; M.Waltrip, 1 time for 3 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 2 laps; T.Labonte, 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 12 in Points: 1. J.Johnson, 5,923; 2. M.Martin, 5,833; 3. J.Gordon, 5,788; 4. T.Stewart, 5,768; 5. Ku.Busch, 5,746; 6. J.Montoya, 5,728; 7. G.Biffle, 5,655; 8. R.Newman, 5,635; 9. K.Kahne, 5,592; 10. C.Edwards, 5,582; 11. D.Hamlin, 5,551; 12. B.Vickers, 5,438.