Another Win for Johnson at Pocono Raceway

Jimmie Johnson pulled off a clean sweep at Pocono Raceway, dominating at the track for the second time in seven weeks, building on his NASCAR Nextel Cup points lead and winning the Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday at Long Pond, Pa.

Johnson has voiced his disdain for NASCAR’s new points system that will leave him fighting for a points championship instead of celebrating one near season’s end. He figures the only solution is to keep winning.

“If we complain too much and don’t stay focused on what we need to, we’ll just be complainers at the end of the year who finished third or fourth,” Johnson said.

It’s hard to imagine that Johnson still won’t be the guy to beat in those final 10 races.

“Over the long haul today I was able to put the car where I needed it,” said Johnson, who is the first driver to win the Pocono 500 and Pennsylvania 500 in the same year since Bobby Labonte in 1999.

Under the old points system, Johnson probably could have cruised toward his first career points title. Instead, he’ll be lumped with the rest of the drivers in the top 10, along with any others within 400 points of the lead after the 26th race, to compete for the championship over the last 10 races of the season.

“I just have to deal with the rules the way they are and race as hard as we can every week,” Johnson said.

The “Chase for the Cup” begins at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sept. 19.

Mark Martin continued a recent string of solid finishes by placing second, and Kasey Kahne was third. Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five.

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Buddy Rice won a last-lap showdown with Tony Kanaan, taking the Michigan Indy 400 at Brooklyn by .0796 of a second for his third IRL victory of the season.

Rice’s average speed -- 182.123 mph -- was the fourth-fastest in IndyCar history.

Despite winning three of the Indy Racing League’s 10 races this season, Rice is second to Kanaan in the points standings with six races to go.

Kanaan led most of the way before Rice overtook him with about 10 laps to go in the 200-lap race.

“We don’t need to show everything until it’s time to go,” Rice, a Rahal Letterman Racing driver, said of his race strategy. “We showed it all the last 20 laps.”

Kanaan said failed strategy with his Andretti Green Racing team may have cost him the race. He said he was advised to stop fighting Rice when he first attempted his pass, implying his team thought Rice might run out of gas or falter before finishing.

“It doesn’t make me very happy,” Kanaan said. “I am not going to point fingers. Today we were not very smart. The other team was smarter than us.”

Kanaan didn’t get his fourth win of the season but finished in the top five for the ninth time.

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Greg Anderson tied the NHRA record for pro stock wins in a season with his 12th at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Anderson raced to his 28th career victory at the drag strip by clocking a 6.728-second run at a top speed of 205.51 mph in a Pontiac Grand Am to defeat David Connolly, who posted a 6.758 at 204.98 in a Chevy Cavalier.

Doug Kalitta drove to his 18th career top-fuel victory and fourth at Infineon by posting a 4.678 at 315.05 in his dragster to beat teammate David Grubnic.

Tim Wilkerson earned his second victory of the season when John Force fouled at the start in his Ford Mustang.

Angelle Savoie raced to her second pro stock bike victory of the season and the 33rd of her career by defeating teammate Antron Brown in the final.

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Ricky Carmichael remained undefeated on the AMA Chevrolet Motorcross circuit, winning at Washougal Motocross Park at Washougal, Wash.

With his eighth victory of the year, Carmichael is now two-thirds of the way to a second undefeated season.