Johnson widens his lead in Chase

Jimmie Johnson has one hand on the Nextel Cup -- again.

The Californian widened his lead in the Chase for the Cup by hugging the bumper of Kevin Harvick, who again dominated in the desert to win the series’ next-to-last race, the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday.

Johnson was second, and now has a 63-point lead over Matt Kenseth as NASCAR’s top series heads to its finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Johnson will clinch his first championship for Hendrick Motorsports if he finishes 12th or better at Homestead, even if he doesn’t lead any laps, NASCAR said.

Johnson, Kenseth, Harvick, rookie Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are the only drivers still mathematically eligible to win the title with a single race left, NASCAR said.

The other Chase contenders -- Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch -- were eliminated.

“We had such a great car and such a great weekend,” Johnson said. Asked how he planned to drive Sunday’s race in Florida, Johnson said: “We’ll find out. I don’t have any strategy other than to go down and finish ahead” of the other Chase contenders.

It was Harvick’s fifth win of the year, and it lifted him to a third-place tie in the Chase with Hamlin, 90 points behind Johnson. Hamlin, who drives a Chevy for Joe Gibbs Racing, was third in Sunday’s race.

The 10 Chase contenders ran well but failed to gain ground because of Johnson’s strong showing at the raceway’s one-mile oval.

Earnhardt dropped to fifth in the points, 115 behind, from third after finishing ninth Sunday. Kenseth’s Roush Racing Ford again gave him problems all day and he finished 13th.

“The 48 didn’t make any mistakes,” Hamlin said of Johnson. “They’re championship material right now.”

Kenseth said he could snatch the title next week “only if [Johnson] blows up.”

“We’re running so bad right now that I don’t feel like we can beat anybody,” Kenseth said. Johnson is “going to have to have problems and we’re going to have to have a lot of good luck to get in there.”

Harvick, who also won the spring race in Arizona for Richard Childress Racing, said Johnson, 31, is the clear favorite to wrap up the title but knows anything can happen.

“It’s a lot of pressure, there’s a lot on the line” for Johnson, said Harvick, a Bakersfield native who often raced at Phoenix International earlier in his career. “Everything you’ve done all year comes down to one race. It will probably be a long week for him.”

But Johnson, who vaulted to the Chase lead with one victory and four second-place finishes in the last five races, said he was prepared.

“We’ve been under pressure and we’ve been in this situation and we are a better, stronger, more mature race team from it,” he said.

Johnson has been in title contention every year since his first full Cup season in 2002. Two years ago, he lost the Cup by only eight points to Kurt Busch, the closest championship finish in Cup history.

Johnson not only can win the Cup if he finishes 12th or better next weekend, he also can clinch if he finishes 13th or better and leads at least one lap, or 15th or better and leads the most laps, NASCAR said.

On Sunday, Johnson powered through the field within the first 50 laps of the 312-lap race in front of an estimated crowd of 106,000.

Johnson tried to pass Harvick’s Chevrolet on the last two laps but thought better of it to protect his points lead.

“At the end I was really pushing for a win,” Johnson said. “I just knew in order to get the win I was really going to have to force the issue.... I just knew that I needed to be smart from that point on.”

The first half of the race was accident-free, but several wrecks occurred in the second half.

Harvick had a minor problem because of a troubled alternator, but it didn’t prevent him from leading 252 laps and earning his 10th career Cup win. He also dominated NASCAR’s Busch Series this year with nine victories and the championship.

But the Nextel Cup is mostly within Johnson’s grasp with only 400 miles left, and he said he’ll try to avoid the pressure leading to next Sunday’s race.

“I’ll go to the golf course tomorrow and have some fun and relax,” he said, “and just try to let the week hurry by.”

*

james.peltz@latimes.com