When the race ended, however, it is a third consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship that Johnson may have wrapped his arms around.

When the smoke cleared from a late-race 12-car wreck that collected five drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and NASCAR finally declared a winner from a controversial ending, Johnson was credited with a ninth-place finish.

That effort combined with the involvement of Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle -- his nearest competitors for the championship in the big wreck leaves Johnson with a 72-point advantage over Edwards with six of the 10 Chase races remaining. Johnson began the day with a 10-point lead.

"Without a doubt, there is a sigh of relief," Johnson said after the race. "When you looked at what happened today to some of our competition, that is what we all fear will happen. It was a solid day with an awesome finish."

It didn't look that way the first 25 laps, when Johnson was riding around in 43rd place. He had drifted to the back of the pack to avoid getting caught up in an early wreck and instead lost the draft and eventually fell a lap down.

"We got our lap back. It was a very emotional day and draining across the board," Johnson said. "This team has a lot of fight, and we fought all day long and even got ourselves in contention [for the win] at the end."

After the late-race wreck, Johnson actually ended up in position to run for the win -- a concept that appeared inconceivable early in the race.

At one point before the final restart, Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, discussed Johnson's options -- whether to race for the win or take a more conservative approach.

"I tried to go [on the restart]. They dropped the green flag and I took off. I couldn't even accelerate and keep up with the cars in front of me," Johnson said. "I was in no-man's land.

"I felt comfortable being aggressive at the end with such a small group of guys, and I had a feeling we'd stay single file. I just couldn't go anywhere on that last restart."

HAMLIN HOSPITALIZED: Denny Hamlin was held Sunday night at a Birmingham hospital for further evaluation after a tire failure led to his hard crash.

Hamlin was alert and awake when he was transported to the UAB Medical Center but was complaining of a headache and possibly had a concussion. He was also favoring his right foot after a slow exit from his crumpled car.

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