DOVER, Del. - - After routing the field to win NASCAR's spring race at Dover International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson returned for Sunday's 400-mile event on the one-mile, concrete oval in a different Chevrolet that his crew chief believed was even stronger.
Chad Knaus miscalculated a bit, it turns out, but the upshot was the same.
Johnson trounced all comers Sunday to complete a sweep of NASCAR's two Dover races and pare his deficit to teammate Mark Martin, who finished second, in pursuit of what would be a record fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship.
"What a car, obviously!" Johnson gushed after leading 271 laps of Sunday's 400-lap race. En route to his victory in May, he led 298 laps - more than enough, in both cases, to demoralize the 42 other drivers who spent nearly four hours staring at Johnson's bumper.
Amid the confetti and congratulations in victory lane, it was hardly a time to quibble over which No. 48 Chevy was more dominant.
The statement of Sunday's performance was indisputable: Once again, Johnson has emerged as the driver to beat with eight races remaining in NASCAR's postseason.
In winning at Dover for a fifth time in 16 starts, Johnson moved within 10 points of Martin in the standings (Martin has 5,400 points; Johnson, 5,390).
Matt Kenseth finished third in a Ford. And Colombia's Juan Montoya finished fourth to inch up to third in the standings, trailing Martin by 65 points.
The race was halted after just 32 laps by a horrific crash that sent rookie Joey Logano's Toyota flipping side-over-side seven times before it came to rest on the driver's-side door. After the shredded remains of the car plopped back on its four wheels, Logano climbed out seemingly unscathed to a standing ovation and roar of applause.
After a 20-minute checkup in the infield car center, Logano said the wild ride left him more shaken than sore.
"It scared the heck out of me," said Logano, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. "It started rolling, and I was in there, like, 'Please make this thing stop!' It just kept going and going. You can't go on a roller coaster any worse than that."
The four-car melee unfolded at the end of the backstretch, with a gaggle of cars running nose-to-tail at nearly 170 mph. It was triggered when Bobby Labonte, running just in front and to the right of Logano, pulled down into his path, having been told by his spotter that the lane was clear.
