Johnson chasing no one after Charlotte

He struggled and for a brief spell looked even human among the pack at the Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night. But in the end, winning by more than three seconds over second-place non-Chaser Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson gave clear evidence that the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is his to lose with five races left.

Giving Johnson a mild chase were teammate Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, both of whom made crucial two-tire strategy decisions early on in the 334-lap race that greatly improved their track positions, with both managing to hold them the remainder of the race. Gordon finished fourth.

Third-place finisher Kasey Kahne took the race lead two-thirds of the way through but forfeited it to Johnson in the race off pit row following the seventh caution, on Lap 292. A smooth green-flag finish was marred by three cautions within a 13-lap span with just 35 laps remaining. But even with only 17 clean laps to the checkered flag, Johnson pulled away from the field, symbolically mirroring the way he has left behind all other pretenders in the points standings.

ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Twenty laps past the halfway point of Saturday night’s race in Charlotte, Chaser Juan Pablo Montoya, having trouble all night, shed a previously damaged right-rear quarter panel that had been poorly remounted in the pits after an earlier brush on the track. The incident could have created havoc, the big chunk of sheet metal displaying his team’s primary sponsor coming to rest on the apron just inside the racing line in one of the turns. NASCAR needs more vigilant monitoring from its pit officials who too quickly allow cars under repair back on the track. All the cars hurry when in a pressure-packed fix-it mode if more than tires and fuel are needed, but a car like Montoya’s was a potential mine field of disaster with regard to track safety—an issue which NASCAR often belabors with its yellow flags for minor debris…NASCAR must be less than happy with the presence of so many out-of-the-Chase racers in the Banking 500’s final Top 10. Six of the 10 spots were filled by non-Chasers, with only Johnson, Kahne, Gordon, and Kurt Busch making the list from those in the hunt…The Formula One world driver’s championship was settled at Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button grabbed a fifth-place finish after starting 14th on the grid to claim his first world title in the prestigious series. The UK’s Button, in his 10th year in F1, had been the young driver of promise upon his debut in 2000, but a string of failures, misfortunes, and associations with poor-performing teams appeared to relegate him to the scrap heap of drivers doomed to never hoist the world championship trophy. The F1 season closes at the new Abu Dhabi layout in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.