Johnson locks up Chase top seed

RICHMOND, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson locked up his spot as the favorite for the Nextel Cup title, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was locked out of NASCAR's showcase event.

Johnson easily raced to his series-best sixth victory of the season, winning Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway to shore up the top seed in the Chase for the championship.

The defending Nextel Cup champion will start the 10-race title hunt on top of the standings and with the momentum of 2 consecutive wins to help him hold off 11 other challengers.

But NASCAR's most popular driver won't be one of them.

Earnhardt will watch the Chase from the sidelines for the second time in three years, failing to race his way into the event. He ran in the top three late in the race, but his fifth motor failure with just a few laps to go sealed his fate.

He finished 30th and was clearly dejected as he shared a brief hug with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. The two are leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season and will join Hendrick Motorsports.

"We've run good every week. We just can't finish races," Earnhardt said. "We love racing. We'll be all right. This is disappointing, these dang motors."

Earnhardt started the race as the only driver mathematically eligible to race into the Chase, but the odds were stacked against him. Kevin Harvick, the driver on the bubble, had to finish 33rd or worse, combined with a flawless Earnhardt run, for Junior to make it.

Harvick had two dicey moments -- including a side-trip through the grass to avoid nemesis Juan Pablo Montoya's spinning car -- but he recovered to coast to a seventh-place finish to end any suspense.

"I saw a lot of cars and wrecks and a lot of things that happened and I knew it was pretty close," Harvick said. "I saw (Earnhardt) running third, and in my head I knew where we were and kind of turned it up a little bit."

This "regular-season" finale has been full of excitement since NASCAR implemented the Chase for the championship in 2004. It sent several bubble drivers into the race needing miracles to keep their title hopes intact.

But NASCAR changed the format this year, widening the Chase field from 10 to 12 drivers and implementing a seeding system that awarded 10 bonus points for every regular-season victory. It diluted the drama of this particular race and made it almost impossible for Earnhardt to race his way in.

He knew it long before he arrived in Richmond, and he seemed almost resigned to his fate from the start. It means Earnhardt won't win a championship with DEI, his late father's company.

Although he won two Busch Series championships while his father was still alive, he has never been higher than third in the Cup standings.