Johnson rolling into Loudon

RICHMOND - He may be seeded third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards in the 12-man field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, but Jimmie Johnson is still the two-time defending champ until someone knocks him off his throne.

Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports, served notice of that fact yesterday with his victory in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, which had been postponed Saturday night because of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Nothing was going to rain on Johnson's parade after he won his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season, third in the last seven races, and second in a row. He engaged runner-up Tony Stewart in a side-by-side skirmish over the last 10 laps of the 400-lap race, wresting the lead from Stewart with nine to go to extend Stewart's winless skein to 40 races.

"You know, we're very, very happy with the performance today," said Johnson, who led twice for 32 laps to capture a $256,836 payday before an estimated crowd of 110,000. "Great, great fight throughout the entire day."

Edwards finished 13th after puncturing a tire and dropping to 41st after 80 laps, then getting involved in a three-car spinout on Lap 320 and dropping to 33d with 60 to go. (Edwards wasn't to be denied his celebratory backflip, however, as he came back a few hours later to drive another 250 laps in winning his fourth Nationwide race of the year.)

Busch, who led twice for 53 laps, finished 15th after getting caught up in two incidents that caused him to fall to 38th midway through the race.

Clint Bowyer, meanwhile, wrapped up the 12th and final spot in the Chase field when he finished 12th, ending the regular season with 69 points more than Kasey Kahne. Bowyer, winner of last year's Sylvania 300 at Loudon, N.H., will be seeded fifth Sunday when New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosts the first event in the 10-race Chase.

"Just making the Chase is a big deal," Bowyer said. "We've been struggling and there have been a lot of things going on in our organization and our team in particular, and everybody stuck together. The last three weeks have been a step in the right direction and you know, with some momentum, I think we can do just fine in the Chase."

But no one will be riding a bigger wave of momentum than Johnson. "Momentum is certainly something we are looking at and trying to carry," Johnson said. "But more than anything, I think we are just confident in our [pit] stops and what I'm doing on the track and the way we can adjust on the car."

When Paul Menard spun and backed into the wall in Turn 1, collecting Patrick Carpentier's car, it brought out the race's 14th and final caution on Lap 369, prompting the leaders to dive into the pits for one last stop for fuel and tires. Johnson beat Stewart out of the pits, giving Johnson the lead when the race resumed on Lap 374. Stewart surged to the front with 10 to go, but wound up surrendering the lead to Johnson on the next lap.

Over the last nine laps, Johnson and Stewart dueled, with Johnson taking the high line and Stewart threatening to pass on the low side of the racing groove at RIR's 3/4-mile trioval.

"We got down there and we couldn't get by," Stewart said, still smoldering from his second-place finish, which left him with the No. 8 seed in the Chase.

"That's probably one of the greatest races I think I've ever had here at Richmond, racing there with Jimmie like that with 15 laps to go, but we just came up short."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.