By Ryan - Posted on October 21, 2009

Many NASCAR News agencies are now reporting that Jimmie Johnson’s impressive victory at Charlotte on Saturday night has all but sealed a fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship for the No. 48 team.  But with half of the races yet to be run, Johnson is not quite ready to buy into the hype.

"Not to sound like a broken record, but you just don't know what's going to happen," Johnson maintained after capturing the Banking 500, his third victory in five Chase races this year. "If somebody spins out, you get caught up in it. Contact with another car and there's a tire rub. Fender is on the tire, you come down pit road. Puncture a tire. Whatever it is, those elements are still out there.”

After a late restart, Johnson took command at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, cruising to a 2+ second victory over runner-up Matt Kenseth.  The victory, his sixth this year and 46th of his career, coupled with some misfortune that plagued both of his nearest Chase competitors, helped Johnson increase his lead to 90 points over Mark Martin on the Chase leader board.

After a Lap 125 restart, Juan Pablo Montoya, who began the race third in the Chase standings, found disaster.  While attempting to navigate some nasty traffic, Montoya rammed the back of Clint Bowyer, causing Mark Martin to plow into the rear of his No. 42 Chevrolet.  Montoya fell a lap down following a pit to repair the damage, and later spun out to fall two laps down, eventually finishing 35th overall and dropping to sixth in the Chase standings.

Martin too sustained damage—a gaping hole in the nose of his car—forcing a lengthy pit stop from which he would never recover.  He finished in 17th place and fell 90 points behind his teammate.

Jeff Gordon climbed to third in the Chase standings with a fourth place finish.  Kasey Kahne ran third and rookie Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

The No. 48 team’s relatively easy win prompted praise from at least one of his fellow drivers. 

"Those guys are awesome," said race runner-up Matt Kenseth, referring to Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. "Since those two got together, they've been, in my opinion, the group to beat every single year. Whenever it counts and it is crunch time, they do this. They've done this every year for the past four years, so it shouldn't really be a surprise to anybody."

While remaining ever cautious about declaring a fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship, Johnson did take some time to reflect on the possibility.

"If we don't have any problems, I feel that we've got a very good chance to win the championship, racing for it. But the unknowns are what we can't control."