MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — A slot in NASCAR’s record books is absolutely within reach for Jimmie Johnson.

See the full results and point totals below.

Johnson earned one of four spots in next month’s title-deciding season finale Sunday with his ninth career victory at Martinsville Speedway. The six-time NASCAR champion will race for his seventh championship, which would tie him for the record with Hall of Famers Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.

“I’ve been trying to ignore this conversation about seven, and now I can’t,” said Johnson, who doesn’t particularly want to start thinking about the stakes just yet.

“I’ll probably lie to all of you guys and say I’m not going to think about it at all. But it’s inevitable. Fortunately, I don’t have to think about it for three weeks. But we’re going to enjoy this and savor it. We’re going to get our ducks in a row for Homestead.”

The victory blocked Joe Gibbs Racing from placing all four of Toyota drivers in the final round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup title. There are only three spots still open in the Nov. 20 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and JGR’s hope of sweeping the final four ended Sunday.

Most likely to miss the final? Carl Edwards, who had a tire problem and finished 36th at Martinsville — lowest of the eight Chase drivers. Also in trouble: Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, who finished 20th and 22nd.

Brad Keselowski, eliminated from the Chase last week, finished second and was irritated by a lengthy caution earlier in the race when NASCAR struggled to figure out the running order. Had those laps not been wasted under yellow, Keselowski absolutely believed he could have beat Johnson.

“We don’t need to run 100 laps under yellow with the field, not trying to figure out where they’re at, and it probably cost us the race,” Keselowski said.

The caution took 29 laps, and left some grumbling the order still wasn’t correct when the race restarted.

Sunday
At Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Va.
Lap length: .526 miles
(Start position in parentheses)

1. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500 laps, 115.7 rating, 44 points.

2. (19) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500, 105.3, 39.

3. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500, 111.6, 39.

4. (17) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500, 129.7, 39.

5. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500, 122.1, 37.

6. (10) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 500, 100.7, 35.

7. (1) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 500, 119.1, 35.

8. (14) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500, 92.9, 33.

9. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 500, 104.2, 33.

10. (4) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500, 102.7, 32.

11. (22) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 499, 79.3, 30.

12. (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 499, 82.1, 29.

13. (25) Greg Biffle, Ford, 499, 68.6, 28.

14. (11) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 499, 89.4, 28.

15. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 499, 71.7, 26.

16. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 499, 81.7, 25.

17. (32) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 499, 78.8, 24.

18. (30) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 498, 58.0, 23.

19. (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 498, 64.8, 22.

20. (20) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 498, 76.0, 21.

21. (26) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 497, 69.7, 20.

22. (23) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 497, 65.7, 19.

23. (31) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 497, 52.5, 18.

24. (24) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 497, 53.2, 17.

25. (18) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 496, 55.5, 16.

26. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 496, 55.7, 15.

27. (29) Chris Buescher, Ford, 495, 46.2, 14.

28. (28) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 495, 57.8, 13.

29. (33) Landon Cassill, Ford, 494, 46.4, 12.

30. (21) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 494, 45.4, 12.

31. (37) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 490, 32.0, 0.

32. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 489, 41.2, 9.

33. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 486, 28.5, 8.

34. (35) Brian Scott, Ford, 484, 35.8, 7.

35. (40) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 479, 32.5, 6.

36. (7) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 477, 64.0, 5.

37. (12) David Ragan, Toyota, 424, 43.1, 4.

38. (34) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 407, 31.5, 3.

39. (36) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, reargear, 360, 27.8, 2.

40. (39) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, accident, 21, 24.0, 1.

___

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 78.537 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 20 minutes, 55 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.291 seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 54 laps.

Lead Changes: 15 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M.Truex 1-24; J.Logano 25-45; M.Truex 46-62; R.Smith 63-64; M.Truex 65-73; K.Larson 74-79; M.Truex 80-110; Ky.Busch 111-113; M.Truex 114-150; M.Kenseth 151; M.Truex 152-180; M.Kenseth 181-355; D.Hamlin 356; A.Allmendinger 357-361; D.Hamlin 362-408; J.Johnson 409-500

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Kenseth, 2 times for 174 laps; M.Truex, 6 times for 141 laps; J.Johnson, 1 time for 91 laps; D.Hamlin, 2 times for 46 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 20 laps; K.Larson, 1 time for 5 laps; A.Allmendinger, 1 time for 4 laps; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 2 laps; R.Smith, 1 time for 1 lap.

Wins: Ky.Busch, 4; K.Harvick, 4; B.Keselowski, 4; M.Truex, 4; D.Hamlin, 3; J.Johnson, 3; C.Edwards, 2; M.Kenseth, 2; J.Logano, 2; C.Buescher, 1; Ku.Busch, 1; K.Larson, 1; T.Stewart, 1.

Top 16 in Points: J. Johnson, 4,044; D. Hamlin, 4,039; M. Kenseth, 4,039; Kyle Busch, 4,037; J. Logano, 4,033; K. Harvick, 4,021; Kurt Busch, 4,019; C. Edwards, 4,005; M. Truex Jr, 2,226; B. Keselowski, 2,207; A. Dillon, 2,187; C. Elliott, 2,185; K. Larson, 2,183; T. Stewart, 2,156; J. McMurray, 2,143; C. Buescher, 2,123.