DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Only Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) stands between Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and arguably one of the greatest achievements in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history.

Johnson, following his seventh victory of the 2009 season at Phoenix International Raceway, carries a 108-point lead into Sunday’s Ford 400 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The lead isn’t insurmountable — Martin still can deny Johnson a record fourth consecutive championship — but all the leader has to do is finish 25th or better to lock up the title.

Johnson, seemingly coasting to the championship before a 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway gave fresh hopes to his pursuers, proved at Phoenix that his Lone Star State “hiccup” wasn’t a momentum buster. He rolled over the opposition (Martin finished fourth) by leading a whopping 238 of 312 laps to win the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 for the third consecutive year.

The 34-year-old El Cajon, Calif. competitor also scored his fourth Chase victory for the third time, prompting team owner Rick Hendrick to remark, “Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and Jimmie have just been unbelievable. To watch them, I said this earlier today, I’m just glad I don’t have to race against them.”

Ironically, Hendrick does. Martin ranks second in the standings; four-time champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) is third. Gordon will be eliminated when Johnson signs in for Sunday’s race.

Johnson knows there is no certain thing in NASCAR. He’s not ready to celebrate anything.

“We need to show up, blinders on, focused, (in) qualifying trim, get all that we can,” he said. “We just can’t coast. We can’t chill out. We have to stay focused and keep our heads down on the job at hand.”