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“I’m going to have to answer those questions one of these days, aren’t I?” Johnson said of the ones about Yarborough and taking a position beside him in history.

Johnson’s sixth victory of the year extended his points lead from 69 to 149, and while his closest challengers vowed that the Chase race isn’t over, the plaudits keep coming, too.

“There’s a lot of great teams that were huge in the sport,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, lumping Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus in with his father and Richard Petty, both seven-time champions, and Hall of Famers David Pearson, Yarborough and Junior Johnson.

“To pack it in three years and just dominate like that, there’s only a half a dozen teams that have ever done anything like that, been that strong consistently,” Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt was second, followed by Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon, giving Hendrick three of the top four spots. Denny Hamlin was fifth and Casey Mears, the fourth Hendrick driver, was sixth.

The 1-2 finish was the 23rd for the multicar team, and third at Martinsville.

Notable

Steve Lawson , a popular NASCAR official, was found dead in his hotel room at Martinsville, NASCAR officials said. He was 51. The cause of death was not announced.

… Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. Hamilton led from start to finish in the Formula One race, finishing 14.9 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa .