Jimmie Johnson sits 18 points behind points leader Mark Martin after finishing ninth in Sunday's Pricechopper 400 at the Kansas Speedway.  CIA Stock Photo

Mark Martin may hold the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead, but the rest of the field is using Jimmie Johnson as a Chase barometer.

Johnson has four wins and 18 top-10 finishes this season. He's won the Sprint Cup Series Championship three years running.

Nobody has been able to lay a hand on him.

And now he's back at the Auto Club Speedway to defend his race win from a year ago, when the No. 48 team lost the lead in the pits on three separate occasions before Johnson roared back each time, saying he never had to lean on his car.

“Sucks, doesn't it?” Juan Pablo Montoya said Friday, sharing a laugh about Johnson's dominance at the Fontana, Calif., track he calls home. “For me, to be honest with you, I think last week, this week and probably Martinsville are the three tracks I look forward to try not to lose as many points as I can against Jimmie.

“The way I see it is, if you can get through those three races without getting yourself out of reach of Jimmie, you'll be fine.”

Montoya is the only driver to score top-five finishes at each of the Chase's first three races, but it's not been enough to stand against Johnson's second-place finish, win and ninth-place run thus far. Thirty-three points separate Johnson and Montoya, with Mark Martin holding an 18-point lead over the three-time champion.

Off the radar, sitting ninth in the Cup standings is Carl Edwards. Edwards is in a rough spot, needing his competition to fall sharply while he rises in order to claw back into the thick of the Chase competition.

Unfortunately for Edwards, whether of not the No. 99 team finds themselves in the hunt when the Cup Series arrives at Homestead depends much on the performance of Johnson. However, Edwards and Roush Fenway Racing have always run well at the Auto Club Speedway.

So well that Edwards thinks his squad is second best – to Johnson.

“I think second to Jimmie Johnson is our (No.) 99 team and myself and our performance here,” Edwards said. “If Jimmie goes out and wins this weekend, then that's what happens. But if he goes and has a terrible week, then you have to be out there getting every point, trying to capitalize.

“We're the same team that won more races and scored more points than anyone else last season. I still hang onto the fact that we can do it. We just have to go and execute it.”

Still, strategy has left Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus baffled more times than not in 2009. For example, last Sunday at Kansas, the No. 48 bunch opted for two tires and track position rather than four tires and grip.

Johnson sunk like a rock and wound up ninth on the day, a far cry from where he was at the head of the field early in the race. Friday at the Auto Club Speedway, Johnson maintained the importance of finishing races strong and ultimately finishing another successful season.

“We need to close,” Johnson said. “That's what we've always been so good at.”

Simply put for a guy that, to many, isn't far from closing out another Cup Championship.