Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet all but clinched their record-making fourth consecutive title on Sunday after getting through Talladega with a sixth place finish.

A race in which Johnson's teammate and lead chaser Mark Martin called a “lottery” ended with Johnson hitting a jackpot in the form a 184 points lead—more than the 161 point maximum points gain in a single race.

Johnson, who has been leary of allowing a pre-mature engraving of the trophy, maintained a “you never know” outlook after Talladega.  Although, taking the largest points lead in chase history at this point in the season has the driving feeling a little more comfortable.

“I'm not going to let up and lose focus to the job I need to do and allow the championship to be in the forefront of my mind until it's mathematically locked out,” Johnson said.  “I can lose 165 points next week if I miss a shift and blow the engine at the start of the Texas race and mark has a perfect day. So with all that in mind, yes, I am feeling much better about things.  I was so concerned about this race.”

Johnson's strategy was simple; stay in the back behind the Talladega madness.  It worked, but not without worry for the three-time champ who was in jeopardy of seeing his points gap close to less than 40 points at some points in the race because of the strategy.

However, when many driver's fuel gambles didn't pay off with the green-white-checkered, it was a surprised driver sitting behind the wheel as he watched his crew chief Chad Knaus' strategy begin to unfold.

“I thought I was going to lose points with about three or four to go,” Johnson said.  “So to have it turn around and lead with points over the guys, I didn't expect it.”

Lawyer: Mayfield has yet to pay for his services

Bill Diehl, who was representing Jeremy Mayfield during the suspended driver/owner’s fight against NASCAR, said that he has yet to see payment from the driver.

Mayfield, who is suspended from NASCAR for a violation of the substance abuse policy, recently retained the services of Mark Geragos; a lawyer who has represented many high-profile clients including Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson.

Diehl, who works in the Charlotte, N.C. area, charges around $1,000 an hour for he and his firm’s services. While he would not specify the specific amount owed by Mayfield, he said that he has worked very hard on Mayfield’s case.

Diehl continued to say that his firm has reached out to Mayfield and has threatened legal action against him if payment is not received.

“I’m going to get paid,” said Diehl.

Mayfield has been suspended since Mother’s Day of this year after he failed a random drug test for methamphetamine. He claims that the positive result was caused from a mixture of a prescription medication—Adderral XL—and an over-the-counter allergy relief medication—Clariton-D.

NASCAR has secured many affidavits and statements from industry professionals and eye-witnesses since the case against the stock-car racing organization.

Vickers becomes first chaser to be mathematically eliminated

Assuming Jimmie Johnson start the next three races, Brian Vickers has no mathematical possibility of catching him.  Vickers, who finished 13th at Talladega on Sunday, is currently 556 points behind Johnson in the final chase position—12th place.

Through the year's 33 races, Vickers has recorded 1 win, three top-five and 12 top-ten finishes.

Denny Hamlin in 11th is the next car on the verge of mathematical elimination.  Hamlin is 448 points behind Johnson and 38 points behind the point of mathematical elimination with three races to go.

Talladega sees 13-car “Big One”

The largest crash of the day was saved for the next to the last lap during the green-white-checkered finish on Sunday at Talladega.  The crash, which saw Mark Martin flip on the frontstretch, involved 13 total cars.  Among those receiving damage was four chase drivers; Jeff Gordon, Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers.  Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Robby Gordon, Casey Mears, David Ragan, Robert Richardson Jr., David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson and Martin Truex Jr.

Before the technical “big one,” there was a five-car accident that caused a nearly 13-minute red flag period.  The wreck involved Ryan Newman, who flipped end over end before landing on his hood, as well as Marcos Ambrose, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler and his teammate Tony Stewart.

After the wreck, Newman said he was okay but certainly sore and was obviously displeased with the box NASCAR has put the teams in at Talladega.

"(I'm) pretty sore'” Newman said. “Just really disappointed. We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I'm the guy that gets upside down. I had the roll bars down on top of my helmet and stuck upside down inside my U.S. Army Chevrolet. It's just disappointing. I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here.

"It's just a product of this racing and what NASCAR has put us into with this box and these restrictor plates with these types of cars. You know with the yellow line, no bump-drafting, no passing. Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other. Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison and all those guys have always done that. I guess they don't think much of us anymore.”

Rookie Logano scores his second top-ten Talladega finish

Joey Logano was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year Candidate after the 19-year-old driver scored a third place finish at Talladega. With the finish, Logano has finished in the top-ten in both of his Talladega races in his short career.

“It was a good run,” Logano said.  “We battled hard all day.  These races are interesting, man.  You ride around the first part and you’re just really making sure that you don’t wreck.  That’s pretty much the main thing and just kind of trying to find friends.  Maybe make decisions that you wouldn’t make at the end of the race just to make a couple friends and try to have someone good at the end pushing you, trying to hook up with those guys again.

Short Shute: Other notes from the Amp Energy 500

After NASCAR warned the drivers of excessive bump drafting and threatened to access pass through penalties in the pre-race driver's meeting this morning, no such penalties were accessed.

Kevin Harvick, who lead three laps today, was the WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race.