Anyone who came to Auto Club Speedway yesterday awaiting Round Two of the Great Kyle Busch-Carl Edwards Feud was greatly disappointed.

So, too, were the fans of any car not numbered 48.

Jimmie Johnson dominated the Pepsi 500 – leading all but 22 of the 250 laps around the two-mile, D-shaped oval to score his third win of NASCAR's Sprint Cup season and his second straight Labor Day Weekend race at Fontana.

RONALD MARTINEZ / Getty Images With the San Gabriel Mountains looming in the background, Jimmie Johnson leads the field around Auto Club Speedway.

And as impressive as Johnson was while in front, he was even more impressive the few times he trailed.

Three times during the last 90 laps, Johnson entered the pits with the lead and exited looking at the rear deck of rivals.

And Johnson regained the lead all three times in a span of five miles or less.

“Jimmie's switched on right now,” said Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, as a way of warning rivals that Johnson will definitely be in the hunt for a third straight Sprint Cup title when the Chase for the Championship playoffs commence in two weeks.

Last night's win – the first ever for a pole-sitter in a Sprint Cup race at the former California Speedway – not only clinched Johnson a spot in the Chase Field, it garnered him 10 bonus points (for the win) to reduce the lead that Busch (eight wins) and Edwards (six) will take into the Chase.

Plus, last night's win came on the type of medium-distance (1½-to 2-mile) oval where the Johnson-Knaus team had struggled this season with the new Car of Tomorrow.

“Winning tonight is a big relief for us because seven of the (10) races in the Chase are on this kind of track,” said Johnson. “There is a reason why we were there tonight and dominated the way we did.”

The reason is that Johnson and Knaus are a solid team. And as invincible as Busch and Edwards looked a week ago, that's how vulnerable they look now.

Remember, in the 60-season history of NASCAR, only one driver has won three straight championships – Cale Yarborough.

“I drove as hard as I've driven in a long time,” said runner-up Greg Biffle. “I was on the edge. A couple times I was gaining . . . but I could never catch him.”

“There was no defeating Johnson tonight,” said third-place finisher Denny Hamlin. “He did whatever he had to do. He ran high. He ran low. He just ran faster. I don't think anyone else can say they had a car that could run with Johnson.”

And that is nothing new. Johnson's first Sprint Cup win came in the El Cajon native's “backyard” on April 28, 2002. His average finish at the track is a sparkling 5.9. In between his two Labor Day wins at Fontana, Johnson led the most laps and finished second to Edwards in the Auto Club 500 last February.

The 228 laps led by Johnson last night blew away the old record of 168 laps led by Biffle in 2006. And over the last three Sprint Cup races at Fontana, Johnson has led 385 of the 750 laps.

But, again, it was what Johnson did last night when he wasn't leading that was the true yardstick of his dominance.

Johnson had led 155 of the first 163 laps as the field headed into the pits for the sixth caution period of the race. Knowing Johnson had their numbers on the track, five teams gambled on taking two tires while Johnson/Knaus stuck with a four-tire strategy.

When the green came out on the 165th lap, Johnson was sixth.

He charged into fourth by the end of the 165th lap, was second one tour later and charged past Biffle in the first turn of lap 167 to regain the lead.

Just 15 laps and a caution later, Johnson again was passed in the pits as the air hose became entangled around his jackman's left leg. Again, Johnson was sixth when the green flew.

This time it took him 2½ laps to again charge past Biffle and into the lead – after passing three cars on the first lap.

And finally Biffle beat him out of the pits on the final stop with 28 laps to go. Johnson regained the lead going into the third turn of the first green-flag lap.

“We did a better job in the pits,” said Biffle.

No matter.

“This is the most dominant race of my career,” said Johnson of the 36th victory of his career. “I had a race like this once before (the 2002 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte) where I led like 580 miles then spun in the pits.”

But one dominating race isn't what has his competition worried. The real concern is what lays ahead in the Chase that Johnson has dominated the past two years.

“The longest it took me to do anything tonight was getting out of the car,” said Johnson. “We're doing the right thing.”

Bill Center: (619) 293-1851; bill.center@uniontrib.com