FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- As competitive as NASCAR's Sprint Cup series is these days, it's not often a driver overpowers the field the way Jimmie Johnson did Sunday night.

It even surprised the two-time reigning series champion.

Jimmie Johnson's third victory of 2008 came in dominating fashion, and he's rolling toward the Chase.

"It was an awesome race car all night long," Johnson said after leading 228 of the 250 laps in the Pepsi 500. "We really didn't touch much all night long and the car was fast and good. And the track just came to us.

"More than anything, I'm just happy to close the deal. It's very, very rare to have a car that dominant and it's easy to do something stupid to spoil that," he added. "It's been a while since I've been in that position and, to work on your mental toughness in those situations, it's really important."

Asked if he has had a car this superior before, Johnson said, "I think this is the most dominant car and victory we've had, but I can remember one other time, and I blew the opportunity. My rookie year at Lowe's [Motor Speedway], I think we led 580 miles of that [600-mile] race and I slid through the pits and lost us the race."

Runner-up Greg Biffle also had a fast car, but barely kept in touch with Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet on the 2-mile oval, finishing 2.076 seconds behind the winner.

"The 48 was phenomenal," Biffle said. "We see that happen every once in a while a guy gets it set up right, gets the car running good."

Johnson won the race at the former California Speedway for the second straight year and again gave notice to points leader Kyle Busch and series runner-up Carl Edwards -- the two hottest drivers in the series coming into this race -- that he remains a serious contender for a third straight title.

"I hope so," Johnson said. "I'm just not sure how it's going to shake out. The weak spot for us has been the mile and a half and two-mile tracks and the Chase is loaded with those.

"We've been getting better each week. I'm happy to be on a big track and win on a big track. I really think we're doing the right things to have a fighting chance at the championship and that's all we can ask for."

In February, Johnson led the most laps here but lost the race when Edwards passed him with 23 laps to go. This time, nobody could touch Johnson, whose car was a rocketship from the start.

Time after time he built leads of between 5 and 12 seconds, only to see them erased by yellow flags. But it didn't faze Johnson, who just rebuilt the margin after the next restart.

On a pit stop on lap 162, during a caution period, Johnson took four tires and found himself in sixth on the restart, trailing five drivers who had each taken two tires on the stop.

After the restart on lap 166, Johnson was fourth after one lap, second after two trips around the 2-mile oval and back in the lead on lap 168.

On the next pit stop, on lap 182 during another caution, Johnson's jackman got tangled up in the air hose, costing the team valuable seconds. Johnson again came out of the pits in sixth. And, again, he rocketed back into the lead in just three laps after the green flag waved.

On lap 192, during yet another caution, Biffle's crew pulled off a lightning stop that got the No. 16 Ford out just ahead of Johnson's Chevy. But it took Johnson less than half a lap to zoom back into the lead this time.

And that was the race as Johnson pulled away over the last 28 laps to get his 36th career win.

"This is the same car we won with at Indianapolis [in July], and I'm real proud of that," said Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief.

"The car was really good, especially the first 15 or 20 laps," Johnson said. "When you have a car like that, it doesn't really matter where you are on the track."

Biffle just shook his head when asked how good Johnson was.

"He would get better as the run went anyway. But he had more grip up off the corners," Biffle said. "The 48 was a better car tonight. If it's not 18 [Busch] beating us, it's the 48."

For a change, neither Edwards, who had won two straight races and three of the last four, or Busch, the series leader with eight wins in 2008, were in contention.

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Edwards, Busch and Kasey Kahne.

Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who finished 11th, and Jeff Burton, who was 17th, clinched spots in the 12-man Chase for the championship that will begin after next Saturday night's race at Richmond. They joined Busch and Edwards who had previously locked up spots in the postseason.

But the drivers vying for the final positions in the Chase remained in a close battle, with Kenseth moving past 15th-place Jeff Gordon into ninth in the points, and Hamlin and 10th-place Clint Bowyer remaining 11th and 12th in the standings. David Ragan, who finished 13th Sunday remained 13th, 17 points behind Bowyer, while Kahne stayed in 14th, 48 points out of the Chase lineup.