Jimmie Johnson pulled a magic trick Sunday as he won the Pep Boys Auto 500 with brilliant pit strategy late in the race.

A two-tire stop paid of with a victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, making the Chase a virtual dead heat at the top between the reigning champion and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and friend.

Johnson and Gordon, who came into the Pep Boys Auto 500 separated by 53 points, struggled with the handling on their Chevrolets most of the day. But, thanks to a wild finish, they wound up first and seventh, leaving four-time champion Gordon with a nine-point lead with three of the 10 Chase races remaining. 

With all the leaders concerned about running out of gas, rookie Johnny Sauter’s blown tire brought out the 11th of a track record 12 caution flags on the 318th of a scheduled 325 laps on the 1½-mile suburban Atlanta oval.

Denny Hamlin, who had been running sixth, was the only leader who stayed on track, taking the lead. The others pitted and Johnson jumped from fifth to second as crew chief Chad Knaus made a late decision to change only two tires.

The race restarted on Lap 323, but Hamlin ran out of gas on the restart and cars began dodging everywhere to try to miss him and each other. Martin Truex Jr., who had one of the best cars all day, wound up slamming into the rear of Hamlin and the caution waved again.

That left Johnson, who barely dodged Hamlin’s slow car, in the lead, with Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. right behind and set up a two-lap overtime.

The race resumed on Lap 328 and, before the leaders made it through the first turn, something snapped in the rear of Earnhardt’s car, sending him spinning into the wall. He collected Jamie McMurray, who had been running fifth, and the race ended under yellow with Johnson picking up his eighth win of the season and second in a row.

Johnson didn’t have the best car Sunday in Atlanta but crew chief Chad Knaus’ decision to take two tires instead of four turned out to be the right decision.

“When that caution came out, we knew we didn’t have a car capable of winning the race,” Knaus said. “But, usually late in the race when cautions do come out, cautions breed cautions so track position was going to be important.

Gordon, who saw his lead almost disappear, said the pressure is on even more heading into next Sunday’s race at Texas.

“I feel like we’ve got the team and the equipment to do it, but those guys are tough and they’re showing it every weekend,” Gordon said. “All I’m focusing right now is trying not to have the bad day and, for a while, it looked like today was going to be the bad day.

“We struggled there for a while and, to come back and finish seventh, it was a great day, even though Jimmie won.”

Johnson and his team owner Rick Hendrick donated all their winning from the Pep Boys Auto 500 to the American Red Cross relief fund for the wildfire relief effort in his native California, along with matching donations promised by several other NASCAR organizations.

With three races left (Texas, Phoenix, and Miami) in the chase for the Nextel Cup, I’m taking Jimmie Johnson to successfully defend his Nextel Cup championship.

Its a shame that Jeff Gordon, who has dominated the Nextel Cup circuit all year, will have to wait until next year for a shot at his fifth career championship in NASCAR.

Look at the bright side Gordon lovers’, at least Jeff will get to hoist a championship trophy this year in Miami. Unfortunately for the Rainbow Warrior (I could use a better term) he will be hoisting the Nextel Cup trophy only because he is a part owner of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet and 2007 champion, Jimmie Johnson.