The five-time defending Cup champion dominated Sunday at Kansas Speedway, going to the front early on and weathering a series of late cautions to hold off Kasey Kahne and win for the first time since April.
Johnson stumbled through the first two races in NASCAR's version of a postseason, and was 10th in the standings heading to Dover. A second-place finish last weekend gave Johnson confidence, and his first victory since Talladega moved him into third in the Chase behind Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick.
Jeff Gordon made things interesting when his car blew up with three laps remaining.
Johnson chose not to pit before the green-white-checkered finish, but still managed to drive away from Kahne and Brad Keselowski on worn out tires.
Kahne spun his tires on the restart and finished second. Keselowski, who won the Nationwide race Saturday, was third and moved up to fourth in the Chase with six races left.
Tony Stewart spent most of the afternoon trying to chase down Johnson, and at times appeared to have the car to do it. Stewart climbed 17 spots to sixth after about 50 laps, and at one point told his team over the radio, "I'm in a hurry. … I've got things to do."
A series of mistakes near the end of the race cost him dearly, though.
Stewart chose to pit when Gordon brought out the final caution, but he carried too much speed down pit road and slid through his stall. By the time his team backed him up and changed tires, Stewart had shuffled back to 17th and he crossed the finish line in 15th.
Stewart won the first two races of the Chase to vault into the lead, but he struggled all weekend at Dover and finished 25th. He'll now head to Charlotte seventh in the standings.
Edwards and Harvick came in tied for the lead in the Chase, with the top nine drivers separated by a mere 19 points. Things shook out a bit Sunday, but Edwards and Harvick are still on top.
Edwards struggled with a tight car all afternoon, and his crew did everything from put round after round of wedge into the right rear to putting a shim in the left front. Edwards dropped a lap down at one point, but he got back on the lead lap after a caution and stormed to a fifth-place finish.
The Missouri native climbed out of his car and said that he felt as if he had won.
Johnson actually did.
The most dominant driver in NASCAR went to the front after a caution flag on Lap 21 and spent the rest of the afternoon cruising around the 1 1/2-mile trioval. Stewart tried to chase him down, and a few other Chase contenders tired to work fuel strategy to make up ground, but a series of late yellow flags took fuel mileage out of the equation.
Johnson passed Keselowski for the lead after a caution with 27 laps remaining, and then held off the field during the green-white-checkered finish.
The victory at Kansas, quickly becoming one of Johnson's favorite tracks, broke a tie with Lee Petty and moved Johnson into a tie with Rusty Wallace for ninth on the career victories list with 55.