Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Like it or not, Gordon and Johnson are the story of the postseason. Together they've won 14 of 33 races in 2007 - 8 for Johnson and 6 for Gordon. That means two cars have combined to win 42% of the year's races. And they've won 4 of 7 Chase races - two apiece, and the last four straight - accounting for 57% of the Chase races so far.

The pair has also been atop the point standings for five straight weeks, but Johnson's victory today, with Gordon finishing 7th, helped the 48 team narrow the points gap dramatically. Johnson is still in 2nd, but now trails Gordon by just 9 points.

Today's race started off with clear skies and pleasant temperatures, as Jeff Gordon gave the command to fire up the engines from the cockpit of his car, and Richard Petty dropped the green to get the race underway.

Polesitter Greg Biffle led the first lap, but yielded to Kurt Busch in a faster car after just one lap. Busch had a dominant car for much of the race, as did brother Kyle and DEI's Martin Truex, Jr. Truex was the overall lap leader with 135 laps, while Kurt led 98 and Kyle, 77.

Biffle appeared to have engine trouble early on and thought he was blowing up, telling his crew chief, "We're done," after just a few laps. Whatever the problem was, it wasn't terminal, as Biffle stayed in the race and finished 22nd.

There was a record number of cautions, 14 in all, but not a lot of multi-car wrecks. Several cars cut tires including Juan Pablo Montoya (twice), David Ragan, Bobby Labonte, David Stremme, Joe Nemecheck, and Johnny Sauter. David Gilliland spun on lap 65 and collected Mark Martin in a hard hit, briefly bringing out the red flag for cleanup. Stremme and Jeremy Mayfield also spun in separate incidents, while Ryan Newman blew an engine on lap 268.

When the cars came off pit road after Newman's incident, the leaders were Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Jimmie Johnson. This was the start of a relatively long green flag run which saw Kyle Busch pass Truex for the lead on lap 281.

As the laps clicked by, numerous teams began to worry about fuel mileage and several drivers were warned to try conserve, with the very real fear that they might be short of the scheduled 325-lap finish mark.

But Johnny Sauter blew a tire on lap 318, bringing out the caution and allowing the leaders to pit, save Denny Hamlin who opted to stay out. The race restarted on lap 322 with Hamlin, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, and Reed Sorenson the top 5 cars.

Kyle Busch had experienced a very slow pit stop after his jack man failed to raise the car high enough to remove the right front tire. Meanwhile, seeing the problem the 5 team was having, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus made a split-second decision to take two tires instead of four, moving Johnson to 2nd coming off pit road.

When the green flag dropped, Denny Hamlin's car mysteriously failed to accelerate, casuing a pileup behind him that took out Truex as he collided with the 11 car. Kyle Busch spun, possibly in an attempt to avoid the mess, and Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray also made contact but were able to continue the race.

It was initially reported that Hamlin's car was out of gas, but late-breaking news claims that there may have been water mixed with the fuel in Hamlin's engine as well as the engines of Dave Blaney and Greg Biffle. NASCAR is investigating.

After Hamlin's mishap, Johnson took the lead, and the race restarted once again for a green-white-checkered finish. Jimmie got a great restart but said after the race that he knew the 8, running 3rd at the time, was coming.

Earnhardt Jr. had been complaining of a loose wheel for several laps, and the problem caught up with him shortly after the restart. The tire fell off with cars running at full speed, and Junior slammed the wall hard, taking Jamie McMurray with him. Johnson won as the race finished under caution, giving him the '07 Atlanta sweep.

Rounding out the top 5 were Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Burton. Sorenson's 3rd-place finish was his best of the year. There were quite a few Chase contenders with good finishes besides those already mentioned. Clint Bowyer came in 6th, Jeff Gordon 7th, and Kurt Busch 8th, while Kevin Harvick was 15th.

At the other end of the spectrum, Kyle Busch finished 20th and Denny Hamlin 24th with difficulties I've already discussed. Tony Stewart finished 30th with mechanical problems after looking strong in the early going, and Truex was scored in 31st.

Several drivers moved up or down a spot or two in the Chase standings, but the only real drama left appears to be the battle at the top. Though Clint Bowyer is still in the running at 111 points back, it's highly unlikely that Gordon and Johnson will both falter with just three races to go.

Next week, the series heads to Texas and another 1.5-mile track. Jeff Burton won here in the spring and Tony Stewart took the victory last fall.

And here's a little factoid to whet your appetite for our upcoming Texas race preview: None of the top-3 Chase drivers - Gordon, Johnson, and Bowyer - has ever won a Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.