Juan Pablo Montoya is well aware that NASCAR veteran Mark Martin leads the Chase for the Sprint Cup heading into today’s 500-mile race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

It just doesn’t feel that way.

When Montoya looks at the standings, it’s not Martin’s name that jumps out but three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, who lurks just 18 points behind Martin — and 33 points ahead of Montoya — heading into a stretch the native Californian has turned into his own personal springboard to the title.

Johnson has won three times at California, including a victory last fall that propelled him to his record-tying third consecutive championship. He’s even better at Charlotte and Martinsville, the next two stops, winning 11 times in 31 combined starts.

Johnson has been so dominant during this stretch that other drivers find themselves adjusting their expectations.

Montoya isn’t necessarily concerned about beating Johnson on Sunday — the two drivers will start alongside each other in the second row behind pole sitter Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle — so much as staying within striking distance.

“I think last week (at Kansas), this week and probably Martinsville are the three tracks I look forward to trying not to lose as many points as I can against Jimmie,” Montoya said. “The way I see it is if you can go through those three races without getting yourself out of reach of Jimmie, you’ll be fine.”

Sticking close to Johnson isn’t easy, especially in California. He’s never finished worse than 16th at the 2-mile oval and hasn’t missed the Top 10 in three years.

Hamlin acknowledges there an “uh-oh” factor seeing Johnson’s name so close to the top.

“I think a lot of it has to do with (the fact that) Jimmie has come from further back over the last few years to win the title,” he said. “Being that he’s this close to the lead at this point I think everyone is kind of threatened by it.”

Logano wins

Joey Logano avoided a late-race collision and held off Brian Vickers to win the NASCAR Nationwide Copart 300 at Auto Club Speedway for his fifth series victory of the season and second in two weeks.

The 19-year-old Logano started on the pole, but fell well back after an incident with Biffle early in the race. Logano steadily worked his way back to front and caught a break when Biffle and Hamlin collided with less than 10 laps to go.

Logano took the lead following a caution with two laps to go, then pulled away from Vickers.

Carl Edwards finished third.

NHRA qualifying

Second-place Larry Dixon cut into Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel points leads with his fourth straight No. 1 qualifying spot in the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) also led qualifying in the fourth event in NHRA’s six-race playoff, the Countdown to 1.

Massa tests well

Injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa will drive a car at the Formula One team’s test track after a positive outcome to a series of neurological exams at a Paris hospital.

Ferrari said on its Web site that Massa wrapped up two days of medical exams at Pitie Salpetriere hospital in Paris on Saturday. He is scheduled to drive a private F2007 single-seater in a test at the team’s Maranello factory today.

The Brazilian is trying to come back from life-threatening injuries sustained at the Hungarian GP in July, when he was knocked unconscious by a loose car part in qualifying and crashed into a safety barrier.