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RICHMOND, Va. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. left no doubt Saturday night that his year will be best remembered for what he did off the track rather than on it.

Earnhardt, who announced plans to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports after this season, failed to make NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup in his final chance this year. He has missed the Chase two of the last three seasons.

At least Earnhardt fans can look forward to the upcoming announcement on what his number and sponsor will be next season.

Where he failed, Jimmie Johnson excelled at Richmond International Raceway. Johnson scored his second straight victory and sixth of the season, and he swept the Richmond races.

"We're strong on all fronts,'' Johnson said. "I'm happy that we're able to put that together and win back-to-back weeks like this.''

Johnson's recent run makes him the favorite to win the 10-race Chase and capture his second consecutive series title.

The points for the Chase drivers were reset after this race to 5,000. Drivers then got 10 bonus points for each victory this season. Johnson has 5,060 points and holds a 20-point lead over his nearest competitor, teammate Jeff Gordon.

Twenty points could be critical. Johnson lost the 2004 title to Kurt Busch by eight points. Only four drivers are within 40 points of Johnson at the start of the Chase.

Tony Stewart finished second to Johnson in Saturday's race. David Ragan, Gordon and Johnny Sauter completed the top five in a race stopped twice for multicar crashes. No one was injured.

Denny Hamlin finished sixth, with Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and J.J. Yeley completing the top 10. Harvick and Kurt Busch clinched spots in the Chase with their finishes.

Earnhardt's race ended as it has so often this season. His engine blew with seven laps left while he was running third. It was the fifth time he has failed to finish a race this year because of a blown engine. He finished 30th.

With Earnhardt failing to race his way into the Chase, no drivers who entered the night in the top 12 fell out. The Chase begins this coming weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway.

As Earnhardt showed, running at the front Saturday night didn't prove to be a good thing for some. Carl Edwards appeared to be the only driver who could race with Gordon in the first half of the 400-lap race. Edwards passed Gordon for the lead though Edwards' engine soured. Edwards led 15 laps before the engine expired after 182 laps.

"It was fun,'' Edwards radioed his crew as the engine belched thick plumes of white smoke. "We're going to win a lot of races if we keep this up.''

He finished 42nd, snapping his streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes.

Clint Bowyer spun as he tried to take the lead from Hamlin a few laps later at the halfway mark. They hit, but only Bowyer spun.

Bowyer raced for pride and those bonus points. He and Martin Truex Jr. both qualified for the Chase when they started their engines.

"We're in!'' Truex said on the radio to his crew after starting his car under the setting sun.

Earnhardt never uttered those words because the bad luck he needed for Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick didn't strike. It almost did.

Ryan Newman spun on the frontstretch shortly after a restart on lap 242, triggering a multicar crash that included Kurt Busch and Harvick. Juan Pablo Montoya ran into the back of Busch. Harvick ran onto the grass to avoid the incident, but steam and water were shooting from the engine's overflow pipe.

Busch's car suffered left rear damage, but the sheet metal didn't rub the rear tire, and the rear wing was undamaged.

Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier, wasn't worried about his driver's car. Berrier knew that once the team cleared the grass off the front grille, the car would be fine. It was. Harvick restarted 30th. He needed to finish 32nd or better to make the Chase again. He avoided further problems and made it.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dlong @news-record.com