Stick a fork in it; the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is done.

Well, not technically. There are still three races to be run, including one on Sunday in Texas. But with three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson increasing his lead in the points race on a weekly basis, and the closest competitors having their problems, the ultimate result seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Last weekend Jamie McMurray won the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega, cashing in as a 40-to-1 shot on the BetJamaica.com betting board. Kasey Kahne, at +3,000, placed second in the green-white-checkered finish, Joey Logano (+4,000) showed third, Greg Biffle (part of “The Field” at +700) took fourth and Jeff Burton (+4,000) ran fifth.

But more importantly Johnson, after running near the back of the pack most of the day, finished sixth. And thanks to the misfortunes of many of his closest competitors in the points race, JJ extended his lead to 184 points over second-place Mark Martin, running that much closer to what will be his record-setting fourth straight drivers championship.

Jeff Gordon is third in the points standings, 192 back of Johnson. They're followed by Juan Pablo Montoya at -239 and Tony Stewart at -279. And those guys will have to set a new record for biggest rally to come back and catch Johnson atop the heap.

This weekend the circuit heads back down to Lone Star country for the running of the Dickies 500 on the mile-and-a-half oval at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (2:30 pm ET, ABC). The boys ran at Texas back in April, when Gordon won the Samsung 500. Johnson, Biffle, Stewart and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five that day.

Last year Carl Edwards won both races at TMS. The year before, Burton and Johnson split the two Texas events. Kahne and Stewart won at Texas in 2006, and Biffle and Edwards won there in '05.

Biffle has finished in the top five the last two races at Texas. Kenseth has three top-fives in his last five races at TMS. And Kyle Busch has two top-four finishes in his last four Texas races.

Hendrick Motorsports, the team that owns Johnson, Martin and Gordon, is shooting for the first 1-2-3 season finish in Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup history.

Chevys have won four of the last six races at Texas, but Fords have won seven of the last 13 events run there.

Racing bettors should check back at BetJamaica.com for updated odds on Sunday's race, including driver-vs.-driver matchups, as go-time approaches.