Jimmie Johnson says that for now Kurt Busch is welcome to having the lead in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.

“If we are fortunate enough to lead the points again this season, I hope it isn’t until the very end,” Johnson said after winning Sunday’s Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. “There is a huge burden that comes with being No. 1.

“If you’ve seen the movie ‘Lord of the Rings,’ it’s like that ring that kid carries the whole way — I don’t know what it is, but it makes weird things happen.”

Johnson would be in a perfect position to make such an analogy.

When Johnson won at Pocono on Aug. 1, he took a 232-point lead in the pre-Chase for the Nextel Cup portion of this year’s title race. Three races and three straight blown engines later, however, he was 68 points behind teammate Jeff Gordon.

Johnson actually got the lead back after the season’s 25th race at California, but finished second to Gordon at the 26-race cutoff, putting him five points out of the lead when the 10-race Chase began.

After a 37th-place finish at Talladega and a 32nd at Kansas, though, Johnson was way back in ninth, 247 points behind Busch, and out of it — or so he thought.

“Three weeks ago, I thought that there’d be no way … that circumstances would work out to allow us to have a shot at it,” Johnson said.

Three weeks ago, Busch led Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 29 points and Gordon by 79 as that group had seemingly moved out to set up a three-way battle in the Chase.

Even when Johnson won at Charlotte, N.C., it didn’t seem to make much difference. At the halfway mark of the Chase, Busch led Earnhardt Jr. by 24 and Gordon by 74 while fourth-place Elliott Sadler was 157 back and Johnson was still eighth, 227 behind.

But Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon had rough outings at Martinsville, and Johnson won again.

Then, on Sunday, Busch blew a motor after just 52 laps.

Gordon had more of the assorted types of trouble his team can’t seem to shake.

Earnhardt Jr. made a mistake as he raced for third with Carl Edwards in the waning laps, leading to a crash.

Earnhardt Jr. finished 33rd. Gordon was 34th. Busch, who’d racked up six straight finishes of sixth or better to put himself out front in the Chase, was 42nd.

With just three races left, Busch leads by 59 points with Johnson second. Gordon is 72 back while Mark Martin, second to Johnson on Sunday, is back in the picture, just 81 points out.

Earnhardt Jr. trails by 98. Even Tony Stewart, 145 back in sixth, has to think there’s still hope.

The momentum, though, is behind the No. 48 car. The last driver to win three straight Cup races was Gordon, who won the last two races of 1998 and then the 1999 Daytona 500. Gordon is also the last to do it in the same year — he won four straight at Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan in his 13-win season in 1998.

“I am looking forward to the final three races,” Johnson said. The circuit goes to Phoenix, Darlington and Homestead to conclude the season. “I want to win the championship, but I want to win the next race. If we just keep going out and doing what we’ve done these past three races … it will take care of itself.”